Victorian veteran Gary Pegoraro has won yet another national title, taking victory in the Superkarts Australia Nationals at The Bend in South Australia on the weekend.
Run across four races, Pegoraro won just the once, but his consistency trumped the super quick Ilya Harpas who suffered a DNF in the second heat. Harpas had earlier qualified fastest ahead of Russell Jamieson and won the other three races.
Scroll down for the race-by-race reports. Full results are on Speedhive HERE.
Overall Result:
2024 Superkarts Australia Nationals at the Shell V-Power The Bend Motorsport Park
250 International
1 Gary Pegoraro
2 Ilya Harpas
3 Anton Stevens
250 National
1 Brett Burvill
2 Marcel Moreno-Chamorro
3 Nicholas Vella
125 Gearbox
1 Sebastien Amadio
2 Lee Vella
3 Laurie Fooks
Rotax Non-Gearbox Light
1 Doug Savage
Rotax Non-Gearbox Heavy
1 Patrick Ross
2 Christian Amadio
race report by Superkarts Australia
Race 1
250 International: Ilya Harpas started his campaign with a dominant victory in the 250 International class, winning by 42 seconds from Gary Pegoraro in second and Anton Stevens in third. Reigning champion Russell Jamieson and the rapid Matt Bass unfortunately did not finish. This meant that elder statesman Charles Maddern took a solid fourth place finish ahead of Paul Clark who made the journey all the way from Perth, Western Australia.
250 National: A healthy field in the 250 National category saw Nicholas Vella take the victory from Marcel Moreno-Chamorro and Mike Davies in third. Brett Burvill (4th) and Mark Vella (5th) had their own battle for the final places with David Salter failing to finish after completing only one lap.
125 Gearbox: The 125 Gearbox battle was an intense affair with Lee Vella calling on his speed and experience to take the victory by just 6 tenths of a second from the young gun Sebastien Amadio. Laurie Fooks made his trip from NSW worthwhile by finishing third, followed closely over the line by James Boden.
Rotax Non-Gearbox: In the Rotax Non-Gearbox Light category Doug Savage circulated at speed and with reliability to ensure he finished and took the victory, whilst Patrick Ross edged out Christian Amadio by a nose (0.1 seconds) in Rotax Non-Gearbox Heavy .
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Race 2
250 International: The 250 International race was one to watch. Multiple-time champion Ilya Harpas looked to build on his race 1 success, however mechanical issues put an end to his race on lap 2. Fellow fast-man Russell Jamieson had worse luck and was unable to make the race start. This provided a fascinating race out on track with Anton Stevens leading at the start, followed closely by Gary Pegoraro and Matt Bass. Stevens was unable to hang on to the lead however and ended up finishing third behind Gary Pegoraro (first) who edged out Matt Bass (second) by 0.1 seconds at the chequered flag. Paul Clark improved from Race 1 to finish fourth and ahead of experienced campaigner Charles Maddern by approximately 2 seconds.
250 National: Nicholas Vella took his second win from two races, finding himself in close company with the fastest 125 gearbox drivers in the early stages of the race. Brett Burvill improved from the first race to fight his way up into second place, ensuring he had a decent 12 second gap back to Mike Davies who also recorded his first podium (third) of the weekend. Mark Vella followed Davies closely home in fourth, with Marcel Moreno-Chamorro and David Salter unfortunately failing to finish.
125 Gearbox: It was Lee Vella who took his second victory of the day in another close finish with youngster Sebastien Amadio (second). Vella crossed the line 0.3 seconds ahead of Amadio while Kristian Stebbing made up for a DNF in race 1 to take a deserved third place, only 0.1 seconds ahead of race 1 podium finisher Laurie Fooks. Peter Salter and John Bakker came home in 5th and 6th respectively whilst Tony Lappas and James Boden unfortunately did not finish.
Rotax Non-Gearbox: The battle saw Doug Savage put in a handy drive to finish first of the Rotax-powered drivers and ahead of a brilliant battle between Patrick Ross and Christian Amadio. Despite setting the faster lap during the race, Amadio came home second to Ross in the Rotax Heavy class by just 0.09 seconds!
Race 3
250 International: It was Ilya Harpas who took the lead from position six going into the first turn and never looked back. Harpas claimed his second win of the weekend ahead of Matt Bass in second, who found pace since the first two races despite battling handling problems. Gary Pegoraro rounded out the podium in third position despite showing slower pace on a weekend where track conditions have been particularly difficult due to strong winds. Paul Clark recorded another fourth place ahead of Charles Maddern in fifth. Anton Stevens was sixth after circulating slowly with a flat front tyre to pick up some crucial points. The fast but luckless reigning champion Russell Jamieson recorded his third DNF from three races after a mechanical failure struck on turn three of the first lap.
250 National: A new race-winner was crowned in Brett Burvill, who along with Marcel-Moreno-Chamorro travelled from Western Australia to compete. They finished first and second respectively showing great pace and finishing ahead of race one and two winner Nicholas Vella (third). Mike Davies continued his strong form to finish fourth behind Vella while Mark Vella lapped consistently to take fifth place. Bad luck struck David Salter who completed only one lap before retiring.
125 Gearbox: As usual the 125 Gearbox class saw some close competition. In fact, Lee Vella and Sebastien Amadio were separated by 0.006 seconds as they crossed the finish line. It was Vella who took his third win from three races after a race-long battle with Amadio. James Boden crossed the line third overall and Laurie Fooks was back to his best to claim fourth place. In fifth was John Bakker, followed by Peter Salter in sixth. Bad luck struck Kristian Stebbing for the second time this weekend as he failed to finish.
Rotax Non-Gearbox: A strong showing by the Heavy Class drivers Patrick Ross and Christian Amadio saw them come home first and second respectively (separated by 0.014 seconds), beating Doug Savage by 1.4 seconds who took victory in the Light Class.
Race 4
250 International: Ilya Harpas won the fourth and final race in his best effort to make up for his DNF in race two and attempt to take the overall victory. He was however chased home by Matt Bass who recorded another second place finish ahead of Gary Pegoraro in third. It was Anton Stevens claiming fourth after his race three disappointment, leading home the ever-consistent Paul Clark and Charles Maddern. Last year’s champion Russell Jamieson unfortunately did not take the start due to mechanical difficulties.
250 National: Brett Burvill repeated his race three form by taking victory in race four. It was a dominant victory for Burvill who beat second-placed Marcel Moreno-Chamorro by one and a half minutes. Nicholas Vella unfortunately suffered a DNF early in the race after two race wins earlier in the weekend. This saw a well-deserved third place go to David Salter. Mike Davies and Mark Vella unfortunately were unable to finish.
125 Gearbox: Sebastien Amadio won his first race of the weekend, this time aided by Lee Vella coming to grief on the final lap. Vella remained second overall despite his DNF as the longer 8 lap final meant that the drivers behind were lapped by the faster competitors. Taking third place was James Boden in another strong performance. Laurie Fook finished in a familiar fourth position ahead of Kristian Stebbing (fifth), John Bakker (sixth) and Peter Salter in seventh.
Rotax Non-Gearbox Light saw Doug Savage lead home heavy class runners Christian Amadio (first) and Patrick Ross (second) respectively.
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