After lap records tumbled at the second round of the 2018/19 Manawatu & TRC Toyota WPKA Goldstar KartSport Series in Hawke’s Bay in March the smart money is on a similar thing happening at the third round in Wellington this weekend,
On his home track at Hastings, Zach Zaloum, was one of two drivers to set new class benchmarks in the Open class Grand Prix race, leaving the Rotax Max Heavy class record for the 678 metre Carter’s Tyres Raceway at Roys Hill at just 32.448 seconds.
New Plymouth driver Brad Still also set a new track lap record for the new Vortex ROK DVS Senior class in the same race, leaving it at just 31.997 seconds.
The new records were two of four set in hot, dry conditions at the track.
ClubSport LO206 class ace Brent Melhop from Wellington also lapping the Fernhill, Hastings circuit quicker than anyone else ever has (37.429) in a 4-stroke-powered Briggs & Stratton-engined kart, on his way to a win in his class Grand Prix race. While Hamilton-based Junior Clay Osborne re-set the 125cc Rotax Max Junior class record in the Junior GP race with a time of 31.798 seconds.
Zaloum, Still and Melhop also dominated the heat races in their respective classes earlier in the day to claim round wins and therefore start as favourites in their particular classes at Wellington on Sunday.
Other class wins of note at the Hawke’s Bay meeting went to Ben Stewart from Wellington (Vortex ROK DVS Junior) and Tom Bewley from Havelock North (Vortex Mini ROK), with Stewart, in particular keen to press home his local track advantage on Sunday.
CALENDAR – 2018/19 Manawatu & TRC Toyota WPKA Goldstar Series
- Rnd 1 Nov 18 2018 Todd Energy Raceway Waitara Taranaki
- Rnd 2 March 03 2019 Carter’s Tyres Raceway Roy’s Hill Hastings Hawke’s Bay
- Rnd 3 May 05 2019 George Refrigeration & Air Conditioning Raceway Kaitoke Wellington
- Championships round June 02 2019 Manawatu Toyota Raceway Palmerston North Manawatu