CHAMPIONSHIP BATTLE HEATS UP IN GEELONG (includes Video)

The battle for championship honours in the CIK Stars of Karting Series presented by Castrol EDGE heated up at Geelong’s Beckley Park International Raceway in Victoria today.

Both the championship leaders in the Pro Light (KF) and Pro Gearbox (KZ2) categories, Matthew Waters and Chris Hays, had a less than ideal day behind the wheel.

Waters qualified a lowly 11th fastest while Hays qualified 16th before encountering a flat tyre in the final heat race after finishing sixth and eighth in the opening two 20-lap heat races.

At the front of the Pro Light (KF) field, last round winner George Geranis, two-time Pro Junior (KFJ) Champion Pierce Lehane and Arrow Karts pilot Brock Plumb enjoyed some tight battles across the day.

Geranis’ pair of second places and victory in the three heats secured him pole position aboard his Kosmic kart for tomorrow’s opening final.

“I didn’t qualify too well but was good to get up there and battle near the front in the heat races,” said Geranis.

“After breaking through for my first win last round, I’m really looking forward to getting out there tomorrow.”

While Hays was enduring a challenging day, so too was his main rival Joey Hanssen. After qualifying fourth, the Shamick Racing recruit stalled on the start line in heat one before fighting back to 16th during the 20-lap encounter. He then finished sixth in heat two and won heat three.

After securing a career first Pro Gearbox (KZ2) pole position earlier in the day, Queenslander John Grother crossed the line first in the opening two races before following Hanssen across the line in the final heat.

“By this time last round I’d passed something like 45 karts, this weekend I’ve only passed one and it feels great,” said Grother.

“It was great to qualify on pole and then transfer that into a pair of heat wins. We tried a couple of things in the set-up during that final heat race which didn’t quite work but I’m confident we’ll be able to find some more speed tomorrow.”

In the Pro Junior (KFJ) category, Damon Strongman set the pace during qualifying in his Haase kart while using Castrol A747 oil and he continued that on in heat racing.

Strongman and his fellow Victorian, Championship leader Liam McLellan fought it out for much of the day, McLellan taking the first heat but Strongman edging him in the subsequent two.

Queenslander Callum Walker had a strong run in heat one finishing second, however wasn’t able to get off the line in heat two and the technical problems continued in heat three.

In the Dunlop TaG 125 State Championship categories, Joshua Crossingham will start the Pre-Final from the pole having shared heat race victories with Englishman Darren Burke. In the heavy division, Brendan Nelson shared heat wins with Michael Saller and the returning Luke May.

Cooper Murray has been the pace in Rookies, whilst Jamie Robertson leads the way in TaG Restricted.

Action continues tomorrow for all classes with Pre-Finals and Finals for the four support classes and the pair of Championship finals for the CIK Stars of Karting categories, presented by Castrol EDGE.

Follow the action across the weekend on the CIK Stars of Karting Series Twitter Feed (twitter.com/starsofkarting) and Facebook page (www.facebook.com/CIKStarsofKarting)

To view the full results, please click here.

To view the practice results from yesterday, please click here.