With close to 100 entries (97 confirmed on Thursday) the Wellington Provincial Karting Association (WPKA) Goldstar Series’ annual standalone Championships meeting in Palmerston North on Sunday looks set to be one of the biggest on the KartSport Manawatu club’s annual events calendar.
Helping bolster numbers is the fact that, this year as last, the event is playing host to a round of the 2019 ROK Cup New Zealand series. ROK Cup New Zealand is a national series for the Vortex ROK-engined karts which contest the Cadet ROK, Vortex Mini ROK and now Vortex ROK DVS Senior and Junior classes here.
With a brand new engine for the series winner of the Cadet ROK class, and trips to the annual ROK Cup International Finals in Italy later this year for the series’ winners of the Vortex Mini ROK and Vortex ROK DVS Jnr and Snr classes there is certainly incentive to enter each round.
The numbers each class has mustered – with at least 10 confirmed in Cadet ROK, 15 in Vortex Mini ROK and as many as 11 in Vortex ROK DVS Junior – are particularly impressive given that this year the third round of the ROK Cup has been split in two, with equal points up for grabs in the Cadet ROK and Vortex Mini ROK classes, and a similar number of entries in each at the two-day HighRev Sunbelts Championships event in Nelson on Saturday and Blenheim on Sunday.
Drivers to watch out for at the annual WPKA Championships meeting at the KartSport Manawatu club’s Manawatu Toyota Raceway (Shirriffs Rd, Palmerston North) include Maxim Kirwan from Auckland and top local Logan Dowdall in Cadet ROK, Tom Bewley from Havelock North and local club members Blake Dowdall and Kiahn Burt in Vortex Mini ROK, and Liam Sceats and Nathan Crang from Auckland, Ben Stewart from Wellington and Ayrton Williams from Cambridge in Vortex ROK DVS Junior.
There are also strong entries across the other classes with Riley Spargo from Rotorua looking set to battle for honours in the Rotax Max Junior class with Logan Manson from Levin.
It’s hard to look past Palmerston North ace Jackson Rooney, however, in Rotax Max Light, as it is WPKA Goldstar Series class winners Adam Bell (Rotax Max Heavy) (pictured above), Brent Melhop (Briggs LO206), and Nelson Hartley in Open.
ClubSport 120 meanwhile will again be almost too close to call, with Tim Allen and Cliff Walsh heading a rare shared series’ class victory over the three-round 2018/19 Goldstar series and Steve Muggeridge and Scott Dalley sharing third place.
There will be WPKA Championships meeting action on track from 9.00am at Manawatu Toyota Raceway on Sunday. Spectators are welcome.
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