Photo: Tom Curran, KZ2 Masters Consistency netted Ryan Urban the top spot in the premier KZ2 class at the penultimate round of this year's Mi Sedaap Pro Kart Series in the Bay of Plenty over the weekend, the multi-time New Zealand sprint class champion top-scoring from young guns Graeme Smyth and Richard Moore with 2009 champion Ryan Grant fourth and defending class title-holder Daniel Bray fifth.
With the polar blast which brought snow and freezing temperatures to the rest of the country holding off just long enough for the two-day weekend meeting at KartSport Bay of Plenty's Fagan's Valley Raceway near Te Puke to be run in fine albeit cold weather Urban was the chief beneficiary of incidents involving Grant and Bray.
Bray, who continues to hold a three point lead in the series points standings, pipped Grant and his teammate Graeme Smyth for pole in qualifying but Grant won the first heat from Bray, Smyth, Urban and Moore.
In the second heat, however, contact between Bray and Grant saw Grant end his race early and Bray (who crossed the finish line in second spot) relegated to a finishing position behind Grant (13th to Grant's 12th) because of his part in the incident.
That left Urban to take his first win of the weekend from Smyth, last year's KF3 (Junior) series champion Bradley Hicks and Richard Moore.
Smyth then got the better of both Bray and Urban in the third heat (from which Ryan Urban had an early exit with a bent axle) but Urban fought back to win the Pre-Final - from Grant, Smyth and Moore - as Bray watched on from the sidelines after burning out his kart's clutch on the startline.
Because he didn't start the Pre-Final, Bray had to start the Final from the back row of the grid, providing spectactors with an added bonus as he worked his way through the field to cross the finish line in second place behind Grant with Moore third, Urban fourth and Smyth fifth.
Consistency also netted series returnee Snow Mooney a win in the KZ2 Masters class, the Aucklander finally giving class standout Tom Curran some competition.
For the first three rounds of this year's series - in which the Masters have had their own stand-alone class - Curran has been the man to beat. At Te Puke, however, Mooney qualified quickest, won the first heat and the Pre-Final, and finished second in every other outing, giving him the round win by nine points from Curran - who won the second and third heats and the Final but had a 12th place finish in the first heat - with Brett Hollander third and Mark Lane fourth.
In the KF3 Junior support class, meanwhile, series points leader Mitchell Turner (Hawke's Bay) won the day, albeit by only two points from arch-rival Luke Dobbs.
Turner qualified quickest and won the three heats but Dobbs beat him to the line in both the Pre-Final and Final, with Emilee Wright third (both in the Pre-Final and Final and on the day.
Attention now turns to the final round of the 2011 Mi Sedaap Pro Kart series in Hamilton over the September 17-18 weekend.
2011 Mi Sedaap Pro Kart Series Rnd 4 Fagan's Valley Raceway Te Puke Sat/Sun August 13-14
Results
KZ2
Round
1. Ryan Urban 60 points; 2. Graeme Smyth 57; 3. Richard Moore 55; 4. Ryan Grant 54; 5. Daniel Bray 53; 6. Bradley Hicks 52.
Series Points
1. Daniel Bray 428 points, 2. Ryan Grant 425; 3. Ryan Urban 422; 4. Graeme Smyth 416; 5. Richard Moore 410; 6. Bradley Hicks 396
KZ2 Masters
Round
1. Snow Mooney 60 points; 2. Tom Curran 57; 3. Brett Hollander 55; 4. Mark Lane 54; 5. Mark Wheeler 53; 6. Todd Wheeler 52.
Series points
1. Tom Curran 440 points; 2. Mark Lane 425; 3. Brett Hollander 420; 4. Todd Wheeler 414; 5. Mark Wheeler 407; 6. Warren Parris 398
KF3
Round
1. Mitchell Turner 60 points; 2. Luke Dobbs 57; 3=. Emilee Wright/Joel Herbert 55; 5=. Mitchell Sanders/Kent Wheeler/Jordan Morris 53.
Series Points
1. Mitchell Turner 435 points; 2. Luke Dobbs 429; 3. Joel Herbert 427; 4. Emilee Wright 415; 5. Mitchell Sanders 408; 6. Connor Westbury 407
Calendar
2011 Mi Sedaap Pro Kart Series
Rnd 1 Feb 27-28 Royshill ZM Raceway Hastings
Rnd 2 April 02-03 Pinex Raceway Tokoroa
Rnd 3 May 28-29 Moselle Paint & Panel Raceway Auckland
Rnd 4 August 13-14 Fagan's Valley Raceway Te Puke
Rnd 5 September 17-18 Hamilton Kart Club Raceway
