Karters revel in return of Islands title racing over long weekend

| Photographer Credit: Emilee Jane Photography (North Island), Ferghus Meighan (South Island)

Kiwi karters revelled in the return of National-level Sprint Championship competition at this year’s North & South Islands meetings at Hastings and Napier over Labour Weekend.

Both meetings saw spirited racing across all classes, with defending title holders, Ryan Grant (KZ2) from Auckland heading the winning roll call at the Napier City Council-backed North Island meeting and local driver Willian Exton (125cc Rotax Max Light) doing the same at the Cresswell Electrical-backed South Island meeting.

William Exton form Blenheim (#SI 125cc Rotax Max Light)

The pair led a mixture of defending Island title-holders and up-and-comers to claim class wins at the two meetings.

Class title winners at the KartSport Hawke’s Bay club’s Carter’s Tyres Raceway at Roy’s Hill on the outskirts of Hastings were;

KZ2 – Ryan Grant (Auckland)

Vortex ROK DVS – Rianna O’Meara-Hunt (Wellington)

125cc Rotax Max Light – Michael McCulloch (Kapiti Coast)

125cc Rotax Max Heavy – Campbell Joyes (Hamilton)

Junior Rotax – Thomas Bewley (Havelock North)

Vortex Mini ROK – Judd Christiansen (Palmerston North)

Cadet ROK – Grayson Stowe (Hastings)

Rianna O’Meara-Hunt (#6 Vortex ROK DVS)

Class title winners at the KatSport Marlborough-organised Cresswell Electrical South Island Sprint Championhsip title meeting at the club’s Cresswell Electrical Kart Raceway on the outskirts of Blenheim were;

125cc Rotax Max Light – William Exton (Blenheim)

125cc Rotax Max Heavy – Matthew Butchart (Blenheim)

Rotax Junior – Chris White (Christchurch)

Vortex Mini ROK – Zach Tucker (Christchurch)

Cadet ROK – Jackson Culver (Rangiora)

Chris White (#88 Rotax Junior)

Two non-championship support classes were also contested at the South Island titles meeting for drivers running Briggs & Stratton 4-stroke engined LO206 karts.

They were won by;

ClubSport Briggs LO206 Light – Tony Dyer (Nelson)

ClubSport Briggs LO206 Heavy – Anton Rasmussen (Nelson)

Jackson Culver (#17 Cadet ROK)

Results

2020 Napier City Council KartSport NZ North Island Sprint Championships

KZ2

Final

1/ Ryan Grant 28  laps; 2. Graeme Smyth + 0.416; 3. Regan Hall +0.961; 4. Joshua Parkinson +1.714; 5 . Riley Jack +2.343; 6. Nathan Craig + 2.829

Vortex ROK DVS

Final

1/ Rianna O’Meara-Hunt 28 laps; 2. Jacob Cranston + 0.154; 3. Jamie van den Berk +8.458; 4. Ben Stewart +8.748; 5. Tyler Edney +8.854; 6. Jacob Smith 11 laps

Rotax Max Light

Final

1/ Michael McCulloch 28 laps; 2. Zac Stichbury +2.169;  3. Josh Richmond  +2.994; 4. Jackson Rooney +5.866; 5. Ryan Crombie +8.356; 6. Riley Spargo +9.954; 7. Rianna O’Meara-Hunt +10.255.

Judd Christiansen (#GS Vortex Mini ROK)

Rotax Max Heavy

Final

1/ Campbell Joyes  28 laps; 2. Darren Walker  + 6.293; 3. Adam Bell +9.227; 4. Ashley Higgins +9.582; 5.  Aaron Tahu +13.442; 6. Brendon Hart +20.491; 7. Zach Zaloum 7 laps.

Junior Rotax

Final

1/ Thomas Bewley 28 laps; 2. Logan Manson +0.295; 3. Jay Urwin  +1.016; 4. Luke Thompson +2.200; 5. Ryan Hancock +4.788; 6. Tayler Payne +5.099.

Vortex Mini ROK

Final

1/ Judd Christiansen  22 laps; 2. Jamie Thompson +0.530; 3. Marco Manson +2.982; 4. Jacob Bellamy +3.361; 5 . Maxim Kirwan + 6.722; 6. Cole Turney +10.866.

Cadet ROK

Final

1/ Grayson Stowe  22 laps; 2. Aryan Lala +13.338; 3. Cooper Insley +21.425. 4 Seth Comer +21.854  

Mathew Butchart (#33 125cc Rotax Max Heavy)

2020 Cresswell Electrical KartSport NZ South Island Sprint Championships

Rotax Max Light

Final

1/ William Exton   20 laps; 2. Scott Manson + 8.487; 3. Harry McDonald  +9.699; 4. Cameron Hay  +10.911; 5. Findlay Dixon  +12.857; 6. Luca Burns +19.225  

Rotax Max Heavy

Final

1/ Matthew Butchart 20 laps; 2. Arron Black + 0.213; 3.  Kevin Barker + 7.521; 4.  Thomas Emmerson + 8.055; 5. Ian Carter +13.891; 6 . Tony Rankin +15.823  

Rotax Junior

Final

1/ Chris White 20 laps; 2. Blake Knowles +0.083; 3. Bo Hill  +2.410; 4. William Neale  +4.141; 5. Kiahn Burt +5.289; 6. Dylan Jessop +5.504      

Vortex Mini ROK

Final

1/ Zach Tucker 17 laps; 2. Arthur Broughan +3.645; 3. Jacob Earley +7.049; 4. Zavier Harvey +11.090; 5.  Levi McMillan +11.981; 6. Archie Botham +16.255  

Cadet ROK

Final

1/ Jackson Culver 17 laps; 2. Charlie Botham + 0.130; 3. Aston Walker +0.408; 4. Jaxon Waugh +9.830; 5. Robbie Batt +10.271; 6. Henry Fisher + 10.298  

Non championship ClubSport LO206 Light

Final

1/ Tony Dyer 17 laps; 2.  Cory Crossan  +0.561; 3. Shaun Croskery  +2.476; 4. William Chronis +5.815; 5. Brent Melhop +12.137; 6. Rob Frans +12.541.

Non-championship ClubSport LO206 Heavy

Final

1/ Anton Rasmussen 17 laps;  2. Mike Kendrick +0.840; 3. Alex Chronis +1.021; 4.  Kevin Barker +1.057; 5. Thomas Batt + 5.009; 6 . Paul Cambie  +10.395.

Zach Tucker (#33 Vortex Mini ROK)

Ross MacKay is an award-winning journalist, author and publicist with first-hand experience of motorsport from a lifetime competing on two and four wheels. He currently combines contract media work with weekend Mountain Bike missions and trips to grassroots drift days.

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