McIlveen Wins Race 1 of the Australian Superkart Championships

McIlveen, driving the Stockman Superkarts/Mac's Marine Stockman-Honda moved into second place at the end of the first lap, passing Sam Zavaglia before taking the lead from Darren Hossack on the fourth lap and pulled away to win by 2.1 seconds.

"We were a little slow off the start," said McIlveen. "We were just running too rich. The kart was handling better than most and the engine was strong enough to put us in front."

It was a dramatic start to the race after the first all-Queensland front row was spoilt before the start when Russell Jamieson spun the pole-sitting Coach Design Anderson-DEA on the warm-up lap and Jason Smith in the Fuji Xerox/Zahl 1 Karting Anderson-DEA was slow off the line and swamped by second row starters McIlveen and Hossack. Hossack led strongly in the Safe Evolutions Anderson-Safe until a spark cap failure saw his pace drop away in the late running.

Smith climbed back into second place at the end of the race. Hossack was pushed hard by Kristian Stebbing in the late running until Stebbing had a tyre roll off the rim over Lukey Heights leaving the Suburban Accounting Stockman-Yamaha parked and allowing Hossack to claim third.

With Sam Zavaglia siezing an engine and Gary Pegoraro fading, South Australian racer Dean McGinty finished fourth in the Lofty Coaches PVP-Yamaha, winning a race long dice with the MJR Bricklaying Anderson-FPE of Martin Latta and the Martelco Equipment Hire PVP-Yamaha of Brett Purdie.

Pegoraro finished seventh with Jamieson racing through the field to finish eighth ahead of the Buildersmile SKEs of Jason Laker and Carlo Chermaz.

250 National class saw a grandstand finish as Brendan Luneman in the Autobarn Dandenong Anderson-Yamaha left the pits with his fuel load a little light. The Yamaha YZ250 engine coughed on the last lap, allowing Dalton Rowell (DLR Racing Stockman-Honda) to pull alongside out of MG Hairpin. The two charged side-by-side down the Gardner Straight and Luneman got the win over Rowell by two hundredths of a second. Joe Tyrrell on his championship debut in the Angel Blue Marketing Anderson-Honda finished third in class. Bernie Walsh was unable to get his Anderson-Honda to immediately prior to start, while Mick Ward was struggling with a number issues in the Austcoat Anderson-GasGas, breaking a gearstick, then having a sprocket failure.

The 125cc class saw heartbreak for 2011 championship runner-up Tim Philp in the Floth Sustainable Building Consultants Avoig-Honda when a chain tensioner broke on the last lap of the race. Philp's failure handed the win to reigning champ, Jeff Reed (The Chrome Factory Stockman-Honda). Garry Haywood (Water Tunnel Car Wash Bakker-Honda) finished second in his comeback to the sport, two tenths behind Reed. Former Superbike racer Paul Campbell was third in the Redback Racepaint Avoig-Honda, four-tenths ahead of the Top Torque Engines Stockman-Honda of Matt Bass who raced through from rear of grid. Lindsay Jamieson recovered from a spun to finish fifth in the Linra Properties Stockman-Honda.

The 2012 Australian Superkart Championship will continue tomorrow as part of the Shannons National presented by Hi-Tec Oils.

Catch all of the racing on live streaming at: http://www.itvlive.com.au/

Race 2 will be at 10:00am AEST on Sunday May 26, with Race 3 following at 11:45am and the ten lap Race 4 final at 2:15pm.

Look for Superkarts Australia on facebook and @SuperkartsAus on Twitter

Points

250 International: Warren McIlveen 20, Jason Smith 17, Darren Hossack 15, Dean McGinty 13, Martin Latta 11, Brett Purdie 10, Gary Pegoraro 9, Russell Jamieson 8, Jason Laker 7, Carlo Chermaz 6, Josh Barnett 5, Steve Murray 4

250 National: Brendan Luneman 20, Dalton Rowell 17, Joe Tyrrell 15

125cc: Jeff Reed 20, Garry Haywood 17, Paul Campbell 15, Matt Bass 13, Lindsay Jamieson 11, Doug Amiss 10, Phil Silcock 9, Brian Wild 8, Robert Zerri 7, Tracey Crawford 6