Locals David Sera, left, and Justin Schneider dominated the recent Leopard Shootout, with Sera winning the Light class and Schneider the Heavy.By Stuart Teather
GO-KARTING is well and truly alive in the Berwick region, with two locals claiming big wins at the recent Leopard Shootout at Dubbo, NSW.
Narre Warren karting sensation David Sera picked up his third consecutive Shootout title in the Leopard Light class, dominating the event from start to finish.
Sera claimed pole position after qualifying, won his heat races, the pre-final then dominated in the final, blitzing the field to finish the length of the straight clear of second-placed Leigh Gallace.
The first prize was a new Toyota to add to Sera’s collection, leaving little room in the garage to go alongside the other two he won in the past two competitions.
Sera is now on a plane to Italy, where he will represent his country at the World Titles for the second year running.
Not to be outdone, Lysterfield South’s Justin Schneider won the Leopard Heavy class, dominating in a similar fashion to Sera.
Schneider, who grew up racing against Sera at the Oakleigh Go-Kart Club, won his heats and pre-final, but faced a stronger challenge in the final.
After starting from pole, Schneider was passed heading into the first corner, but fought back in the ensuing laps to win by the length of the straight, completing an epic victory.
The win capped off a remarkable season for Schneider, who was on the comeback path from a self-imposed year-long break from racing.
As he explained, there were a number of events leading to his time off.
“I had a break through work and I had a big accident back in Geelong two or three years ago,” he said.
“It was a fairly large-sized accident, so we just re-evaluated it all and I decided to have a bit of a break from racing, but then I realised I missed it too much, so I came back to have some fun again.”
The comeback has been a successful one, with Schneider winning three major meets this year – the Nationals, the Queensland State Championship and the Leopard Shootout.
He said he rated the Shootout as his best of the three.
“It was the one I was working for all year, everything I was concentrating on was for that,” he said.
“It had probably the best drivers from around Australia – five from each state – the level of competition up there was unreal.”
