VOLUME 4 - ISSUE 8
IT’S OUR BEST OIL YET... WWW.CASTROLEDGE.COM.AU
15th MAY 2014
ONE-TWO VICTORY FOR CASTROLOILED VW AT WRC ARGENTINA Jari-Matti Latvala has headed home a one-two finish for the Castrol EDGEoiled Volkswagen Motorsport team at the World Rally Championship event in Argentina. The Finn headed Volkswagen team-mate, and world champion, Sebastien Ogier by 1min 26.9sec. It was VW’s ninth consecutive WRC victory, breaking the record held by Citroen. Kris Meeke claimed his second podium of the season in a Citroen DS3. The Northern Irishman completed the fourday event, round five of the FIA World Rally Championship, 5min 54.7sec behind Latvala in third. “Last year I finished on the podium but I couldn’t dream to win here, it’s something special,” said Latvala. “I crashed in Portugal and there was a risk my self-confidence was down. If
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Ogier won, there was a chance the championship could become boring, but now we keep it alive.” Castrol-backed M-Sport World Rally Team’s Mikko Hirvonen reaffirmed his class as Rally Argentina came to a close with four stages to the west of Villa Carlos Paz. In a bitter sweet turn of fortune, the Finn claimed three of the four stage wins to prove that he would have been fighting at the head of the field were it not for an uncharacteristic mistake on SS2 where he hit a wall and retired for the day. Hirvonen finished ninth overall.
In the sister Castrol-oiled M-Sport Fiesta RS WRC, Elfyn Evans and co-driver Daniel Barritt continued to develop their skills. Making it through all 14 speed tests unscathed in seventh place overall, it was mission accomplished for the young Welshman who leaves his first visit to Argentina with a wealth of experience that will be invaluable in years to come. The championship returns to Europe for round six when the Mediterranean island of Sardinia hosts Rally Italia Sardegna on 6 – 8 June.
2014 FIA DRIVERS´ STANDINGS POS
DRIVER
TOTAL
1
Sebastien Ogier
112
2
Jari-Matti Latvala
88
3
Mads Ostberg
48
4
Andreas Mikkelsen
48
5
Mikko Hirvonen
40
6
Kris Meeke
32
7
Thierry Neuville
31
8
Elfyn Evans
26
9
Martin Prokop
22
10
Bryan Bouffier
18
2014 FIA TEAMS´ STANDINGS
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POS
TEAMS
TOTAL
1
Volkswagen Motorsport
187
2
Citroen Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team
90
3
M-Sport World Rally Team
68
4
Hyundai Shell World Rally Team
55
5
Volkswagen Motorsport II
52
6
Jipocar Czech National Team
24
7
RK M-Sport World Rally Team
12
MAIDEN WIN FOR WITTMANN AND CASTROL-BACKED BMW M4 DTM Castrol is backing both BMW and Audi this year in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM), and we enjoyed a phenomenally successful opening weekend at Hockenheim in Germany. For Castrol, it was a clean sweep of the top 10 as every point-scoring car in the event was powered by Castrol EDGE. The new Castrol EDGE-oiled BMW M4 DTM opened its career with a dream result in Hockenheim at the opening round of the 2014 DTM Championship. After 42 laps of the 4.574-kilometre circuit, Marco Wittmann crossed the finish line first in the Ice-Watch BMW M4 DTM, as the DTM opened its anniversary season with an eventful
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race. Not only was it the 24-year-old’s first triumph in only his 11th DTM race, but also the maiden victory for BMW Team RMG and BMW’s 60th win in the series. BMW are now top of the manufacturers’ standings on 54 points, with Audi in second on 47 – their rival Mercedes is yet to score a single point. The next race takes place at Oschersleben on 18th May. “What a dream debut weekend for the BMW M4 DTM,” said Jens Marquardt, BMW Motorsport Director. “To return to Hockenheim with the brand-new BMW M4 DTM and win the first race, half a
year after the last victory with the BMW M3 DTM – it doesn’t get much better. At the same time, it is also a great maiden win for BMW Team RMG and Marco Wittmann, who drove an absolutely incredible race and was in a league of his own. He controlled the entire race magnificently. It was a joy to watch him. However, there is also a lot of work behind this win from the entire team.” Six of the eight Castrol-backed BMW M4 DTMs finished the race in the points. Timo Glock came home fifth in the DEUTSCHE POST BMW M4 DTM, followed by Bruno Spengler in the BMW Bank M4 DTM, Martin Tomczyk in the BMW M Performance Parts M4 DTM
and Augusto Farfus at the wheel of the Castrol EDGE BMW M4 DTM in places six through to eight. Joey Hand also picked up a point, crossing the finish line in tenth in the Crowne Plaza Hotels BMW M4 DTM. The two rookies, Maxime Martin and António Félix da Costa, remain yet to score their first points, having ended their DTM debuts in 20th and 21st respectively. Félix da Costa was enjoying an outstanding race in his Red Bull BMW
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M4 DTM, and was in reach for a podium position for long periods. However, a collision with Timo Scheider and the subsequent drive-through penalty saw the Portuguese driver drop well back. Problems with a loose wheel after his pit top, coupled with the ensuing drivethrough penalty, cost Martin any chance of a better result.
2014 DTM Standings POS
DRIVER
POINTS
1
Marco Wittmann
25
2
Mattias Ekström
18
3
Adrien Tambay
15
4
Mike Rockenfeller
12
5
Timo Glock
10
6
Bruno Spengler
8
7
Martin Tomczyk
6
8
Augusto Farfus Jr.
4
9
Timo Scheider
2
10
Joey Hand
1
DOUBLE VICTORY FOR CASTROLBACKED PATA HONDA SBK Castrol-backed Pata Honda rider Jonathan Rea moved to the top of the World Superbike Championship after completing an impressive double victory in Round 4 at Imola. Rea dominated both of Sunday’s races confirming the pace shown in qualifying that saw him secure pole position. Rea’s double triumph moved him to the top of the championship standings by just four points from reigning world champion Tom Sykes. “It’s been a great weekend for me! I couldn’t have imagined doubling up coming here. But I knew we’d be strong because it’s a circuit I really enjoy and one that the bike goes really well at,” said Rea. “To cap it off, it’s also been a perfect weekend for the team
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with Lorenzo [Zanetti] winning his first World Supersport race so massive congratulations to him. It’s a shame we have a test tomorrow because I think everybody in the team deserves to go and really enjoy the night and savour this moment but it’s back to work tomorrow!” The Northern Irishman made a strong start to race one with Aprilia duo of Marco Melandri and Sylvain Guintoli hot on his heels. But it was the Ducati of Chaz Davies which posed the biggest threat as he soon grabbed third and then second spot from the two Aprilia’s. By the half way point Rea marched into a comfortable two second lead, while a four bike battle developed for second.
However, there was no stopping Rea at the front as he took the chequered flag from Davies and Kawasaki’s Sykes. Loris Baz came home in fourth ahead of Guintoli and Melandri. Rea once again showed his dominance at Imola in race two as he produced a commanding ride to record a double victory. The Ulsterman came under pressure from Guintoli and Davide Giugliano in the early stages before he blew away the opposition yet again. Behind, Davies, Sykes, Baz and Guintoli enjoyed a titanic scrap for second which played out over throughout the second half of the race. In the end, Rea cruised to victory while Davies just about held on to second from Guintoli. Baz pipped
his team-mate Sykes to fourth as Giugliano crossed the finish line in sixth. Castrol-oiled Pata Honda team-mates Lorenzo Zanetti and Michael van der Mark capped off a superb weekend for the team with a one-two finish during Sunday’s fourth-round World Supersport championship race. The World Superbike Championship moves to Great Britain’s Donington Park for Round 5 on May 24-25. 2014 SBK Championship standings 1.
J. REA
HONDA
139
2.
T. SYKES
KAWASAKI
135
3.
S. GUINTOLI
APRILIA
123
4.
L. BAZ
KAWASAKI
119
5.
C. DAVIES
DUCATI
87
6.
M. MELANDRI
APRILIA
84
7.
D. GIUGLIANO
DUCATI
69
8.
E. LAVERTY
SUZUKI
62
9.
L. HASLAM
HONDA
58
10.
A. LOWES
SUZUKI
50
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VICTORY FOR CASTROL EDGE-OILED VOLVO POLESTAR RACING IN STCC PREMIERE Castrol EDGE-oiled Volvo Polestar Racing driver Fredrik Ekblom won the second race of the 2014 Scandinavian Touring Car Championship at Knutstorp in the south of Sweden. The triple STCC champion was on top all weekend, from testing to qualifying and the two races. Ekblom qualified on pole position for the second race, a position he kept from lights to flag. “This has been a very good weekend. I have been in the top in all sessions and to finish it off with a victory feels great,” said Ekblom. “The team has given me a perfect car and the cooperation with my engineer Jan Andersson works really well. I had no problem in controlling the race all the way.” Ekblom had a tough fight with team mate and reigning champion Thed Björk in the first race, with the duo going side-by-
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side through several corners in the fight for sixth position.
STCC Championship standings 1 Fredrik Larsson BMW SR 55 points
Ekblom stayed ahead while Björk had to settle for seventh position in the first race, a position he improved to fourth position from sixth on the grid in the second race. Ekblom is second in the drivers’ championship after the two first STCC races of 2014, just four points from BMW driver Fredrik Larsson. Björk meanwhile is fifth on 30 points, just two points from Richard Göransson in third position. Castrol EDGE-backed Volvo Polestar Racing are second in the teams’ championship, five points behind BMW Dealer Team WestCoast Racing. STCC continues in four weeks on June 6-7 at Volvo Polestar Racing’s home circuit Gothenburg City Arena.
2 Fredrik Ekblom Volvo S60 51 (-4) 3 Richard Göransson Saab 9-3 32 (-23) 4 Mattias Lindberg Kia Optima 31 (-24) 5 Thed Björk Volvo S60 30 (-25) 6 Mattias Andersson Dacia SE (-25) 7 Philip Forsman BMW SR (-27) 8 Erik Jonsson BMW SR (-39) 9 Linus Ohlsson Kia Optima (-37) 10 Emma Kimiläinen Saab 9-3 (-45)
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CASTROL-BACKED HONDA YUASA RACING TASTE BTCC SUCCESS IN THRUXTON Castrol-backed Honda Yuasa Racing bagged a mix of race wins and podium finishes during the third round of the British Touring Car Championship. Matt Neal finished second in Race 1 with team-mate Gordon Shedden backing up to finish third and secure a double podium finish for the team in the opener. Shedden then upped proceedings to win Race 2 ahead of Andrew Jordan with Neal battling hard for a solid fourth. In a battle with Jordan to remember as Shedden took the lead late on after Jordan made a small error at Church. Shedden then hung on until the race was stopped when Nick Foster was involved in a big off. Thankfully Foster was OK.
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A hectic final race of the day saw Shedden come home P5 behind Colin Turkington, Fabrizio Giovanardi, Mat Jackson and Andrew Jordan.
contact with Rob Collard late on caused damage and forced him out.
The reverse grid provided the usual fireworks, resulting in two safety car periods after more incidents at Church for Ollie Jackson and Simon Belcher. For Neal, he enjoyed some close racing with both Jordan and Shedden, before 2014 BTCC Standings POS
DRIVER
TOTAL
1
Andrew Jordan
141
2
Gordon Shedden
133
3
Colin Turkington
123
4
Matt Neal
110
5
Jason Plato
106
CASTROL EDGE-BACKED AUDI ACHIEVES SECOND PLACE AT SPA Round two of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) at Spa marked the first podium finish for the Castrol-oiled Audi R18 e-tron quattro in this year’s FIA World Endurance Championship. After Audi was unfortunate in the WEC season opener two weeks ago with two retirements, round two produced a clearer picture of the effects of the new efficiency regulations and its ratings. Lucas di Grassi (BR) and the two World Champions Loïc Duval (F) and Tom Kristensen (DK) battled and finished the Spa 6 Hours as the runners-up. “A big thank you to the mechanics and the team that prepared two new cars for us before the race. We gave our best today and squeezed out every tiny bit,” said di Grassi. “Today we drove with the WEC aerodynamics, which helped us change the tires only at every second pit stop. Everybody did an outstanding job, but we’re going to have to improve some more in order to be in contention at Le Mans.”
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As the R18 e-tron quattro diesel hybrid sports car did not quite achieve the lap times of the best race cars with gasoline engines, which have a different rating than the efficient TDI power-plant, Audi opted for a different strategy. Car #2, which achieved fifth place, experienced a race with setbacks. An electric receiver for the lap trigger had separated at an early stage of the race.
As a result, the R18 e-tron quattro of Marcel Fässler/André Lotterer/Benoît Tréluyer (CH/D/F) was no longer receiving the organizer’s lap signal at the beginning of the race. As this pulser serves various systems André Lotterer was not able to use the full hybrid power of his race car either until the repair. A pressure loss in a tire on lap 101 cost car #2 additional time.
After the round at Spa, the WEC teams will meet again at Le Mans for the test day on June 1. Two weeks later, the season’s pinnacle event is on the agenda – the Le Mans 24 Hours on June 14 and 15 in which Audi has celebrated twelve victories to date.
2014 FIA WEC Standings Pos
Driver
Nat
Pts
1
DAVIDSON A.
GBR
50
1
LAPIERRE N.
FRA
50
1
BUEMI S.
CHE
50
2
WURZ A.
AUT
34
2
NAKAJIMA K.
JPN
34
2
SARRAZIN S.
FRA
34
3
DUVAL L.
FRA
18
3
DI GRASSI L.
BRA
18
3
KRISTENSEN T.
DNK
18
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FOURTH USCC PODIUM FOR CASTROL-BACKED BMW TEAM RLL The Number 55 Castrol EDGE-oiled BMW Z4 GTLM, secured the fourth consecutive BMW Team RLL podium finish of the 2014 United SportsCar Championship race at California’s Laguna Seca circuit. Bill Auberlen’s last lap pass in the final turn of the race secured second place and the amazing podium run alive in the newly formed
championship. The runner-up finish keeps Auberlen and team-mate, Andy Priaulx, at the top of the driver points standings and BMW Team RLL in the lead in the team points. “Anyone who knows me and has raced against me all these years will tell you I race clean, but when I try to pass
another car on the outside of 11 and they slam the door and then do it again on the next lap I am really unhappy,” said Auberlen. “Andy did a great job and he was staying with everybody. You can’t ask anything else of a team mate as he handed me a perfect car. It is great to finish second and extend our lead in the championship.” The duo completed 84 laps during the two-hour race, finishing 4.710 seconds behind the winning Corvette of Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia. The race of team-mates John Edwards and Dirk Müller, in the Number 56 BMW Z4 GTLM, was affected by a vibration that forced starting driver Edwards to pit on lap 22 and later in closing stages of the race when Müller was penalised for avoidable contact and called to the pit lane for a stop-and-go penalty. They finished tenth.
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2014 USCC Standings POS
DRIVER
PTS
1
BILL AUBERLEN
123
1
ANDY PRIAULX
123
2
ANTONIO GARCIA
118
2
JAN MAGNUSSEN
118
3
OLIVER GAVIN
111
3
RICHARD LIETZ
111
3
TOMMY MILNER
111
3
NICK TANDY
111
4
PATRICK LONG
110
4
MICHAEL CHRISTENSEN
110
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CASTROL HONDA WTCC TAKES DOUBLE PODIUM AT HUNGARORING Tiago Monteiro stood proudly on the podium not once but twice having raced his Castrol Honda Civic WTCC into third for Race 1 and second in Race 2 at the FIA World Touring Car Championship event at the Hungaroring. The Honda Civics of Gabriele Tarquini earned 4th and 7th places whilst Mehdi Bennani finished a strong 5th in race 1. “I had a really good balance in the car and in the first laps was trying to pass Lopez and when I was pushing him he made mistakes so I hoped he would give me a chance,” said Monteiro. “But once the race settled down and I could judge my lap speed I could see there was no need to go faster and to make certain we were good for race 2.”
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For Bennani 5th position was a strong result but a turbo problem on the slowing down lap would rob him of a chance to run in Race 2. “It was not a very exciting race for me after the start but I was driving very smoothly to be certain the car was OK for Race 2,” said Bennani. “Then as we came round after the finish there was smoke from the exhaust and the engineers determined that we could not run in Race 2 which is disappointing but we will be
fighting again in Slovakia next week.” Alessandro Mariani, Managing Director of J.A.S. Motorsport was equally pleased with the results. “I am happy we were able to take two important podiums and were close to winning race 2. Let us see how we get on at Slovakia where we had a great result last year.”
Rain halts success in Slovakia for Castrol Honda WTCC team The Castrol Honda Civics of Tiago Monteiro and Gabriele Tarquini finished seventh and eighth respectively for Race 1 of the WTCC event at Slovakia Ring. Race 2 was cancelled due to dangerous conditions. Conditions deteriorated as the rain intensified, forcing Race 1 to be halted with 4 laps to go. The track was flooded and the Race Director decided correctly that conditions were unsafe. Track conditions were wet for the start but heavy rain fell immediately the cars left the grid and increased as the race progressed. For the Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team the conditions could not have been less favourable. Tarquini made a very strong start but was then blocked and forced wide. Monteiro also made a good start to close up behind his Italian team-mate and was able to pass him on lap 6 for the two Castrol liveried Civics to finish close together in the shortened race. After the disappointment of Saturday when boost problems cut short his qualifying opportunities, Mehdi Bennani quickly moved up the field from the back of the grid to be running in 13th place after two laps. A slide delayed him midrace and he was running in 15th position when the race was halted. 2014 WTCC standings
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POS
DRIVER
POINTS
1
JOSÉ MARIA LÓPEZ
138
2
SÉBASTIEN LOEB
113
3
YVAN MULLER
109
4
Tiago Monteiro
71
5
Gabriele Tarquini
52
CASTROL-SUPPORTED NORTON WINS MAIDEN LIGHTNING SPRINT EVENT Castrol-supported Tony Norton drove to his maiden Lightning Sprint feature-race win during Saturday night’s Speedway event at Brisbane’s Archerfield Speedway. In just his second season in the Lightning Sprint class, Norton won in convincing fashion after starting on the outside front row alongside pole sitter and current
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Queensland Champion Scott Genrich for the 15-lap feature race. From the outset, Genrich built up a commanding lead in the opening laps before Norton drove round him to take control of the lead and never looked back in the second half of the race.
The three heat-race wins were shared between Norton, Genrich and Jim Kennedy. This event win move’s Norton into third position in the championship standings with two more races left in the season.
CASTROL-BACKED GO&FUN SIXTH IN JEREZ Castrol-backed GO&FUN Honda have kicked their 2014 MotoGP season into gear with Alvaro Bautista finishing sixth in Jerez for the Spanish Grand Prix. Having started from tenth place after two very complicated days of practice, the Spaniard was able to recover several positions in the second half of the race, finishing with an exciting last lap battle with Andrea Dovizioso. “The team worked in a fantastic way, but we couldn’t find a good setting for the race, so I knew it would have been tough,,”said Bautista. “At the start I immediately struggled with front grip, losing the front end in several parts of the track. In any case, I tried to keep my pace and when I saw that the riders in front of me were opening a gap, I kept calm. Later I started to recover and I was also able to overtake them.
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There was a five-bike battle for fifth, with Bautista starting the last lap in that position, but finishing it in sixth behind Dovizioso (Ducati) by just over a tenth of a second, and a little bit more than that ahead of the three Yamahas of
Aleix Espargaro, Bradley Smith and Pol Espargaro. All five over the line within less than two seconds. Bautista had fought through from tenth on the first lap. The former
preferred not to take too many risks: our primary goal was to finish the race. I’m glad I finished my first Grand Prix of the season and I hope that from now on we can be competitive as we were in winter testing and in the first race.” Team-mate Scott Reading came home in 13th aboard the GO&FUN Honda Gresini Honda RCV1000R.
2014 MotoGP Standings
125cc champion has a special role as race-tester for Japanese Showa suspension and Nissin brakes, made by companies with strong links to Honda.
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“The last lap battle with Dovizioso was exciting: congratulations to him, who defended very well the fifth position. “It must be said that given our situation I
POS
DRIVER
POINTS
1
Marc Márquez
100
2
Daniel Pedrosa
72
3
Valentino Rossi
61
4
Andrea Dovizioso
45
5
Jorge Lorenzo
35
6
Stefan Bradl
30
7
Aleix Espargaró
30
8
Bradley Smith
28
9
Andrea Iannone
25
10
Pol Espargaró
25
11
Nicky Hayden
23
12
Hiroshi Aoyama
19
13
Scott Redding
14
14
Yonny Hernández
13
15
Cal Crutchlow
10
15
Álvaro Bautista
10
NEW WINNERS CROWNED IN ADELAIDE STARS OF KARTING Three new winners were crowned during the second round of the Castrol EDGE CIK Stars of Karting Championships in Adelaide, with an epic rivalry being built in the premier KZ2 Gearbox category. The battle lines between defending Australian Champion, Joey Hanssen and 17-time Australian Champion, David Sera have firmly been drawn. After an altercation heading into the first turn in Sunday’s first final - ultimately won by Sera - the pair shared words in the pits before it reached boiling point at the start of the second final. Sera was eliminated on the exit of the third turn by Hanssen. After a titanic early race battle with Energy Corse driver, Jason Faint, the Dutchman took his CRG across the line first in the final by a big margin, however post race officials deemed him to be the cause of
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the incident with Sera and penalised him 10 seconds. This opened the door for an ecstatic Faint to take his first CIK Stars of Karting Championship round win. He was in career best form, making a sensational start from the line and led the opening laps. Even with the penalty, Hanssen finished second in front of Gold Coaster, Chris Hays who salvaged third after a difficult weekend. Hanssen’s Championship lead was extended to 55 points over Sera. Adelaide racer, Josh Tynan - who only first drove a KF2 machine on Saturday morning - took a fairytale pair of wins in both finals in front of an appreciative home crowd. He beat home defending Champion, Matthew Waters and new Championship leader Troy Loeskow to take the victory in his Energy Kart. In the Junior KF3 category, Darwin’s Bryce Fullwood took his first final in the opening 34 lap race of the day, before another new victor in Zane Morse - from Canberra - brought his Tony Kart home after an outstanding four way battle. Morse beat home Fullwood and Aaron Cameron at the end of the battle, which also included Sydney racer, Andrew Kahl. Fullwood now leads the Championship by six points from round
one winner, Jayden Ojeda. In the support categories, Daniel Rochford took out TaG Light, Brendan Nelson TaG Heavy, Daniel Boorman TaG Restricted Light, David Rinaldi TaG Restricted Heavy and in arguably the race of the day, Joshua
Smith won the Rookies category after an epic five kart battle. The next round of the Castrol EDGE CIK Stars of Karting competition will be held at Puckapunyal in Victoria over the weekend of June 14-15. CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS POINTS KZ2 1.
Joey Hanssen
229
2.
David Sera
174
3.
Chris Hays
173
4.
Jordie Ford
169
5.
Kel Treseder
164
1.
Troy Loeskow
206
2.
Matthew Waters
202
3.
Scott Sorensen
195
4.
Jarryd Ebzery
184
5.
Nathan Tigani
177
KF2
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