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The title was one of 12 contested at KartSport Manawatu's Manawatu Toyota-sponsored 2007 National Sprint Championship presented by the Toyota Racing Series at the club's Manawatu Toyota Raceway over the Easter weekend
The 100cc Yamaha Light title is the first Senior one for former Junior star Wooding, however the all-expenses-paid trip for two to Japan will not be the 16-year-old pre-apprenticeship trainee's first foray overseas.
Two years ago he represented New Zealand in the Formula Junior class at the annual Rotax Max World Challenge in Langkawi in Malaysia.
Wellington's Karl Wilson was the form man in the Senior 100cc Yamaha Light class in qualifying on Friday and the heats on Saturday morning but Wooding - who set the 10th quickest lap time in qualifying - improved as the weekend went on, working his way up to fifth in both the heat races and third in the Pre-Final.
Top local driver Fraser Hart got the better of Wilson off the line in the Final but Wooding was in a lead he would never lose on the 10th (of 20) laps, eventually crossing the finish line 0.865 of a second in front of Wilson who had a similar margin on Palmerston North's Hart brothers Josh and Fraser.
Christchurch driver Simon Hunter was the other Senior Yamaha class winner at this year's Nationals, successfully defending his 2006 Senior 100cc Yamaha Heavy title with a clean sweep of the heats, the Pre-Final and the Final.
Local hero Hayden Sarcich looked like causing an upset when he set the quickest qualifying time on Friday, but Hunter won the first heat from second quickest qualifier Donna Lee, the second from Sarcich and the Pre-Final and Final from last year's runner-up Stuart Marshall.
In the other Senior classes, international Mitch Cunningham dominated Formula 100, qualifying quickest and winning all four races, the heats and pre-Final from Karl Wilson and the Pre-Final and Final from Fraser Hart.
Though neither Wilson nor Hart could get close to Cunningham, there was plenty of action just behind with local hot shot Ryan Bailey involved in a race-long battle with Hunter and Tony Chambers for fourth place, eventually settled in favour of Chambers with Bailey fifth and Hunter sixth.
There was controversy meanwhile in both 125cc Rotax Max categories with Christchurch 24-year-old Matthew Hamilton winning his third New Zealand Rotax Max Light title and visiting Australian driver Tom Williamson winning his first New Zealand Rotax Max Heavy one.
Hamilton was the quickest Rotax Max Light qualifier but Daniel Kent won the first heat and fellow Aucklander Paul Cameron won the second and the Pre-Final.
Kent and Cameron both had turns leading the 20 lap Final but Cameron had edged ahead after Kent had been delayed defending a late race attack from Hamilton.
Kent was able to bridge the gap to Cameron however and dived underneath as the pair braked for the final turn.
Contact was made and the pair sledged off the track together, leaving the way open for Hamilton - who at that stage looked like he had settled for third place - to take the flag and the 2007 title.
Meanwhile Christchurch's Hamish Cross, a top Junior in the early 90s who has returned to karts after an impressive foray into cars, was the fastest of the Rotax Max Heavy entrants in qualifying, and went on to win the first heat race, but Australian Tom Williamson won the second heat, Pre-Final and Final, the latter after a late-race pass on Cross.
Cross was unhappy with the way the pass was made and appealed the Final result so it remains provisional until the appeal process is finalised.
A feature of the Rotax Max Heavy Final was the drive from the back of the grid to sixth place by Christchurch driver Adam Boote.
Boote crashed heavily in the Pre-Final after a brake problem and did well to start let alone finish the Final.
There were upsets in all three gearbox classes too, though not for the same reasons.
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Top South Island driver Vickie Saunders proved too good for her North Island counterparts in the Open class, withstanding huge pressure everytime she ventured out onto the track in her unique twin-engined kart.
The Dunedin woman set the quickest lap time in qualifying and won each race she started; a feat made even more impressive by the calibre of driver she was competing against; F125S champion Jason Lee who finished second in the Final and multi-time New Zealand champion Ryan Urban who finished third. |
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Vickie Saunders. Photo : Fast Company/Andrew Bright-Ultrapix |
Consolation for Lee looked set to come in the F125S class, where the young Aucklander was his usual swash-buckling self in the heats and Pre-Final only to spear off the track early in the Final leaving the way clear for Daniel Eggleton to claim the race win and the 2007 title from KartSport Mt Wellington clubmate Daniel Bray and Mark Swetman from the Bay of Plenty.
KZ2 class favourite Ryan Grant found himself in a similar position, stalling on the line at the start of the Final and having to fight his way back through the field from the back of the pack.
Despite lowering the track lap record on the way back up through the field he was not able to make up the time he lost, Taranaki driver Niklaus Kiser riding to the occasion to take the win and the 2007 New Zealand title from Daniel Bray with Grant third.
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In the Junior classes North Island champion Tim Vickers from Auckland added the New Zealand Formula Junior title to his CV after a weekend-long battle with South Island champion Chris Cox.
Cox was quicker in qualifying on Friday but Vickers led his Christchurch counterpart home in the heats, Pre-Final and Final. |
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Tim Vickers. Photo : Fast
Company/Andrew Bright-Ultrapix |
Another North Island champion to win a New Zealand title was Auckland's Mathew Kinsman who won the Junior 100cc Yamaha class, eventually getting the better of local driver Mitchell Hill and Auckland's Mitchell Evans.
Last year's New Zealand 100cc Junior Restricted Yamaha class champion Nick Cassidy qualified quickest and won the two heats only to have an early exit from the Pre-Final (meaning he couldn't start the Final) after fouling a spark plug on the warm up lap.
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In the 100cc Junior Restricted Yamaha class Auckland's Arie Hutton claimed his second New Zealand title, getting the better of a class field and winning one of the hardest fought and most entertaining Finals.
Nelson youngster Scott Manson was the quickest qualifier and eventual runner-up Daniel Kinsman won the second heat but Hutton won the first heat, the Pre-Final and the Final, the latter after a thrilling three-way battle in the closing laps with Kinsman and local driver Bramwell King. |
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Arie Hutton. Photo : Fast Company/Andrew Bright-Ultrapix |
Aaron Wilson found himself in a similar situation in the Cadet class, the reigning North Island champion from Auckland keen to leave the category he has dominated for the past 12 months on a winning note.
It wasn't easy, but he did do it, eventually winning the Final from local Josh Drysdale and KartSport Mt Wellington clubmates Christopher Sinclair and Stephen Kelly.
This year's National Sprint Championship meeting was sponsored by Manawatu Toyota with TV coverage of the event on Powerbuilt Motorsport on TV1 and Sky Sport 1 to be presented by the Toyota Racing Series.
Manawatu Toyota 2007 KartSport New Zealand National Sprint Championships presented by the Toyota Racing Series KartSport Manawatu Manawatu Toyota Raceway Shirriffs Rd Palmerston North Fri/Sat/Sun April 6-8 2007
Provisional results
Senior 100cc Yamaha Light
1. Mathew Wooding 47.149; 2. Karl Wilson +0.865; 3. Josh Hart +0.775; 4. Fraser Hart +0.307; 5. Cody McMasters +0.253; 6. Matthew Hamilton +0.598.
Senior 100cc Yamaha Heavy
1. Simon Hunter 48.733; 2. Stuart Marshall +0.477; 3. Aarron Cunningham +4.908; 4. Michael Grimshaw +0.285; 5. Leyton Kendall +0.366; 6. Charles Hoare +0.768.
Formula 100
1. Mitch Cunningham 43.536; 2. Fraser Hart +7.996; 3. Karl Wilson +3.009; 4. Tony Chambers +0.428; 5. Ryan Bailey +1.095; 6. Simon Hunter +3.561.
125cc Rotax Max Light
1. Matthew Hamilton 45.971; 2. Paul Cameron +0.962; 3. Simon Evans +0.145; 4. Tony Chambers +0.236; 5. Kane Taylor +1.960; 6. Josh Hart +0.413.
125cc Rotax Max Heavy
1. Tom Williamson 46.467; 2. Hamish Cross +1.114; 3. Nikki Mills +5.763; 4. Aarron Cunningham +1.005; 5. Mark Gilmer +0.131; 6. Adam Boote +0.246.
Open
1. Vickie Saunders 43.083; 2. Jason Lee +0.163; 3. Ryan Urban +1.410; 4. Melissa Urban +4.138; 5. Daniel Bray +5.740; 6. Mark Swetman +0.674.
KZ2
1. Niklaus Kiser 42.981; 2. Daniel Bray +1.945; 3. Ryan Grant +0.632; 4. Graeme Smyth +3.518; 5. Michael Wheaton +0.228; 6. Simon Evans +0.848.
F125S
1. Daniel Eggleton 43.772; 2. Daniel Bray +5.190; 3. Mark Swetman +1.149; 4. Jason Lee +1.713; 5. Greg Helleur +1.296; 6. Rick Huston +13.605.
Formula Junior
1. Tim Vickers 46.012; 2. Chris Cox +1.767; 3. Tom Blomqvist +0.953; 4. Steven Thompson +4.185; 5. Tyler Richardson +3.209; 6. Jamie McNee +0.488.
Junior 100cc Yamaha
1. Matthew Kinsman 47.396; 2. Mitchell Hill +0.625; 3. Mitchell Evans +6.241; 4. Steven Thompson +0.499; 5. Jamie McNee +2.879; 6. Daniel Dufty +1.691.
Junior Restricted 100cc Yamaha
1. Arie Hutton 48.444; 2. Daniel Kinsman +0.407; 3. Bramwell King +1.792; 4. Andy Schofield +2.959; 5. Aaron Hodgson +0.949; 6. Ben Drummond +0.133.
Cadet
1. Aaron Wilson 51.726; 2. Josh Drysdale +0.175; 3. Christopher Sinclair +1.754; 4. Stephen Kelly +5.156; 5. Mitchell Turner +5.373; 6. Jordan McDonnel +0.286.
Prepared by FAST COMPANY on behalf of KartSport New Zealand. To find out more about the Manawatu Toyota 2007 KartSport New Zealand National Sprint Championships presented by the Toyota Racing Series contact Ross MacKay on 021 677 919 or via e-mail at ross@fastcompany.co.nz
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