KARTSPORT NEW ZEALAND

Media Release

For immediate release

 

    Rnd 3

    The Pallet Company Raceway

 

 

05-04-06

 

 

Tokoroa's Bradley Tyrrell's winning Top Half Kart Series streak continued, despite the worst possible weather conditions, at the third round of the 2006 Top Half Kart Series at KartSport Auckland's Pallet Company Raceway on Sunday.

 

Tyrrell, 17, won three of the four heats to again win the day in the hotly contested Senior 100cc Yamaha Light class, leading home internationally-successful kart-turned-single-seater car racer Earl Bamber and Hamilton's Matt Bambery.

 

Steady rain fell throughout the day making a good wet weather chassis set-up, not to mention a steady hand behind the wheel, essential. Bamber - just back from the first round of the 2006 Formula BMW Asia Championship at the Malaysian Formula Grand prix meeting - was never far from Tyrrell, but it was only in the third head  - which Tyrrell started from P14 on the grid - that he and Matt Bambery (who finished second) had a chance of keeping Tyrrell at bay.

 

The result at the rain-drenched Auckland meeting bodes well for the upcoming Sprint Kart National Championships at Hawke's Bay over Easter where an all-expenses-paid trip to compete at a high profile meeting in Japan is up for grabs for the winner of the Senior 100cc Yamaha Light title.

 

In the other classes, Open was again the preserve of Auckland's Jason Lee, who won all four heats to end the day with a five point advantage over Daniel Kent who had a further three point buffer on third placed Michael McDonald.

 

There was also a clean sweep in the Rotax Max Heavy class where Hamilton's Phillip Saunders also scored four wins from four starts. Second was Brent Murgatroyd, third Brent Gilchrist, both from Auckland, fourth the Bay of Plenty's Deon Symes.

 

Senior 100cc Yamaha Heavy was the preserve of Brad Curtin, despite finishing the day on the same number of points as second placed Leyton Kendall. Both drivers won a race, but Curtin's 4-2-2 score in the others was - just - better than Kendall's 3-2-3.

 

Third was Aarron Cunningham, fourth KartSport Mt Wellington clubmate Stuart Marshall.

 

Former New Zealand representative and now New Zealand's 'Mr Arrow,' Tony Chambers, was a popular winner of Rotax Max Light with three wins and a second, to show class young guns Kane Taylor and Mike Male the way home.

 

Taylor won the fourth heat from Chambers but his 7-3-3 run through the other heats was no match for Chambers' 1-1-1-2.

 

Eternal hard-charger James Stead finally got the big win that has so deserved in Junior 100cc Yamaha, albeit this time without winning a race. So competitive is the Junior Yamaha class at the moment that each heat had a different winner - Tokoro'a David Meszaros the first, Hamilton's Tyler Richardson the second, Mt Wellington's Richard Moore the third and Auckland's Mathew Kinsman the fourth.

 

It was Stead - who carded a 4-2-2-3 run through the heats - who had the consistency though and he won the day from Meszaros, Kinsman and the other highly rated young Aucklander in the pack, Graeme Smyth.

 

Stead also backed his win up with a fourth placing in Formula Junior - behind winner Daniel Dufty from the Bay of Plenty and fellow Aucklanders Brett Sullivan and John Lovich.

 

Meanwhile South Island champion Chris Cox proved the value of regular racing trips north by winning the Junior Restricted class from KartSport Mt Wellington trio Tom Blomqvist, Arie Hutton and Mitchell Evans.

 

'JR' is another incredibly competitive class at the moment, and each heat had a different winner, Hutton in the first, Cox the second, Blomqvist the third and Evans the fourth.

 

The Blomqvist name also featured in the Cadet class results, with Tom's younger brother Paul (the pair the Auckland-based sons of Swedish rally legend Stig Blomqvist) taking the win from Aaron Wilson, CJ Sinclair and Bradley Hicks.

 

Clubwise KartSport Auckland has retained its lead in the Inter Club Trophy classification but KartSport Mt Wellington and the Bay of Plenty Kart Club have been leapfrogged by the Hamilton Kart Club and Rotorua/Taupo.

 

The Hamilton Kart Club will host the final round of the 2006 Top Half Series on Sunday July 30.

 

Ends

 

 

1. Paul Blomqvist 177 points; 2. Aaron Wilson 169; 3. CJ Sinclair 168; 4. Bradley Hicks 163; 5. Shaun Grocock 161; 6. Callum Quin 160.

1. Chris Cox 173 points; 2. Tom Blomqvist 173; 3. Arie Hutton 166; 4. Mitchell Evans 166; 5. Daniel Kinsman 166; 6. Levi Madsen-Prinn 159

1. James Stead 171 points; 2. David Meszaros 169; 3. Mathew Kinsman 167; 4. Graeme Smyth 162; 5. Kane Adcock 160; 6. Tyler Richardson 152

1. Daniel Dufty 175 points; 2. Brett Sullivan 169; 3. John Lovich 168; 4. James Stead 163; 5. Kane Adcock 163; 6. Tano Schmidt 153

1. Bradley Tyrrell 176 points; 2. Earl Bamber 174; 3. Matt Bambery 170; 4. Deon Forrest 158; 5. Ben Dallas 158; 6. Brock Barrie 153.

1. Brad Curtin 173 points; 2. Leyton Kendall 173; 3. Aarron Cunningham 172; 4. Stuart Marshall 169; 5. Dion Kendall 159; 6. Stephen Davies 155

1. Tony Chambers 177 points; 2. Kane Taylor 168; 3. Mike Male 164; 4. Simon Evans 163; 5. Paul Cameron 156; 6. Niki Urwin 155

1. Phillip Saunders 178; 2. Brent Murgatroyd 172; 3. Brent Gilchrist 167; 4. Deon Symes 164; 5. Kevin Wylie 158; 6. Jon Heaphy 156

1. Jason Lee 178; 2. Daniel Kent 173; 3. Michael McDonald 170; 4. Alan Dunkley 162; 5. Scott Harrison 160; 6. Michael Wheaton 158

 

Rnd 1 Bay of Plenty Sunday Feb 5

Rnd 2 Tokoroa Saturday March 11

Rnd 4 Hamilton Sunday July 30