KartSport New Zealand Top Half 2005
Round 1 ? Hamilton 24th April
The first round of Top Half dawned bright and crisp with a large number of drivers entered, 152 to be exact. Junior?s having the largest field of 25 and as expected KartSport Mt Wellington providing the largest number of club entrants (63). This all made for some fierce, close and great racing.
As usual the Cadets provided some of the closest and cleanest racing of the day and it was great to see the top National drivers on show. Bradley Hicks showed great consistency to win the day ahead of NZ1 Arie Hutton in second and Kieron Rollinson in third. Daniel Colville drove well and was unlucky not to win the final race, but we know he?ll be back.
With some of the top JR?s moving to Juniors after the Nationals it was great to see some new drivers that have moved up from Cadets already showing that they are real contenders in the Junior Restricted class. To emphasise this, Nick Cassidy led James Stead (2nd), Tom Blomquist (3rd) and Levi Madsen-Prinn (4th). Watch for these guys at the Auckland School Championships next month. It?s also great to see some other drivers giving it all in this large and competitive class in this event for the first time.
This biggest class of the day was Junior?s with 25 racing. There were seasoned campaigners as well as a number of drivers who were racing for the first time in Junior?s including youngsters Mathew Kinsman,Tim Vickers and David Mezaros. The luck of the grid draw was crucial for some but the cream of the drivers always came to the top. Matthew Wooding (what a class act) won the day ahead of Michael Burdett in 2nd and Ben Dallas 3rd .
Well, not a JICA in sight for the Junior National class, but the competition between the Rotax?s and ROK?s was fierce. Who knows which is the best engine. It didn?t matter as drivers showed all the talent with Jayden Hughes winning the day from John Bassick in 2nd and Richard Andrews (go the Bay) in 3rd. Don?t those Intrepids look nice.
Lydia Dickinson in Yamaha Lights showed some real top draw racing which wowed the spectators and other drivers. She seemed to have no problem taking first place for the day ahead of Deon Forest in 2nd and Jason Catley in 3rd. It?s great to see a number of Club Class drivers moving ahead to race in this event.
The Yamaha Heavy?s always makes for great entertainment as well as appreciating these skilful drivers at work. There was no better example than the racing put on today. Darren Aislabie won the day with an impressive 4 firsts out of five races ahead of Dion Kendall in 2nd and Clinton Fell in 3rd. We all wish Kevin Forsythe well and a speedy recovery with his injured leg.
A number of guys in the Rotax Lights had a busy day as they were also entered in the Yamaha Lights. Bradley Tyrrell was outstanding in 1st place with 4 firsts out of 5 races. In 2nd place was Philip Saunders who although having some tough grid draws did extremely well and in 3rd place was Kane Taylor who had a tough battle in the final.
Although it was the smallest field, the Rotax Heavies was exciting racing with a number of the smaller clubs doing well and the leading question is who can beat Bradley Alexander. Bradley came first for the day with five 1st places ahead of Jamie Coydre in 2nd and Gemma Olsen in 3rd. The third heat was awesome with Bradley coming from last in the grid to win the race.Scott Moore provided the biggest thrill of the day,sending his kart end over end on the main straight in the first heat.But the big fella walked away without injury...10 out of 10 Scottie!
The Open class provided spectacular racing with extreme speeds and a huge field. One of the largest Open fields seen for quite a while pitted some of the best drivers in the country against each other. Although Mt Wellington has a smaller track, it shows it can still provide many of the top Open drivers in the Northern Region (if not the country) with Paul Wood-Stotesbury (MTW) claiming 1st for the day ahead of Tim Hartley(MTW) in 2nd, Dan Smith(HAM) in 3rd and Richard Vickers(MTW) in 4th. Both Grant boys were there or there abouts but found the field a little harder to navigate through but when they did,boy, were they quick.
As for the club results, Rotorua/Taupo lead in 1st place, Tokoroa in 2nd, Hamilton 3rd, Mt Wellington 4th, Auckland 5th and Bay of Plenty in 6th.
The day finished very successfully, if not a little on the chilly side and huge thanks must go to the officials and drivers. The day went without a hitch and congratulations to those drivers that achieved top 3 places in their classes (it must feel great). The important thing to realise though is that this event is over four rounds and so consistency (as well as winning) is vital. Be sure to be at the next Round in Tokoroa on June 19th.
