Two rounds remain as Marlborough karters stretched their
advantage in the overall Mainland Karting Series points
after the Sunbelt Series rounds in Blenheim and Nelson over
Kings Birthday weekend.
The final two rounds will be
at the Garden City Championships in Christchurch on 23-24
September.
Marlborough lead the Inter Club Trophy on
403 points from Southland on 285, Canterbury 279, Dunedin
229 and Nelson 135.
National champion Iver Spence,
from the Kartstore team in Christchurch, has a healthy lead
overall in the Cadet ROK class although did not have things
all his own way at Sunbelts.
Spence won two of the
five heats on Saturday in Blenheim but claimed three of the
four on Sunday in Nelson to stretch his overall lead, with
631 points from Fraser Hodges (Southland) and Hamish McGrath
(Dunedin). The mover is Marlborough’s Josh McConway who
won three heats on Saturday and three podium finishes on
Sunday.
Dunedin’s Jack McGrath, who started the
season strongly in the deep south, enjoyed four wins on
Saturday and two more on Sunday to stretch his lead in the
overall competition in the super-competitive Vortex Mini ROK
class.
He has a 99 point lead on clubmate George
Tucker, who managed four podiums, with Southland’s Johnny
Shutterworth third just five points adrift after three
podium finishes.
Southland’s much-travelled Nixon
Cripps was the big mover with two wins and five podiums in
an outstanding weekend.
The Rotax Max Junior welcomed
the return of last year’s FIA Karting Academy
representative, Lochy McGregor (Nelson) who managed a win
and four podiums over the weekend with Canterbury’s Levi
McMillan grabbing three wins.
The Sunbelts weekend
winner was Canterbury’s Zach Tucker, the national champion
in Vortex Max Junior, but this was his first competition
moving to the new Rotax Max Junior
class.
Canterbury’s Levi McMillan, who bagged five
wins, including three from four races with a second placing
on Sunday, has nabbed the overall Mainland Series lead on
555 points, 24 ahead of clubmate Mac Templeton, who had
three podiums.
The Rotax Max Light, which drew 24
entries, saw the return of national champion Caleb Cross
(Canterbury) and the appearance of Hawkes Bay karter Tom
Bewley after a busy summer of circuit racing in the Toyota
86 category.
Cross enjoyed a win and four podiums and
Bewley registered four wins and a podium, while
Southland’s Kyle Dawson edged to the overall lead on the
back of three podiums with a slim four point advantage over
Canterbury’s Dylan Jessop.
The rest of the honours
went to Manawatu visitor Jackson Rooney with three wins on
Sunday and William Exton who had a win and two podiums on
his home Marlborough track on Saturday and two further
podiums on Sunday in Nelson.
Rotax Max Heavy was
dominated by Marlborough’s Kevin Barker with three wins
and three podiums, along with Hawkes Bay visitor Lochlan
Miller, who bagged a win and four podiums.
Nelson’s
Derryn French had three podiums to lead the series on 535
points from Dunedin’s Craig McFarlane.
Briggs Light
leader Myles Findlay (Canterbury) topped points on the
weekend on the back of three wins and a podium to move to
565 points, which is 32 ahead of Marlborough’s Riley
Price, with the big mover Jack McLaren from Canterbury with
a win and four podiums.
Defending Mainland champion
Taylor Gray (Southland), with just three podiums at the
weekend, has a 20 point lead on Daniel Bell (Canterbury) who
enjoyed a win and five podiums.
Andrew Goodsir
(Marlborough) is third a further 16 points adrift, after a
strong weekend with two wins and five podiums, while
clubmate Chris Harris bagged five wins and three podiums in
a superb display to take the Sunbelts title.
That
leaves plenty to fight for at September’s Garden City
Championships.
Results: Marlborough – https://speedhive.mylaps.com/Events/2237192
Nelson
– https://speedhive.mylaps.com/Events/2240996
Details:
www.kartsport.org.nz
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