Bakkerus & Burt Grab NZ Rok Cup Advantage

Auckland’s Hayden Bakkerus and Palmerston North’s Kiahn Burt have grabbed an early advantage by claiming class wins at the opening round of the 2018 ROK Cup NZ at The Lascom Motorsport City of Sails 2-Day Challenge meeting at KartSport Auckland’s Giltrap Raceway, Rosebank Domain, over the weekend.

Bakkerus won three of the heat races and finished fourth in the second and runner-up in the final to claim the overall round win in the Vortex Mini ROK class (for 9-13 year-olds). Burt, meanwhile, won two of the five races for a round win in Cadet ROK (for 7-11 year-olds).

Hayden Bakkerus on his way to winning the Vortex Mini ROK class at The Lascom Motorsport City of Sails 2-Day Challenge meeting in Auckland over the weekend (pic – Fast Company/Graham Hughes)

This year was the second in a row that the Auckland Anniversary long weekend City of Sails meeting has hosted the opening round of the New Zealand ROK Cup NZ Series. At the end of the series the Cadet ROK winner will receive a new engine, while the winner of Vortex Mini ROK will travel to the annual ROK Cup International Final meeting, this year being held in Lonato, Italy.

Hayden Bakkerus proved the class of the 15-strong Vortex Mini ROK field at the meeting, being the only driver to win more than one heat race (three). Defending series champion Logan Manson from Levin ended up second overall with a best of second place in a heat but was 16 points adrift, with Auckland ace Ayrton Williams just one point back in third and Tom Bewley and Mason Potter next in line another single point back.

Mat Kinsman won KZ2 (pic – Fast Company/Graham Hughes)

Mitchell Sparrow from Auckland, and Tom Bewley, from Hawke’s Bay, were the only other drivers to win a class race at the meeting, Sparrow the second heat, Bewley the final one.

The racing – and therefore round points – was closer in Cadet ROK where there were two heat winners, eventual round winner, class 2016 North Island champ Kiahn Burt, and Aucklander Ashton Phipps.

Phipps won more races – three to Burt’s two, but Burt either finished second (twice) or third (once) in the others, resulting in a two point buffer over Phipps who had a third and a fifth in the heats he didn’t win.

Cadet ROK class was won by Kiahn Burt (#3) (pic – Fast Company/Graham Hughes)

Both classes were well supported at the meeting with 15 finishers in Vortex Mini ROK and 18 in Cadet ROK.

The top scorer at the meeting, meanwhile, was Mat Kinsman who claimed a clean sweep to win the KZ2 class from Auckland pair Matthew Payne and Daniel Bugler.

Other class wins went to Corey Green (Rotax Light), reigning class North Island champion Ryan Crombie (Junior Rotax), Rob Norman (120 ClubSport) and Bond Roby (DD2).



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KartSport New Zealand’s annual Sprint Championships meeting at Easter (this year being held at Rotorua) will double as the second round of this year’s ROK Cup NZ Series.

Junior MAX winner Ryan Crombie (pic – Fast Company/Graham Hughes)

2018 Lascom Motorsport City of Sails 2-Day Challenge meeting
KartSport Auckland Giltrap Group Raceway, Rosebank Domain Auckland
Sat-Sun Jan 27-28

Results

KZ2 Points
1. Mat Kinsman 5 points; 2. Matthew Payne 17; 3. Daniel Bugler 17; 4. Regan Hall 29; 5. Connor Wilson 32; 6. Hunter Cheetham 33.

DD2 Points
1. Bond Roby 7 points; 2. Garry Claxton 19; 3. Josh Hookway 22; 4. Tony Walker 27; 5. Tim Eriksen 29; 6. David Malcolm 33

Rotax Light Points
1. Corey Green 11 points; 2. Ashton Grant 20; 3. George Sampson 20; 4. Braeden Snowden 24; 5. Jason Butterworth 28; 6. Caleb Cross 29.

ClubSport 120 Points
1. Rob Norman 12 points; 2. Cliff Walsh 12; 3. Richard Macey 14; 4. Lee Sefton 16; 5. Danny Krissansen 29; 6. Michael MacDowall 31.

Junior Rotax Points
1. Ryan Crombie 8 points; 2. William Exton 12; 3. Joshua Parkinson 13; 4. Dylan Grant 25; 5. Josh Richmond 33; 6. Liam Sceats 39.

Vortex Mini ROK Points
1. Hayden Bakkerus 9 points; 2. Logan Manson 25; 3. Ayrton Williams 26; 4. Tom Bewley 27; 5. Mason Potter 27; 6. Luke Thompson 33.

Cadet ROK Points
1. Kiahn Burt 9 points; 2. Ashton Phipps 11; 3. Judd Christiansen 19; 4. Jay Urwin 21; 5. Blake Dowdall 24; 6. Hugo Neale 24.

2018 ROK Cup NZ
Points after Rnd 1 of 4

Vortex Mini ROK
1. Hayden Bakkerus 50
2. Logan Manson 47
3. Tom Bewley 45
4. Mason Potter 44
5. Mitchell Sparrow 43
6. Bo Hill 42
7. Kaden Probst 41
8. Stella Carter 40
9. Kasey O’Donnell-Dawson 39

Cadet ROK
1. Kiahn Burt 50
2. Ashton Phipps 47
3. Judd Christiansen 45
4. Jay Urwin 44
5. Hugo Neal 43
6. Maxim Kirwan 42

 



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