The second round of the 2017/18 Manawatu & TRC Toyota WPKA Goldstar KartSport Series at the KartSport Wellington club’s George Refrigeration & Air Conditioning Raceway at Kaitoke north-east of the Capital over the weekend delivered on its promise of close, exciting racing across all classes.
In Cadet ROK Tauranga’s Jay Urwin was the class of the day with Kiahn Burt from Palmerston North close behind. The story was the same in the standalone class GP race, with Urwin getting a good lead from the start of the race and Burt – despite some real hard charging – running out of laps to catch him.
The Vortex Mini ROK class also entertained with lots of good close racing. Tom Bewley demonstrated the same sort of form he showed at the opening round of this season’s series in Taranaki, making his way up through the field to get two race wins.
A fast Hayden Bakkerus from Auckland, and Louis Sharp from Christchurch, kept him honest all day, and nose cone penalties affected a few of the contenders.
The standalone class GP proved to be another great race with Bewley, Bakkerus, Mason Potter and Jenson Bate giving a hint of how exciting the racing will be in the class at the Sprint Nationals in Rotorua at Easter.
There was plenty of passing throughout but Tom Bewley was in front when it mattered, doing the round double with a win this time from Bakkerus and a fast Jenson Bate.
As expected there was also a ding-doing battle for round and GP honours in the Junior Rotax class. Wellington ace Ryan Wood showed he had the speed to win the day but a racing incident saw him go a lap down in the first heat.
Palmerston North driver Jackson Rooney suffered a similar fate in the fourth and final heat, leaving the way open for Picton’s William Exton to win the day from Wood, Fynn Osborne from Hamilton, Rooney and Liam Sceats from Auckland.
Consolation for Rooney came in the class GP with a lights-to-flag win over Sceats, Exton, Wood, Zac Christensen from Christchurch and Fynn Osborne, the top six drivers giving it their all and putting on a great show for the spectators.
In the Senior classes, as expected Palmerton North’s Jacob Cranston was – literally – in a class of his own in Open, Michael McCulloch from the Kapiti Coast, former Heavy class champ Zac Zaloum from the Hawke’s Bay, and James Higgins from Palmerston North were the class of the Rotax Max Light field, and Ashley Higgins was the dominant force in the Heavy division.
The all-in ClubSport 120/Briggs LO206 class was another close fought one, with race wins being shared around and plenty of friendly Raket 2-stroke vs Briggs & Stratton 4-stroke banter being bandied around in the pits.
The Briggs boys really made it hard for the Raket boys all day, though Derek Lawrence won the day for the ClubSport 120 Raket 2-strokes followed by the first Briggs of Michael Love with William Pearson in his Raket third. Lawrence also won the combined GP race, this time from Pearson, with Michael Love again the first LO206 class entrant home in third place..
There is now another break before the third round of the 2017/18 Manawatu & TRC Toyota WPKA Goldstar KartSport Series which this year is being hosted by the Kartsport Hawke’s Bay club at Chemz Raceway Roy’s Hill Hastings, on Sunday Mya 06.
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2017/18 Manawatu & TRC Toyota WPKA Goldstar Series, Rnd 2 Results
Cadet ROK
1. Jay Urwin 7 points; 2. Kiahn Burt 10; 3. Blake Dowdall; 4. Judd Christiansen 11; 5. Kerr Botha 21; 6. Blake Corin 21.
Vortex Mini ROK
1. Tom Bewley 8 points; 2. Hayden Bakkerus 10; 3. Louis Sharp 12; 4. Jenson Bate 16; 5. Ryan Hancock 18; 6. Tayler Payne 22.
Rotax Max Junior
1. William Exton 10 points; 2. Ryan Wood 13; 3. Fynn Osborne 15; 4. Jackson Rooney 16; 5. Liam Sceats 17; 6. 50. Breanna Morris 17..
Rotax Max Light
1. Michael McCulloch 5 points; 2. Zach Zaloum 8; 3. James Higgins 10; 4. Jackson Whitfield 13; 5. Campbell Jamieson 22; 6. Olivia Neill 23
Rotax Max Heavy
1. Ashley Higgins 4 points; 2. Darren Conway (M) 8 points; 3. Simon Wilcox 11.
ClubSport 120
1. Derek Lawrence 7 points; 2. William Pearson 9; 3. Brenden Print 11; 4. Brent Hickmott 13; 5. Nathan Nolly 17; 6. Stuart Frew 18.
Briggs LO206
1. Michael Love 8 points; 2. Shaun Croskery 10; 3. Brent Melhop 11; 4. Hadleigh Coffey 11; 5. Shane Sayer 12; 6. Glen Dodd 22.
Open
1. Jacob Cranston 4 points; 2. Clint Beaumont 11.
GP Results
Cadet ROK GP
1. Jay Urwin; 2. Kiahn Burt; 3. Kerr Botha; 4. Judd Christensen; 5. Blake Dowdall; 6. Ethan Sayer/
Vortex Mini ROK GP
1. Tom Bewley; 2. Hayden Bakkerus; 3.Jenson Bate; 4. Louis Sharp; 5. Ryan Bell; 6. Sabastian Manson.
Rotax Junior GP
1. Jackson Rooney; 2. Liam Sceats; 3. William Exton; 4. Ryan Wood; 5. Zac Christensen; 6. Fynn Osborne.
Senior GP
Open: 1. Jacob Cranston
Rotax Max Light: 1. Michael McCulloch; 2. Jackson Whitfield; 3. Olivia Neill; 4. Edward Kelly; 5. James Aston.
Rotax Max Heavy: 1. Ashley Higgins; 2. Darren Conway.
ClubSport 120 GP
1. Derek Lawrence; 2. William Pearson; 3. Nathan Nolly; 4. Stuart Frew; 5. Sarah Pullen;
ClubSport Briggs LO206 GP
1. Michael Love; 2. Shane Sayer; 3; Shuan Croskery; 4. Hadleigh Coffey; 5. Glenn Dodd; 6. Nathan Clive
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