Gary Pegararo Wins South Australian ChampionshipPosted by Mark Jones, 31 August 2008, 1:08 PM |
Victorian RMR Superkarts racer Gary Pegoraro upset the strong local contingent to take victory in the Safe Fire Electrical - Hooves, Paws and Claws South Australian Superkart Championship after a packed weekend of racing at Mallala Motor Sport Park over the August 23/24 weekend.
The weekend represented an opportunity to test ahead of the Australian Championship finale, to be held at Mallala in November and a strong group of entries from Victoria and Western Australia joined the local teams.
Pegoraro (RMR Superkarts-Marron Excavations Anderson-FPE) won three of the four races over the course of the weekend, securing the title, fighting back after a slow start to the weekend, qualifying third, and finishing fourth in the first race.
Pre-race favourite and front running local driver Yiani Harpas (Intermode/Davtec/Metaplanners Zip Eagle-BRC) took pole position and streamed away in the first race to win ahead of the Dunlop supported Zip BDH Eagle-BRC of Luke May and the www.artmotorsport.com.au PVP of Anton Stevens, had his run cruelled, indirectly, by an accident in Race 2.
Race two was red flagged at half-distance after an accident between the KC Tools Anderson-Yamaha of Daniel Ramerman and the Martelco Equipment Hire Zip-Yamaha of Brett Purdie at turn 1. Both drivers escaped unhurt, however pre-existing damage to Harpas engine made the kart difficult to push-start and could not be re-started for the race restart. The race 2 DNF was too much to recover, particularly after other competitors slow start to the weekend was overcome.
Runner up spot for the weekend was taken by Luke May who has completed less than five superkart meetings racing the Dunlop Zip BDH kart. Despite qualifying fifth May finished second in Races 1 and 2 and third in the final to take the second step.
Third for the meeting had to be settled by countback after Darren Hossack and Ilya Harpas, younger brother of Yianni, tied for points. Hossack, the Australian championship points leader had traveled to South Australia for some practice ahead of the Australian Championship finale. A second place finish in the final race gave third place to the Victorian Safe Evolutions team driver and valuable preparation for the Scott Ellis run team with the Australian developed Safe Evolutions engine, which has not raced at the circuit before.
Ilya Harpas in fourth represented the best result for any of the South Australian competitors in the Intermode/Davtec/Metaplanners Zip Eagle-BRC.
