Successful young Christchurch-based karters Jacob Douglas and Louis Sharp head a group of fellow recent globe-trotters who are now back home and set to compete at either North or South Island Sprint Championships meetings this (Labour) weekend.
Separate North and South Island title meetings have been running over the Labour long weekend since the 1960s.
This year the KartSport Auckland club is hosting the Butch Pet Foods-backed North Island titles meeting at Giltrap Group Raceway at Rosebank Domain, Avondale.
The KartSport Dunedin club, meanwhile, is hosting the Dunedin Mag & Turbo Tyre & Service Centre-backed South Island meeting at its Silverstream Raceway near Mosgiel.
Both are full two-day meetings with over 90 entries across eight classes for the North Island one and over 60 across six classes (five title ones plus a non-championship support class) for the South Island one.
Key interest at both events will be in the Junior classes, with the likes of Jacob Douglas (main picture) and Louis Sharp both claiming breakthrough wins for Kiwi karters at major meetings in Italy earlier in the month.
Liam Sceats from Auckland (who has also spent much of the past month in Italy) and Emerson Vincent from Pukekohe have also only been home a couple of days after competing at the big Race of Stars meeting on Australia’s Gold Coast last weekend,
Jacob Douglas, 14, is the obvious favourite in the Rotax Max Junior class, and reigning NZ#1 and defending South Island title holder Louis Sharp, 12, is yet again the driver to beat in Vortex Mini ROK at the South Island meeting.
His experience in Italy this month working as Sharp’s driver coach should also benefit multi-time South Island champion Chris Cox as he prepares to defend the South Island Rotax Max Light title he won at the 2018 meeting at Invercargill.
Aucklanders Nathan Crang and Liam Sceats, and Tom Bewley from Havelock North, also raced in Italy earlier this month, with Crang the only one of the trio to make an ‘A’ (for the top 34 qualifiers) Final in the Junior ROK class at the big ROK Cup Superfinal meeting (finishing 11th).
He and Liam Sceats, who finished 14th in the Junior ROK class ‘B’ Final (for those who qualified from positions 35 to 68), will both be chasing two titles at the North Island event, North Island Rotax Max Junior and North Island Vortex ROK DVS Junior.
Tom Bewley, who represented New Zealand for a second time in Italy this year, also looks set to be one of the pace-setters in Auckland this weekend in the Vortex Mini ROK class There he will come up against Emerson Vincent, who finished 16th in the Cadet 12 Final at the Race of Stars meeting in Australia last weekend.
Two other Kiwi drivers who competed at that meeting, Aucklanders Ashton Grant and Henry Gelb, are part of a 16-strong entry in the Rotax Max Light (Senior) class at the North Island titles meeting,
They will have their work cut out though as they come up against the likes of defending North Island title holder Jaden Hardy, former North Island Rotax Max Junior title holder Ryan Crombie, and yet another young Kiwi driver who has enjoyed recent success overseas, Jackson Rooney from Palmerston North.
Rooney, 15, not only won his class (TaG125) at the final round of the Australian Kart Championships in Melbourne over the August 31/September 01 weekend, he won the Rotax Max Light class on the final day of competition at the double-header final round of Australia’s annual Rotax Max Pro Tour at Albury a fortnight later.
There will be karts on track from 9.05am in Auckland and 9.15am at Mosgiel on both days with tuning runs, qualifying and two heats per class on Saturday then Pre-Finals (the race which decides the grid for the Final) and Finals for each class on Sunday.
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