Hamilton teenager Mathew Wooding confirmed his status as one of the country's top kart racers by dominating the Senior 100cc Yamaha Light class at the Hawke's Bay Kart Club's 40th anniversary Blossom meeting over the September 1-2 weekend.
Reigning New Zealand Senior 100cc Yamaha Light class champion Wooding, 17, shadowed Auckland's Tony Chambers by one point after the first two heat races on Saturday, but won the Pre-Final and 25 lap winner-takes-all Final on Sunday - the latter from Wellington's Karl Wilson and Auckland international Mitch Cunningham - and was also first Senior Yamaha 100cc Light class driver home in the all-in Senior Grand Prix race later that day.
Wooding was one of seven class winners at the big 40th anniversary Blossom meeting, which this year was run in conjunction with the Octane '07 motorsport show, and with the active support of one of the Hawke's Bay Kart Club's most famous sons, Greg Murphy.
Murphy and father Kevin, a life member of the club, played a key role in gathering support and sponsorship for the show and both attended the meeting with a number of other high profile motorsport competitors with links to the Hawke's Bay.
In the other classes, multi-time New Zealand and North Island champion Ryan Grant dominated Open, qualifying quickest and winning the two heats and Pre-Final on Saturday and the heats and Final on Sunday, the latter from fast rising young Auckland driver Graeme Smyth and Niklaus Kiser from Taranaki.
Kiser won the 20 lap Senior Grand Prix from Grant, but Grant was lucky to even get a start, having missed out on a the first two marble draws then getting grid number 24 in the third!
Meanwhile, in the other Senior classes, Yamaha 100cc Heavy was won by another reigning New Zealand #1, Christchurch's Simon Hunter, who eventually proving too good for fellow South Islanders Shane Boote and Jeremy Burgess, and Auckland 's Stuart Marshall.
Hunter had a day to forget on Saturday, but came back strongly on Sunday to finish second in the Pre-Final then win the Final, albeit only after spending the early part of that race behind pole-sitter and early race pace-setter Shane Boote.
Boote did everything he could to remain in front but eventually Hunter's probing paid off and he found a way past to cross the line just over a half a second in front.
The 125cc Rotax Max Heavy trophy also headed south, reigning New Zealand 125cc Rotax Max Light class champion Matthew Hamilton being quickest in the Saturday Time Trial and winning all four heats and the Pre-Final.
Shane Boote's brother, reigning South Island Rotax Max Heavy champion Adam, finished second in both Sunday heats and ran away with the Final, only to have his engine fail technical inspection after racing was over, gifting the class win to Final runner-up Hamilton.
In the Junior classes Auckland 's Nick Cassidy put on one of the drives of the weekend to beat Christchurch 's Chris Cox to the Junior 100cc Yamaha class win.
Cox had the edge in qualifying, and won three of the heats and the Pre-Final, but Cassidy dug deep in the Final to first push, then pass and pull away from Cox, eventually crossing the finishing line over five seconds in front.
It was a South Islander back in front in the Junior 100cc Restricted Yamaha class however, with Christchurch 's James Penrose the dominant force. Penrose was quickest in the first Time Trial and won three of the four heats as well as the Pre-Final and Final to stamp his authority on the class.
That said, Sunday's Final was a truly edge-of-the-seat affair as Auckland 's Aaron Wilson tried everything he knew to get past.
And what can you say about Maddison Wise?
The pint-sized Hawke's Bay hero completed the weekend's only clean-sweep, setting the quickest lap time in both Cadet class Time Trials and winning every race he started, including the Cadet GP.
Second in the Final was Auckland's Joel Herbert but his kart's engine failed tech inspection, elevating everyone behind him up a place, leaving Josh Drysdale from the Manawatu second and Christchurch's Jordan McDonnell third.
2007 Blossom Sprint Meeting - Sat/Sun Sept 1-2 2007
Open
1. Ryan Grant 2. Graeme Smyth; 3. Niklaus Kiser; 4. Shane Hodgson; 5. Michael Kiser; 6. Nicholas Heywood.
Rotax Max Heavy
1. Matthew Hamilton; 2. Hamish Cross; 3. Zach Zaloum; 4. Simon Evans; 5. Richard Oxton; 6. Michael Grimshaw.
Senior 100cc Yamaha Light
1. Matthew Wooding; 2. Karl Wilson; 3. Mitch Cunningham; 4. Zack Zaloum; 5. Tony Chambers; 6. Scott Downes
Senior 100cc Yamaha Heavy
1. Simon Hunter; 2. Shane Boote; 3. Jeremy Burgess; 4. Stuart Marshall; 5. Donna Lee; 6. Andrew Donohue.
Junior 100cc Yamaha
1. Nick Cassidy; 2. Chris Cox; 3. Levi Madsen-Prinn; 4. Jesse Craig; 5. James Hadley; 6. Jamie McNee.
Junior Restricted 100cc Yamaha
1. James Penrose; 2. Aaron Wilson; 3. Scott Blummont; 4. Shaun Grocock; 5. Arie Hutton; 6. Bramwell King
Cadet
1. Maddison Wise; 2. Josh Drysdale; 3. Jordon McDonnell; 4. Mitchell Turner; 5. Christopher Sinclair; 6.Kaitlyn Wonnacott.
