Final 1 victory turns to final 2 despair for Sera!

By August 25, 2016 Latest News

The second round of the CIK Stars of Karting championship was held at Bolivar Raceway, South Australia on the 4th & 5th of May, where David Sera took out his first finals victory since returning to the series in the premier KZ2 class.

With rain greeting drivers all of Friday, the five timed practice sessions were held under difficult conditions. Sera placed his Deadly chassis in first for the initial practice session, and second for the remaining four, to finish only behind 2011 KZ2 World Cup winner Joey Hanssen.

wet“This was my first drive behind a KZ2 kart in wet conditions since 2010! There is a lot going on out there with gear changes, four-wheel braking, and different race lines all to get used to again. Overall I’m very pleased with how the day has turned out” said Sera.

Saturday brought about a drying circuit as the KZ2 class hit the track for their ten minute qualifying. With lap times dropping each circuit, Sera placed his kart in fourth, which was enough to secure a spot in the top five shoot out. With two flying laps timed, Sera had to abort his first flying lap with brake bias issues. Once he was able to fix this issue, the Melbourne based driver set his sights on lap two and was able to move his way up to third position. Three heat races were set for Saturday, with Sera carding results of third, third and ninth.

“Unfortunately a setup adjustment heading into the final heat race didn’t enable us to have enough speed to stay with the leading drivers. We will endeavour to go back to basics with the setup and hope to challenge for a podium finish tomorrow.”

Two 34-lap finals were set for the final day of racing on Sunday. All CIK drivers were allocated two sets of new MG yellow tyres, with drivers electing when they would use their second set. Sera chose to utilise his second set of tyres in final one to make the most of his row two starting position.

After making a good start and passing Hanssen on the approach to turn one, Sera was able to maximise his superior grip levels to open up a race winning lead early on in the 34-lap final with Kel Treseder and Hanssen battling out for second and third. As the laps went on, Sera dictated terms in the lead and cruised to victory. However, Sera’s first KZ2 final triumph was marred by an after race incident with Hanssen, resulting in both drivers losing championship points.

“We put the kart back to a neutral setup and it definitely had a lot better balance on the new tyres. Having opened up a large lead early on in the race I was able to cruise the last ten laps to try and save as much tyre life as possible.”

Final two was set to be a baptism of fire with Sera lining up on pole position, Treseder on two with Hanssen in third. With a rocky start, Sera exited turns one & two in third place. Holding a defensive line on the approach to turn three, Sera received an aggressive shunt from the proceeding drivers, forcing him out wide on the exit. Hanssen was making his way past Sera when the current championship leader made contact with Sera’s Deadly chassis, forcing him into the tyre barrier & out of the race.

“What can I say? After receiving many bumps into turn three and being just about pushed off the circuit, I didn’t have the same exit speed as my competitors, but the lack of sportsmanship displayed on the field this afternoon was very disappointing” said a fired up Sera. “This weekend we didn’t have the fastest kart, but we were doing our best to salvage as many points as possible. It’s just guttering to lose a lot of championship points so early on.”

After the altercation Hanssen was found guilty and penalised for the on track incident which left Sera to rue his lost championship points.

The next round of the CIK stars of karting championship will take place at the Hume International Raceway in Seymour on June 15 & 16.