Double Podium For Cox at Sunbelts

Rangiora karter Chris Cox was back to his best at this year’s Insite-sponsored Sunbelts Sprint Championships meeting over Queen’s Birthday weekend, winning the Rotax Max Light class outright and finishing second to Blenheim ace Daniel Bugler in Open.

In doing so Cox has jumped into an early lead in the Properly Plastered-sponsored Mainland Series points standings in both classes, with a 30 point buffer over Caleb Huston in the Rotax Max Light standings and – with Bugler not signed up for Mainland points – a 45 point advantage over Jack Noble-Adams in Open.

Chris Cox won Rotax Max Light (pic – Fast Company/Rebecca Maling-BM Photography)

The long-running Sunbelts Sprint Championships event runs to a unique format over two days at Blenheim and Nelson, being regarded effectively as one meeting of nine races per class using an eight-heat with predetermined grids plus Final format.

The first five heats with pre-determined grids were run at Blenheim on Saturday while the other three plus the Final (with the grids for each class Final based on the lowest points from the heats) were run at Nelson on Sunday.

Briggs LO206 Light winner Tony Dyer (pic – Fast Company/Rebecca Maling-BM Photography)

Once each class Final was run and won drivers then got to drop their worst result from the nine races to decide the overall Sunbelts class winners for the year.

This year’s event attracted over 90 entries from Invercargill in the south to Auckland in the North. Young Auckland driver Sebastian Manson claimed the biggest scalp in fact, beating top Christchurch driver Louis Sharp to win the Sunbelts Vortex Mini ROK title from Sharp and young Dunedin ace James Black.

Tauranga driver Darren Walker was the other North Islander to take a Sunbelts trophy home with him, winning the Rotax Max Heavy class from Dunedin’s Arron Black and Nelson’s Kevin Barker.

Hamilton brothers Fynn and Clay Osborne deserve a mention too. Fynn ended up in the closest of second placings (the result went to countback after the pair tied on points) to top local driver William Exton in the Rotax Max Junior class with Clay third.

Sebastian Manson won Vortex Mini ROK (pic – Fast Company/Rebecca Maling-BM Photography)

The focus of those signed up for this year’s Mainland Series now turns to the KartSport Dunedin and Southland clubs’ annual Southern Series in August then the third and final round at Christchurch club KartSport Canterbury’s Garden City Championships meeting at the end of September.

RESULTS – 2018 Insite Sunbelts Sprint Championships Blenheim/Nelson, Sat-Sun June 02-03

Open
1. Daniel Bugler; 2. Chris Cox; 3. Kyle Dawson; 4. Grant Kugener; 5. Jack Noble Adams 6. Marco Schelp
Mainland Series
1. Cox 295 points; 2. Noble-Adams 250; 3. Shawn O’Hara 248.

Rotax Max Light
Sunbelts
1. Chris Cox; 2. Caleb Huston; 3. Jack McLaren; 4. Samuel Waddell; 5. Andrew Broughton; 6. Cameron Hay.
Mainland Series
1. Cox 302 points; 2. Huston 272; 3. McLaren 267; 4. Brouhgton 241; 5. Hay 238; 6. Sam Van Der Byl 233

Rotax Max Heavy
Sunbelts
1. Darren Walker; 2. Arron Black; 3. Kevin Barker; 4. Brendon Hart; 5. Duncan Barrett; 6. Kyle Rankin
Mainland Series
1. Barker 254 points; 2. Barrett 239; 3. Black 234; 4. Rankin 228; 5.Sam O’Malley 223; 6. Derryn French 220.

Darren Walker, 1st Rotax Max Heavy (pic – Fast Company/Rebecca Maling-BM Photography)

Briggs LO206 Heavy
Sunbelts
1. Jason Richards; 2. Nathan Clive; 3. Kerry Diamond; 4. Neil Butts.
Mainland Series
1. Richards 317 points; 2. Clive 309; 3. Diamond 270

Briggs LO206 Light
Sunbelts
1. Tony Dyer; 2. David Pinkerton; 3. Stephen Topliss; 4. Tim Evans; 5. Carey Burr; 6. Blake Greenfield
Mainland Series
1. Dyer 317 points; 2. Evans 265; 3. Topliss 262; 4. Burr 254; 5. Greenfield 251

Rotax Max Junior
Sunbelts
1. William Exton; 2. Fynn Osborne; 3. Clay Osborne; 4. Zachari Christensen; 5. Liam Pink; 6. Bo Hill.
Mainland Series
1. Exton 291 points; 2. Christensen 244; 3. Pink 240; 4. Hill 235; 5. Douglas 233; 6. Dominic Robertson 230.

Hamilton brothers Fynn (#14) and Clay (#33) finished second and third respectively in Rotax Max Junior (pic – Fast Company/Rebecca Maling-BM Photography)

Vortex Mini ROK
Sunbelts
1. Sebastian Manson; 2. Louis Sharp; 3. James Black; 4. Ollie Workman; 5. Alex Crosbie; 6. William Neale
Mainland Series
1. Sharp 289 points; 2. Black 263; 3. Crosbie 255; 4. Workman 254; 5. Neale 240; 6. Chris White

Cadet ROK
Sunbelts
1. Lochy McGregor; 2. Arthur Broughan; 3. Izaak Fletcher; 4. Jacob Earley; 5. Kohen Thompson; 6. Samuel Knight
Mainland Series
1. Broughan 297 points; 2. McGregor 295; 3. Fletcher 272; 4. Earley 256; 5. Knight 241; 6. Thompson 239