Karters Karl Wilson and Nick Cassidy claimed a pair of titles apiece at the 2007 KartSport NZ North Island Sprint Kart Championship meeting at the KartSport Wellington club's Lascom Raceway over the weekend.
Local man Wilson was the top Senior driver at the meeting, winning the North Island 100cc Yamaha Light title on Saturday and the North Island Formula 100 title on Sunday. He did it in style too, claiming pole position in qualifying on Friday and winning all four Senior 100cc Yamaha Light races on Saturday, then making good by missing pole in the Formula 100 class on Friday by winning all four Formula 100 races on Sunday.
Second in Senior 100cc Yamaha Light was fast-rising young Hawke's Bay driver Zach Zaloum, second in Formula 100, Wellington veteran Phillip Watkins.
Auckland Junior Nick Cassidy was the other dual winner at the North Island Championship meeting, working his way forward in both the Junior 100cc Yamaha and Formula Junior classes to be where he needed to be in the finals - in front!
On Saturday he crossed the finishing line in the Junior 100cc Yamaha final an almost unheard of four seconds in front of the Manawatu's Richard Craig, while on Sunday he turned a fourth place finish in the pre-final into first in the final to claim the 2007 North Island Formula Junior title from Rotorua's Ryan Belworthy and defending class champion Tim Vickers from Auckland.
In the other classes contested on Saturday Hawke's Bay's Maddison Wise completed a Wilson-like clean-sweep in Cadet, Palmerston North driver Josh Hart got the better of Aucklanders Kane Taylor and Paul Cameron in 125cc Rotax Max Light, and final runner-up Simon Hunter from Christchurch was awarded the Senior 100cc Yamaha Heavy title when final winner Shane Boote's kart failed the post-race technical inspection.
On Sunday the KZ2 Senior class turned into a family affair, reigning New Zealand champion Nik Kiser adding the North Island title to his CV with brother Michael second and fellow Taranaki Kart Club club member Hamish Scott third.
Predicting a winner was almost impossible going into the 125cc Rotax Max Heavy final, with at least four drivers in with a chance of taking the title, but after 23 intense laps victory and the 2007 North Island silverware went to Hamilton's Phillip Saunders from 2006 South Island champion Adam Boote and defending North Island champion Aarron Cunningham.
Meanwhile there was another hometown win in the Junior 100cc Yamaha Restricted class, the 2007 title going to Wellingtonian Jamie Gaskin from Tokoroa's Andy Schofield and Auickland's Aaron Wilson.
SOUTH ISLAND
In Invercargill, where the South Island championships were conducted at the Invercargill Kart Club's Macauley Ford Kart Raceway, reigning national champion Matthew Hamilton from Christchurch was again the man to beat in the 125 cc Rotax Max Light class on Saturday, leading home fellow Cantabrians Jeremy Burgess, Glen Hartley and Thomas Emmerson.
Burgess went on to win a South Island title of his own on Sunday, claiming the Open class crown after beating fellow Christchurch driver Andy Knight and Invercargill's Shannan Baker to the line in the final.
Christchurch drivers also claimed two of the other South Island titles up for grabs on Saturday, Chris Cox running away with Junior 100cc Yamaha, and Kieran Woods winning 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, winning the final from Mosgiel's Steven Thompson and Christchurch's Anna Collins.
For young gun Kieran Woods it was more a matter of being in the right place at the right time with race pace-setters Dino Spiteri and Brent Neill tangling within sight of the chequered flag in their final.
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 the pair spin off the track - leaving the way open for Woods to drive past and claim the chequered flag and South Island title from Dunedin's Liam Young and Christchurch's Ryan Yardley.
There was also drama in the Formula Junior class after Mosgiel driver Steven Thompson won the final only to lose the place when his kart failed the post event technical inspection.
That meant the 2007 South Island title went to final runner-up Jesse Craig from fellow Christchurch drivers Luke Kirk and Chris Cox.
The South Island Junior 100cc Yamaha Restricted title also went north, Rangiora's James Penrose getting the better of the changeable weather conditions on Sunday to win the final from Christchurch Kart Club clubmates Michael Collins and Scott Manson.
It was drivers from Dunedin who dominated the Senior Yamaha classes however with Dyson Freeman winning the Senior 100cc Yamaha Light title from Invercargill's Shay Heslin and Christchurch's Brent Pearson, and Paul Booth winning Senior 100cc Heavy from fellow Dunedinites Les Campbell and Daniel Harvey.
Booth was also odds-on favourite to win the South Island 125cc Rotax Max Heavy title on Sunday, until a mechanical problem saw him lose the lead in the final to eventual winner and new South Island title holder, local man Grant Price.
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
Formula 100
1. Karl Wilson (Wgtn); 2. Phil Watkins (Wgtn); 3. Andrew Hoare (PN); 4. Tyler Richardson (Ham); 5. Mathew Kinsman (Ak); 6. Tyrrell (Tok)
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)
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)
125cc Rotax Max Heavy
1. Phillip Saunders (Ham); 2. Adam Boote (ChCh); 3. Aarron Cunningham (Ak); 4. Brendon Hart (PN); 5. Rodgers (Wgtn). .
KZ2
1. Niklaus Kiser (Tar); 2. Michael Kiser (Tar); 3. Hamish Scott (Tar); 4. Ross Tait (Wgtn); 5. Nicholas Heywood (HB).
Formula Junior
1. Nick Cassidy (Ak); 2. Ryan Belworthy (Rot); 3. Tim Vickers (Ak); 4. Stan Tangaroa Green (BoP); 5. Daniel Kinsman (Ak); 6. John van Bommel (BoP).
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)
Junior 100cc Yamaha Restricted
1. Jamie Gaskin (Wgtn); 2. Andy Schofield (Tok); 3. Aaron Wilson (Ak); 4. Bradley Hicks (Ak); 5. Darrell Hannah (Nel); Stephen Appleton (BoP).
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. Shannan 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)
Junior Restricted 100cc Yamaha
1. James Penrose (ChCh); 2. Michael Collins (ChCh); 3. Scott Manson (ChCh); 4. Brook Reeve (Blen); 5. Tom Alexander (ChCh); 6. Oliver Shearer (Dn).
Rotax 125 Max Heavy
1. Grant Price (Ingill); 2. Murray Press (ChCh); 3. Stephen Keast (Ingil); 4. Merv Gallagher (ChCh); 5. Eamon Young (Ingill); 6. Paul Gerritse (Nel).
Formula Junior
1. Jesse Craig (ChCh); 2. Luke Kirk (ChCh); 3. Chris Cox (ChCh); 4. Ben Webb (ChCh); 5. Kane Adcock (Nel); 6. Damon Leitch (Ingill).
Open
1. Jeremy Burgess (ChCh); 2. Andy Knight (ChCh); 3. Shannan Baker (Ingill); 4. Nigel Anderson (Ingill); 5. Aaron Murch (Ingill); 6. Stephen Keast (Ingill).
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