2nd April 2014

Karters' skills put to the ultimate test - From the News-Mail

(http://www.news-mail.com.au/news/heat-tests-karters/2217419/)

TRACKSIDE: Troy Loeskow was runner-up at the opening round of the CIK Stars of Karting series at Ipswich. (Pic: AF Images)

AT THE first round of the CIK Stars of Karting series at Ipswich it wasn’t just the drivers’ ability to pilot a go-kart at over 120kmh that was examined.

Thanks to the oppressive conditions their physical and mental endurance was tested in a tough two days of racing, and a pair of Bundaberg drivers passed with flying colours.

In the KF class Troy Loeskow made a great start to the five-round series, finishing runner-up to Scott Sorensen while Kel Treseder improved with each race to finish fifth in the KZ2 class.

Temperatures reached 32 degrees and the humidity peaked at 90% as the drivers sweated it out over 12 trips on to the Willowbank Raceway circuit.

Loeskow said some drivers didn’t enjoy the heat and he had a bit of dry cleaning to do after the weekend’s racing.

“The southern drivers complained a bit about the heat, the last races were a bit tricky because a few of them had big blisters on their hands,” Loeskow said.

“I had my brand new race suit and it was twice as heavy after the race (because of the sweat).”

In last year’s event at Ipswich Treseder’s air box fell off in heat three and the bad luck followed him into 2014.

In a first for Treseder the crank broke in his engine, and he failed to finish the third heat for the second-consecutive year.

He said the standard of racing has improved the year and as well as facing some of the world’s best drivers the night-time final added another dimension to the action.

“The game had stepped up this year and we were a bit disappointed when we qualified 10th,” Treseder said.

“(In the night final) everything seemed to happen but after the first few laps it was alright.”

It took Loeskow an extra day to recover than most of the drivers, studying engineering at university he fought fatigue to pull an all-night study session to keep his marks up.

The focus has shifted to round two at Bolivar in South Australia on May 2-4 and Loeskow said there was plenty of work still to do despite the great result.

“We put ourselves in a good position – last year I think we were sixth after the first round,” he said.

“There was a lot more testing to improve the kart, the engine and my fitness before the next round.”

Bundaberg’s other driver in Treseder’s class was Mason Barbera who made his debut in the category. It was a big step up for Barbera and he too improved over the meeting and finished 19th of the 32-driver field.

CIK Round 1

Results
Troy Loeskow: Runner-up, KF class
Kel Treseder: Fifth, KZ2 class
Mason Barbera: 19th, KZ2 class