2007 AUSTRALIAN SUPERKART CHAMPIONSHIP

Round 2, Eastern Creek Raceway
July 14-15

McIlveen, McIntyre and Stebbing Claim Series Titles

Warren McIlveen was too quick for the competition at Eastern Creek
Raceway, taking two wins and a second to secure his sixth Australian
Superkart Championship in the 250 International class, a tenth
consecutive title for the Stockman Superkarts team. Jason McIntyre
sucessfully defended his 250 National division title, while Kristian
Stebbing broke through for his first title, winning the 125cc Australian
Championship.

McIlveen (Mac's Marine Stockman-Honda) was behind in the points heading
into the final round, some eight points behind Stockman Superkarts team
mate Sam Zavaglia, and four behind RMR Superkarts racer Gary Pegoraro,
but pole position and a dominant Race 1 win put his title firmly back on
track. Winning the second race with Zavaglia well down the order with an
electrical gremlin meant the pressure was off for the final as all he
would need as a finish inside the top eight. What gave the persuing
three drivers hope was continuing cylinder detonation issues with the
kart that might bring McIlveen undone. The kart and driver were strong
enought to control the race from the front early on in the final race.
Zavaglia slipped through to take the final race victory, bringing home a
1-2 finish in the championship for the Stockman Superkarts team.

Proceedings had been complicated by an incident during the third race
when a wheel rubbing clash between Zavaglia and the International
Entertainment PVP of Anton Stevens sent Stevens into a tumbling
accident. While there were initial fears for Stevens health, his
injuries were relatively minor and it is expected that the New Zealander
will be released from hospital on Monday. Stevens had been very quick
and had recovered to be fighting in the top three after a bolt head
break in Race 1 had caused a chain reaction that sprayed engine water
over the Kiwi in Race 1. An excellent second place behind McIlveen in
Race 2 demonstrated what he had been capable of.

The ensuing delay while the paramedics attended Stevens and a brief
invesigation by the authorities the program was substantially delayed
leading to the race being declared at two laps, effectively a non-result
with no points awarded.

This left Zavaglia, Carlo Chermaz and Pegoraro seperated by just four
points heading into the final. However, third and fourth was the best
Chermaz and Pegoraro could manage. For Chermaz though second for the
round and third for the championship was an excellent result after being
forced to race the previous round with a broken elbow and injured arm.
Chermaz's tiny team from Queensland performed above expectations against
the big mutlicar teams from Stockman's and RMR.

For Pegoraro fourth in the championship is perhaps disappointing but it
was his first season in 250 International for several years as the RMR
Marron Excavations Anderson-Rotax team built up this year to challenge
Stockman Superkarts. It took until the second race for Pegoraro to get
up to the pace but was just off the pace of top three karts.

Darren Hossack had a consistent run through the weekend, running just on
the tail of the pace of Chermaz, Pegoraro and Stevens, picking up points
to finish fifth in the championship for the Safe Evolutions team,
prooving the local enginuity of the teams self-developed Safe Billet
Cases engines. Stephen Castles in the NEC Automotive Stockman improved
over the weekend to finish sixth.

In 250 Nationals class, defending Jason McIntyre's title became easier
after a reed valve failed on John Roberts' Stockman-Kawasaki. A second
DNF in Race 2 wrapped the title up but McIntyre won the third race to
make sure, leaving him undeafeted for the season. Consistency brought
his RMR team mate Rick Setterfield into second position for the
championship while a final race finish allowed Roberts to hang on to
third in the points.