KUMHO FUTURE CHAMPIONS CASMIRI AND BERRY READY FOR OUTRIGHT AUSTRALIAN CHAMPIONSHIP CHALLENGE
Rising rally stars Adam Casmiri and Dane Berry are preparing to take on the outright Bosch Australian Rally Championship competitors after winning the Rallyschool Australian Junior Challenge last weekend at the Snake Racing Coffs Coast Rally.
Sydney driver Adam Casmiri came into the RAJC two wheel drive final as a wild card entry but after two days of tough competition the Honda Civic Type R driver came out on top.
Casmiri overcame mechanical dramas throughout the event and admits it was a tense battle with fellow two wheel drive RAJC competitors for the win.
"It's a bit of a relief really," said Adam Casmiri.
"It was a challenging weekend but I'm glad we got through it for the win.
"We had a brake issue at testing which we got on top of then the plan on Saturday was not to push too hard but Steve Mackenzie was faster than we were expecting so we had it step it up a bit."
Casmiri lost time in the opening heat after replacing a flat tyre and fell to second behind South Australian Guy Tyler and then climbed back to the top of the time charts despite gearbox issues in the final heat.
Casmiri won a set of Kumho rally tyres, a fully funded drive at the final round of the Bosch Australian Rally Championship at Rally Victoria in an outright four wheel drive car and a test with four time ARC champion Simon Evans in the G2 Spec Mazda2.
"Simon's always been one of my idols," Casmiri said.
"Growing up I had posters of his cars on my wall so to get the opportunity to drive his car and learn from him will be an unreal experience.
"I'm really excited to have a crack at the outright Bosch Four Wheel Drive Australian Rally Championship and see how I go against Michael Boaden and Steven Shepherd.
"Last year I finished fifth overall driving an Evo VI and this year I'm hoping to better that."
Victorian Dane Berry heads into the Bosch ARC final with confidence after wrapping up the four wheel drive RAJC in his Mitsubishi Evo IV with a clean run over the 16 stage Coffs Coast Rally.
"It feels great win to RAJC and it will be good to see how we perform outright at my home event," said Dane Berry.
"It was almost a perfect weekend for us.
"We got a small time penalty on Saturday but we had a big enough lead for it to be an issue and then on Sunday we pushed hard early and built a solid lead."
Berry has been a regular in the RAJC over the past two years and qualified for the final after winning Rally Calder in March. Berry also won a set of Kumho rally tyres valued at nearly $1000, funding towards Rally Victoria and a test in the Evans Mazda2.
"I'm really looking forward to the test of the two wheel drive Mazda2," said Berry.
"We're currently working on plans for a two wheel drive car for the 2013 Bosch ARC so driving the Evans car should be great experience ahead of next year.
"It's been a great opportunity to do the RAJC this year and experience the ARC and it was even better to come out on top!"
The Kumho Future Champions Award has been designed to assist and encourage the young drivers taking part in the Rallyschool.com.au AJC to step up to top levels of the sport and give them an incentive to continue in what is a demanding and expensive sport.
As control tyre supplier, Kumho is putting its backing into the Australian Rally Championship with a reduction in the cost of tyres, encouragement awards and significant rights fees going to the sport.