Photo: Tom Blomqvist leads Arie HuttonAuckland brothers Matthew and Daniel Kinsman shared the limelight at the 2008 North Island Sprint Kart championship meeting at the Hamilton Kart Club's Airport Rd circuit, mastering changeable conditions over the weekend to take a title apiece.
It was a blue riband meeting for the two third-generation racers, 17-year-old Matthew winning the 2008 North Island title in the Senior 100cc Yamaha Light class, 15-year-old younger brother Daniel the 2008 North Island title in Junior 100cc Yamaha.
As well as completing a clean-sweep - qualifying quickest and winning the heats, Pre-Final and winner-takes-all Final - in Junior 100cc Yamaha on Saturday, Daniel also finished a close second in the Formula Junior class on Sunday.
Over 160 karters from all over the country - including around 20 from the South Island - contested the three-day North Island title meeting in conditions which ranged from windy and warm on Friday to cool and showery on Sunday.
Saturday was the big day at the meeting with six of the 10 classes contested. Title winners in those classes were Daniel Kinsman (Junior 100cc Yamaha); Daniel Bray (Formula 125S); Matthew Griffin (125cc Rotax Max Light); Bradley Tyrrell (Senior 100cc Yamaha Heavy); Matthew Kinsman (Senior 100cc Yamaha Light) and Blake Filluel (Cadet).
With namesake Daniel Kinsman, fellow Aucklander Daniel Bray was one of two drivers to dominate their respective classes on Saturday, Bray taking a well deserved win in the Formula 125S class after qualifying quickest then winning the heats, the Pre-Final and the Final.
Daniel Eggleton from Pukekohe ran Bray close in qualifying and the first heat but suffered an engine seizure in the Pre-Final and did not start the Final.
There was drama, meanwhile, in the 125cc Rotax Max Light Final, won by Auckland's Mathew Griffin after returning international Josh Hart and this year's Gen-i Rotax Max Challenge of New Zealand winner Ryan Urban tangled at the hairpin on the last lap.
Urban, who had qualified quickest and won the first heat and the Pre-Final, was in front heading down the corkscrew by the clubhouse and Hart, in second place, tried a passing move at the hairpin, the last major corner before the start/finish line.
The move did not come off, neither driver finishing the lap and Hart suffering a broken collarbone in the resulting accident.
A collision at the hairpin also decided the final result in the Junior Restricted 100cc Yamaha class on Sunday, the North Island title going to young Aucklander Stephen Kelly after title protagonists Aaron Wilson and Josh Drysdale clashed on the last lap.
Accolades for top local performance over the weekend were shared by Bradley Tyrrell, Michael Grimshaw and Blake Filluel.
Hamilton kart shop proprietor Tyrrell won the Senior 100cc Yamaha Heavy title from Michael Kiser (Taranaki) and Stuart Marshall (Auckland), young gun Grimshaw won 125cc Rotax Max Heavy from Tyrrell and Zach Zaloum (Hawke's Bay), and Filluel won Cadet from Chelsea Herbert (Auckland) and Dylan Drysdale (Manawatu).
Another local club member, Tyler Richardson from Morrinsville, also had a good weekend, finishing a close second to Matthew Kinsman in Senior 100cc Yamaha Light on Saturday.
Tyrrell was one of a small number of drivers to contest two classes and like Daniel Kinsman (Formula Junior) and Daniel Bray (KZ2) he had the consolation of finishing a close second in 125cc Rotax Max Heavy.
Tyrrell actually set the pace in the 125cc Rotax Max Heavy Final but fellow Hamiltonian Michael Grimshaw found a way past late in the race to take the win and with it the 2008 North Island title.
Daniel Kinsman was also one of the pace-setters in the Formula Junior class, but was beaten to the finish line in the Final by fellow Aucklander Tom Blomqvist, the latter putting in an impressive drive in the slick, unpredictable weather and track conditions.
The changeable conditions also made it hard in Bray's second class, KZ2, but in that case perennial category pace-setter Ryan Grant, didn't put a foot wrong, leaving Bray to contest second place with the Kiser brothers Michael and Niklaus, and Wellington's Karl Wilson.
2008 KartSport NZ North Island Sprint Kart Championship Hamilton Kart Club Airport Rd Hamilton Fri-Sun Oct 24-26 2008
Final Championship Placings
Senior 100cc Yamaha Light
1. Mathew Kinsman; 2. Tyler Richardson; 3. Mitchell Hill; 4. Deon Forrest; 5. Zach Zaloum; 6. Mitch Cunningham.
Senior 100cc Yamaha Heavy
1. Bradley Tyrrell; 2. Michael Kiser; 3. Stuart Marshall; 4. Donna Lee; 5. Darren Aislabie; 6. Brendon Smith.
125cc Rotax Max Light
1. Matthew Griffin; 2. Tom Vickers; 3. Ethan de Jong; 4. William Thomason; 5. Niki Urwin; 6. Fraser Hart.
125cc Rotax Max Heavy
1. Michael Grimshaw; 2. Bradley Tyrrell; 3. Zach Zaloum; 4. Bradley Alexander; 5. Richard Oxton; 6. Arryn Hill.
KZ2
1. Ryan Grant; 2. Daniel Bray; 3. Michael Kiser; 4. Niklaus Kiser; 5. Karl Wilson; 6. Daniel Kent.
Formula 125S
1. Daniel Bray; 2. Craig Toy; 3. Rick Huston; 4. Snow Mooney; 5. Mike Browning; 6. Peter Nichols.
Formula Junior
1. Tom Blomqvist; 2. Daniel Kinsman; 3. Chris Cox; 4. Arie Hutton; 5. Campbell MacLachlan; 6. Sushannah McVeigh
Junior 100cc Yamaha
1. Daniel Kinsman; 2. Alex Geary; 3. Arie Hutton; 4. James Hadley; 5. Levi Madsen-Prinn; 6. Samuel Sarcich
Junior Restricted 100cc Yamaha
1. Stephen Kelly; 2. Aaron Marr; 3. Brook Reeve; 4. Aaron Wilson; 5. Maddison Wise; 6. Shaun Grocock
Cadet
1. Blake Filluel; 2. Chelsea Herbert; 3. Dylan Drysdale; 4. Michael De Porte; 5. Matthew Podjursky; 6. Sam Jones
