Photo: Daniel KinsmanAuckland's Daniel Kinsman and Christchurch's Cody McMaster shared the honour of claiming two titles apiece at KartSport New Zealand's annual North and South Island Championship meetings over the Labour Day weekend.
Both contested the two blue riband Senior direct drive classes, 125cc Rotax Max Light and 100cc Yamaha Light, with Kinsman taking the North Island title double at KartSport Auckland's Moselle Paint and Panel track at the Rosebank Domain, McMaster the South Island title one at the Christchurch Kart Club's Armstrong Motor Group Raceway at Carrs Rd, Halswell.
Ten class titles were contested at the North Island meeting, seven at the South Island meeting with both running over three full days.
NORTH ISLAND
SUNDAY
Despite the depth of competition in the Senior 100cc Yamaha Light class, 17-year-old Howick student Daniel Kinsman was one of only two drivers to complete a clean sweep on the second day of competition at the North Island championship meeting on Sunday, parlaying the fastest class qualifying time he set on Friday into wins in both heats, the Pre-Final and Final.
Defending North Island champion Andrew Hoare from Palmerston North ended up second but Kinsman was never seriously threatened, Hoare having to come back in the Final after an unfortunate tangle with Auckland Ryan Urban in the Pre-Final.
Both drivers were able to continue but started the Final from the positions they finished the Pre-Final, 11th for Urban, 13th for Hoare. However, as if to add insult to injury, Urban was caught out in the Final when Australian visitor Scott Auld spun, eventually crossing the finish line in the Final 15th.
The other driver who was unbeaten on Sunday was 125cc Rotax Max Heavy title winner Zach Zaloum, the young Hawke's Bay driver unchallenged on his way to heat, Pre-Final and Final wins. Auckland's Steven Currie did well to finish second after finally getting the best of a hard-charging group of fellow drivers consisting of Aucklanders Aarron Cunningham and Shane Hodgson, and 2009 North Island title holder Bradley Tyrrell from Tokoroa.
Favourite to win the KF3 class title was defending North Island champion Bradley Hicks. Hicks crossed the line first in the KF3 Final too, only to fail tech inspection after the race handing the win and 2010 North Island title to fellow Aucklander Paul Blomqvist, locally based youngest son of Kim and former world rally champion Stig Blomqvist.
Second, once the results had been adjusted, was Taranki driver Aaron Marr, third Reid Harker from Auckland.
In the other classes contested on Sunday reigning New Zealand champions, Hawke's Bay's Maddison Wise and Auckland's Tony Chambers, added North Island titles to the New Zealand ones they earned at this year's Sprint Nationals in the Hawke's Bay, Wise in Junior Restricted 100cc Yamaha, Chambers in Open.
In Junior Restricted 100cc Yamaha, Wise qualified quickest but conceded wins in the second heat and Pre-Final to Hamilton driver Thomas Joyes. Wise was back in front when it counted, however, winning the Final and with it the 2010 North Island title from Whangarei's Thomas McLean and Auckland's Kaitlyn Wonnacott.
SATURDAY
Saturday also proved to be a day of drama with 2009 New Zealand class champion Graeme Smyth back on the top step of the podium in the KZ2 class after defending Island champion and heat two winner Daniel Bray was forced to start the Final from the back row of the grid after seizing an engine and failing to finish the Pre-Final.
Bray quickly worked his way up to third place in the Final but that's where he stayed, the battle for the title between Smyth and fastest weekend qualifier Ryan Urban.
Urban shadowed Smyth's every move until late in the Final when the latter eased away to cross the finish line and claim the title by 1.3 seconds.
Urban was also unlucky not to finish second to class winner Daniel Kinsman in 125cc Rotax Max Light. The defending class champion joined Kinsman, Daniel Connor and eventual class runner-up Kane Taylor as pace-setters in qualifying and the heats, and had finally managed to get in front of Taylor on the last lap of the Final when Taylor attacked on the second last corner, getting through as Urban took to the grass, the latter evenutally crossing the line third from Connor and Andrew Hoare.
The action was as fast and furious in 100cc Junior Yamaha with Bradley Hicks qualifying quickest from Andy Schofield and Rhys Tinney, and Hicks and Schofield sharing heat wins before Hicks got the better of Schofield in the Pre-Final only to have a spark plug cap work loose seconds after he had claimed the lead, leaving Schofield to take the win and 2010 North Island title from Reid Harker, Josh Drysdale and Kaleb Currie.
Cadet saw its fair share of on track action too, the win and title going - eventually - to Taranaki driver Matthew Podjursky. Before he got to the chequered flag, however, Podjursky had to get past fastest qualifier and heat two winner Brad Wilson and KartSport Auckland clubmate Dylan Smith.
Smith won the pre-Final from Wilson, NZ#1 Thomas Ingram and Podjursky, but in the Final the lead swapped every couple of laps with Wilson leading early on before first Ingram then Smith got past.
Mid-race the order was Smith, Ingram, Wilson and Podjursky but with five laps to go Podjursky had got to the front from where he led Wilson and Smith until the last lap when Smith made a successfull pass on Wilson on the second last corner for second.
Finally, the 2010 North Island 100cc Yamaha Heavy title went to former Palmerston North, now Auckland-based Ryan Bailey, back in a kart for the meeting after a successful move to cars.
Though he admitted to being a little rusty early on, Bailey chipped away at his kart's set-up until he beat young gun Zach Zaloum to the line in the Pre-Final before dictating the pace from the front in the Final, initially from a closely following Shaun Reay, then when Reay caught a ripple strip and lost time, from Zaloum, and Auckland's Aarron Cunningham.
SOUTH ISLAND
Photo: Cody McMasterSUNDAY
Like the North Island meeting in Auckland the South Island one was blessed with hot, dry weather providing ideal conditions in which Cody McMaster added the South Island 100cc Yamaha Light title to the 125cc Rotax Max Light one he won on Saturday.
McMaster won both the Pre-Final and the Final from Christchurch's Matthew Hamilton but Hamilton was unlucky to lose second place in the Yamaha Light class rankings after losing his kart's nosecone on the last corner of the Final.
When he and the kart were weighed afterwards they were under the minimum all-up weight for the class, meaning Hamilton lost the place in the race and with it second spot on the South Island class title podium.
That elevated fellow Christchurch drivers Ben Webb to second and Scott Downes to third.
In the other Senior class contested on Sunday Christchurch's Simon Hunter staged a winning return to the South Island title meeting (after claiming a North Island title at the North Islands last year) dominating the 125cc Rotax Max Heavy class.
Second was defending South Island champion Mark Coulbeck, third fellow Christchurch driver Matthew Pluck.
Finally, in the Junior Restricted 100cc Yamaha class 2009 New Zealand Schools' class champion Jordan McDonnell added a South Island title to his CV, after beating pole man Brent Neill - and a closely battling pack containing eventual third placegetter Kieran Woods, Ryan Yardley and Tyler McPherson - to the line in an all-action Final rated the best race of the day.
SATURDAY
Saturday's racing saw James Penrose successfully defend his 2009 title in Junior 100ccc Junior Yamaha, the Rangiora driver now rightly able to claim the honour of being the country's top Junior 100cc Yamaha competitor, having also won the New Zealand title at the 2010 New Zealand Sprint Championship meeting in the Hawke's Bay at Easter.
That said, eventual South Island title second placeman Alex Webb didn't make Penrose's job exactly easy on Saturday, battling him through the heats, Pre-Final and Final and being beaten to the finish line in the Final by less than a kart length with Tom Alexander, Scott Manson and Jayden Dodge with Matt Butchart not far behind.
In the Cadet class, meanwhile, another defending South Island title holder, Ryan McPherson, led Marcus Armstrong across the line only to fail tech inspection afterwards, handing the race win and 2010 South Island Cadet title to Armstrong. Also out as a result of a technical infringement was Jared Fisher leaving the final finishing order Armstrong, Lewis Ball, Tom Pooley and Reuben Adams.
In the other classes Cody McMaster proved the man to beat in 125cc Rotax Max Light, young gun Chris Cox in KZ2.
Multi-time New Zealand and defending South Island champion Matthew Hamilton went into the weekend with favourite status in the Rotax class but McMaster proved the quicker of the two in qualifying and went on to dominate the heats, Pre-Final and Final, winning the latter from Hamilton, Jeremy Burgess and Scott Downes.
In KZ2, meanwhile, young gun Chris Cox got the better of established kart and NZV8 Touring Car star Andy Knight with a last lap, last corner pass to win the Final and 2010 South Island class title.
Knight crossed the line in second place but was later excluded from the results giving Dunedin's Dyson Freeman the second spot on the podium from Sam Gillam and Lee Crew.
2010 KartSport NZ North Island Sprint Kart Championships Moselle Panel & Paint Raceway Rosebank Domain Auckland Fri-Sun Oct 22-24 2010
RESULTS
Senior 100cc Yamaha Heavy
1. Ryan Bailey, 2. Zach Zaloum; 3. Aarron Cunningham; 4. Adam David; 5. Brendon Hart; 6. Aaron de Ridder
125cc Rotax Max Light
1. Daniel Kinsman, 2. Kane Taylor; 3. Ryan Urban; 4. Daniel Connor; 5. Andrew Hoare; 6. Paul Cameron
100cc Junior Yamaha
1. Andy Schofield; 2. Reid Harker; 3. Josh Drysdale; 4. Kaleb Currie; 5. Aaron Marr; 6. Rhys Tinney
Cadet
1. Matthew Podjursky; 2. Dylan Smith; 3. Brad Wilson; 4. Thomas Ingram; 5. Nick Wiltshire; 6. Chelsea Herbert
KZ2
1. Graeme Smyth; 2. 2. Ryan Urban; 3. Daniel Bray; 4. Mathew Kinsman; 5. Jody Vincent; 6. Scott Reddish.
Junior Restricted 100 cc Yamaha
1. Maddison Wise; 2. Thomas Mclean; 3. Kaitlyn Wonnacott; 4. Alex Edwards; 5. Michael De Ponte; 6. Jacon Smith
KF3
1. Paul Blomqvist; 2. Aaron Marr; 3. Reid Harker; 4. Aaron Wilson; 5. Nicholas Carpenter; 6. Ben Kimber.
Open
1. Tony Chambers; 2. Daniel Bray; 3. Melissa Urban; 4. James Jackson.
125cc Rotax Max Heavy
1. Zach Zaloum; 2. Steven Currie; 3. Aarron Cunningham; 4. Shane Hodgson; 5. Bradley Tyrrell; 6. Scot Fountain.
100cc Yamaha Light
1. Daniel Kinsman; 2. Andrew Hoare; 3. Tyler Richardson; 4. David Meszaros; 5. Brad Still; 6. Scott Sample
Mainland Karting 2010 KartSport NZ South Island Sprint Kart Championships Armstrong Motor Group Raceway Carrs Rd Halswell Christchurch Fri-Sun Oct 22-24 2010
RESULTS
Cadet
1. Marcus Armstrong; 2. Lewis Ball; 3. Tom Pooley; 4. Reuben Adams; 5. Jack Oliver; 6. Nicholas Third.
125cc Rotax Light
1. Cody McMaster; 2. Matthew Hamilton; 3. Jeremy Burgess; 4. Scott Downes; 5. Katherine Collins; 6. Thomas Emmerson.
Junior
1. James Penrose; 2. Alex Webb; 3. Tom Alexander; 4. Scott Manson; 5. Jayden Dodge; 6. Matt Butchart
KZ2
1. Chris Cox; 2. Dyson Freeman; 3. Sam Gillam; 4. Lee Crew; 5. Stuart Joy; 6. Kane Georgeson
Junior Restricted 100cc Yamaha
1. Jordan McDonnell; 2. Brent Neill; 3. Kieran Woods; 4. Ryan Yardley; 5. Tyler McPherson; 6. James Munro
125cc Rotax Max Heavy
1. Simon Hunter; 2. Mark Coulbeck; 3. Matthew Pluck; 4. Steve Childs; 5. Andrew Broughton; 6. Scott Waller
100cc Yamaha Light
1. Cody McMaster; 2. Ben Webb; 3. Scott Downes; 4. Jeremy Burgess; 5. Jamie Conroy; 6. Katherine Collins
