WATCH THE 2007 VIDEO

2007 RESULTS ON MYLAPS David Sera, Kel Treseder & Ben Walter 
2007 RESULTS ON MYLAPS Kevin Millard, Rick Pringle & Michael Goss 

2007 IAME CHALLENGE - MYLAPS TIMING RESULTS

Pictured:  Back row  - Kevin Millard & David Sera
Middle Row: Ben Walter, Rick Pringle & Michael Goss
Front row: Remo Luciani & Kel Treseder

Six of Australia's best karters flew the Australian flag proudly in the inaugural 2007 IAME 125 World Challenge in Spain last weekend.

The event saw 31 teams from 15 countries assemble at the Circuit International Zuera in Zaragoza, approximately 290km from Barcelona, to battle for the honour of becoming the champion team.

Held over a pair of three-hour endurance races, where the driving duties evenly split between the drivers, the event was unlike anything the Australian contingent had previously experienced.

Of the six Australian's, David Sera, Kel Treseder, Ben Walter, Rick Pringle, Kevin Millard and Michael Goss, only Sera had raced overseas previously.  Despite this fact, the entire team was extremely impressive throughout the weekend.

The team of Pringle, Millard and Goss crossed the line second during the opening encounter on Saturday, only to be penalised two laps for leaving their pit bay a few second shy of the minimum five-minutes required during a stop.


Despite this hiccup the trio fought back gallantly in the second race to remain with the front-runners and claim fourth overall.

"This was a tremendous experience and I can't thank Remo Luciani from Remo Racing and the team at IAME for the experience they have provided us with this weekend," said Pringle.

"The racing was crazy and the track was like nothing any of us had experienced before. It was 1.7km long, had a massive straight, two hard braking corners and a few others you dabbed the brakes for - it was insane.

"To give people an understanding of how fast the track is, we were running a gear ratio with ten less teeth on the rear sprocket that we would normally run at Melbourne's Todd Road.

"While the racing was a big part of the trip, travelling to a different part of the world has also been a huge experience for us all."

Unfortunately, the trio of Sera, Treseder and Walter had a weekend full of mechanical issues masking their outright speed. After qualifying in 25th position Sera steered their machine into the top ten by the end of the second lap during the opening encounter.

A couple of laps later he was involved in an incident that bent the front crash bar and hampered his acceleration.  After enduring some further problems in the second three-hour encounter they would eventually be classified in 30th position overall.

The overall victory went to the Canadian team of Michael Hogg and David Jurca, the only entry with two drivers in their line up.

Australian IAME Importer, Remo Luciani of Remo Racing, was delighted with the performance of the six Australian's across the weekend and is already looking forward to next year's event to be held next September in Italy.

All competitors who have competed in a minimum of 3 rounds of their State' Toyota Leopard Series will have the opportunity at the Final Shootout to go into the lucky draw to win a trip to compete in the 2008 IAME 125 World Final in Italy racing with the Australia Team.

2007 REMO RACING TEAM AUSTRALIA

A word from Kel Treseder..... 01/11/07

KEL'S SPANISH KART OFFENSIVE

Bundaberg Karting king Kel Treseder was pleased with his efforts in Spain in the IAME International Kart Challenge. Everyone saw how good we were going - we definitely made the other countries notice how good Australian racing is."

Entrants from all over the world, including karting heavyweights Spain and Italy, raced in the same factory standard karts designed by Formula One legend Fernando Alonso.

(Team Australia #1) Kel was teamed with Victorian David Sera and Tasmanian Ben Walter, the Australian contingent raced well in qualifying before struggling in the finals to break into the top 10.

"In the first three hour race David Sera was driving really well and made his way from 20th to 9th," he said.

"But a guy from Peru spun out in front of him, which made him crash. "It took a while to get going again, but we managed to finish 15th.   "In the second race we got to fifth place, but that's when our carburettors started to pack it in and we had trouble finishing the race." After racing against some of the world's best drivers - with some already contracted to Formula One teams.

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(Team Australia #2) Kevin Millard, Rick Pringle & Michael Goss who ended up finishing 4th (after a 2-lap penalty which could have put them up on the podium)

www.iameinternationalchallenge.com