Winterbottom Storms to Victory in Geelong

25 July, 2001

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Mark Winterbottom has stormed from the second row of the grid, to turn the tables on Ford KartStars Series leader Chris Cox at the third round of the series in Geelong.

Cox kept his perfect qualifying record, grabbing pole for the third time and looked as though he would dominate proceedings after winning the first two heats on Saturday - his luck then turned with sunny conditions on Sunday.

Winterbottom qualified third behind Cox and Darren McDonald, who had his best round in the series, placing second in both of Saturday’s heats.

It was not until Sunday morning that Winterbottom saw the front, when he won heat three but dropped to fourth place in the point scoring pre final, won by William Yarwood ahead of Cox and McDonald.

The final proved that tables can turn, when Yarwood got shuffled back from pole position in the first turn. Cox took the lead from Winterbottom, McDonald and Bryce Godfrey, who would be forced out with throttle problems.

Yarwood started to make his way back as Winterbottom took the lead, making it a three-way fight to the flag.

Winterbottom kept the lead, but Yarwood and Cox swapped places a number of times with Cox eventually getting through for second place.

The victory was very important to Winterbottom who is now only eight points behind Cox in the point score with two rounds remaining.

Round Four will be held at Ipswich (QLD) on August 24 - 25 (Friday/Saturday night) under lights in conjunction with the Queensland 500 V8 race.

Ford Racing Australia's involvement in KartStars is aimed solely at identifying talented Australian drivers and providing them with a clear and direct path, regardless of their ability to raise the significant sums of money required to compete at the top levels.

All competitors run the same Drew Price Engineering (DPE) chassis type and the Rotax Max FR125 (cc) engines are dyno tested and then sealed, to ensure they are equal.

A control Bridgestone YGK tyre is used specifically for this Formula, and is the same tyre that was used at the World Max Challenge final and during the Ford series in 2000.

The top five drivers in the 2001 Ford KartStars series will battle it out for three major prizes. Two drivers will each receive a full season in Formula Ford and a third will undergo a racing driver's course at one of the most famous schools in the world, in the UK.

The driver selected as the winner will compete in the 2002 Ford Australia National Formula Ford Series Championship, with the runner up to contest the Victorian State series, both compliments of Ford Racing Australia.

STANDINGS AFTER ROUND TWO OF FIVE OF 2001 FORD KARTSTARS

1. Chris Cox 295 pts

2. Mark Winterbottom 287 pts

3. William Yarwood 272 pts

4. Bryce Godfrey 244 pts

5. Craig Clements 235 pts

6. Dean Oven 226 pts

7. Joshua Arandt 224 pts

8. Taz Douglas 214 pts

8. Andrew Torti 214 pts

10. Adrian Estasy 209 pts