Karl Wilson and Maddison Wise headed the winner's list with perfect scores on the first day of competition at the 2007 KartSport New Zealand North Island Sprint Kart Championship meeting at Kaitoke near Wellington today.
Local hero Wilson was the pick of the Senior bunch, backing up the pole position he earned on Friday with four wins from four starts in the Senior 100cc Yamaha Light class. No-one could touch the experienced Wellington driver in the cool, dry conditions, with young gun Zach Zaloum from Hawke's Bay the best of the rest in the winner-takes-all Final, crossing the line just over three seconds behind Wilson.
Earlier in the day Palmerston North's Josh Hart looked like being Wilson's biggest threat, but he did not finish the Final, leaving Zaloum and Tokoroa's Bradley Tyrrell to fight out the minor placings.
Hart was not to leave the track empty-handed however. He won the 125cc Rotax Max Light class Final - and with it the 2007 North Island title - from Aucklanders Kane Taylor and Paul Cameron.
In Senior 100cc Yamaha Heavy the title fight was between reigning New Zealand champion Simon Hunter and fellow Christchurch driver Shane Boote. Hunter qualified quickest but Boote won the first heat and the Pre-Final and led Hunter across the line in the Final.
The 2007 North Island title went to Hunter however after Boote's kart failed the post-race technical inspection.
After qualifying on Friday Junior 100cc Yamaha looked set to be a three-way battle involving pole winner Alex Geary from Taranaki and Aucklanders Tim Vickers and Nick Cassidy.
Cassidy had an advantage by the Pre-Final however then ran away with the Final, and the 2007 North Island title, crossing the finishing line just over four seconds in front of the Manawatu's Richard Craig, who in turn had a second on Alex Geary with top-rated local driver James Hadley fourth.
And Maddison Wise?
He was the class of the Cadet field, claiming pole position in qualifying on Friday and like Wilson winning all four races (two heats, a Pre-Final and the Final) to claim the North Island title, in his case from Auckland's Joel Herbert and Hawke's Bay's Mitchell Turner.
SOUTH ISLAND
Meanwhile, at Invercargill, where the South Island championships are being conducted, reigning National champion Matthew Hamilton from Christchurch was again the man to beat in the 125 cc Rotax Max Light class, leading home fellow Cantabrians Jeremy Burgess, Glen Hartley and Thomas Emmerson.
Dunedin drivers Dyson Freeman and Paul Booth helped balance the ledger however, Freeman winning the Senior 100cc Yamaha Light title from Invercargill's Shay Heslin and Christchurch's Brent Pearson, and Booth winning Senior 100cc Heavy from fellow Dunedinites Les Campbell and Daniel Harvey.
It was Christchurch which produced the other two class and title winners however, Chris Cox running away with Junior 100cc Yamaha, and Kieran Woods being the surprise package in Cadet.
Cox, who won the Formula Junior title at last year's South Island championship meeting at Dunedin, made no race of Junior 100cc Yamaha this year, leading home Mosgiel's Steven Thompson and Christchurch's Anna Collins.
And young Kieran Woods found himself in the right place at the right time to claim his first Island title in the Cadet Final, when race pace-setters Dino Spiteri and Brent Neill tangled within sight of the chequered flag.
The pair had never been more than a kart length or two apart through the heats and Pre-Final and it looked like Neill's Final until Spiteri tried a last corner, last lap pass which saw he and Neill spinning off the track, leaving the way open for Woods to drive past and claim the chequered flag and South Island title for himself.
At the North Island meeting the Cadet, Junior 100cc Yamaha, 100cc Yamaha Light, 100cc Yamaha Heavy and 125cc Rotax Max Light classes were contested today with Junior Restricted 100cc Yamaha, Formula Junior, Open, Formula 100 and 125cc Rotax Max Heavy to be contested tomorrow.
At the South Island meeting Cadet, Junior 100cc Yamaha, 100cc Yamaha Light, 100cc Yamaha Heavy and 125cc Rotax Max Light were contested today with Junior Restricted 100cc Yamaha, Formula Junior, Open and 125cc Rotax Max Heavy tomorrow.
KartSport is a safe, affordable motorsport which caters for all ages, with categories for Cadets (6-12yrs), Junior Restricted (10-14 yrs), Juniors (12-17 yrs) and Seniors (15 yrs and over). To find out more about it go to www.kartsport.org.nz
RESULTS
NORTH ISLAND
125cc Rotax Max Light
1. Josh Hart (PN); 2. Kane Taylor (Ak); 3. Paul Cameron (Ak); 4. Charles Hoare (Whgr) 5. Richard Oxton (Ak); 6. Niki Urwin (BoP)
Senior 100cc Yamaha Light
1. Karl Wilson (Wgtn); 2. Zach Zaloum (HB); 3. Bradley Tyrrell (Tok); 4. Mitchell Hill (PN); 5. James Gorham (Wgtn); 6. Daniel Dufty (BoP)
Senior 100cc Yamaha Heavy
1. Simon Hunter (ChCh); 2. William Thomason (Wgtn); 3. Bevan Hare (Wgtn); 4. Andrew Donohue (Wgtn); 5. Stuart Marshall (Ak); 6. Liam Cappelman (Wgtn)
Junior 100cc Yamaha
1. Nick Cassidy (Ak) 2. Richard Craig (PN); 3. Alex Geary (Tar); 4. James Hadley (Wgtn); 5. Tim Vickers (Ak); 6. Daniel Kinsman (Ak)
Cadet
Final: 1. Maddison Wise (HB); 2. Joel Herbert (Ak); 3. Mitchell Turner (HB); 4. Kurt James (Wgtn); 5. Travis Day; (PN); 6. Kaitlyn Wonnacott (Ak)
SOUTH ISLAND
125cc Rotax Max Light
1. Matthew Hamilton (ChCh); 2. Jeremy Burgess (ChCh); 3. Glen Hartley (ChCh); 4. Thomas Emmerson (ChCh); 5. Matt Williams (ChCh); 6. Matthew Penrose (ChCh).
Senior 100cc Yamaha Light
1. Dyson Freeman (Dn); 2. Shay Heslin (Ingill); 3. Brent Pearson (ChCh); 4. Shannon Baker (Ingill); 5. Jamie Conroy (Ingill); 6. Brenley Marshall (Ingill)
Senior 100cc Yamaha Heavy
1. Paul Booth (Dn); 2. Les Campbell (Dn); 3. Daniel Harvey (Dn); 4. Maryanne Renton (Ingill); 5. Mark Coulbeck (ChCh); 6. Nigel McAnelly (Ingill)
Junior 100cc Yamaha
1. Chris Cox (ChCh); 2. Steven Thompson (Mosg); 3. Anna Collins (ChCh); 4. Vaughan Marshall (Ingill); 5. Damon Leitch (Ingill); 6. Mathew Straker (ChCh)
Cadet
Final: 1 Kieran Woods (ChCh); 2. Liam Young (Dn); 3. Ryan Yardley (ChCh); 4. Jordon McDonnell (ChCh); 5. Brent Neill (ChCh); 6. Olivia Yardley (ChCh)
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