A bumper crop of as many as 12 Kiwi karters is set to contest the opening round of Australia’s Rotax Pro Tour at the Todd Rd track in Melbourne this weekend.
Heading the list is young Pukekohe driver Matthew Payne who claimed second place in the Junior Trophy class last year. This year he has moved up to the Junior Max class.
This year will see New Zealand drivers in each of the eight classes, leading to talk of a ‘Kiwi invasion’ in Melbourne this week.
The 12 set to compete this weekend are;
Micro Max (7- 9 yrs)
Emerson Vincent (Pukekohe)
Sebastian Manson (Auckland)
Mini Max (9-12 yrs)
Connor Davison (Hamilton)
Junior Max Trophy
Samuel Wright (Auckland)
Jayden Ransley (Christchurch)
Kaleb Ngatoa (Palmerston North)
Junior Max
Matthew Payne (Pukekohe)
Rotax 125 Light
Ashleigh & Madeline Stewart (Wellington)
Rotax 125 Heavy
Brendon Hart (Palmertson North)
DD2
Taylor Harte (Tauranga)
DD2 Masters
Aaron Cunningham (Auckland)
Amongst a number of changes, Wellington’s Stewart sisters, Ashleigh & Madeline, are both running in the Rotax 125cc class in Australia this year, and both are now running in Tony Karts.
Practise and qualifying will be held today (Friday) with racing on Saturday and Sunday.
There is then a month until the Kiwi contingent returns to Australia for the second round of this year’s Rotax Pro Tour at Warwick in Queensland between February 26 & 28.
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