Burns & Exton Share South Island Sunbelt

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Luca Burns from Invercargill and Blenheim local William Exton shared class honours in two classes at the TE Contracting Ltd-sponsored 35th  Sunbelt Sprint championship kart race meeting at Blenheim and Nelson last weekend.

Luca Burns won Open class (pic – Fast Company/Tim Did-Dell)

Wins over Exton in the final three heats at Nelson gave Burns the overall win in the Open class – albeit by a single point over Exton with fellow young gun Jacob Douglas third a further four points back. Wins in the same three 125cc Rotax Max Light class races at Nelson helped recently crowned NZ #1 Exton get his win over Burns (in this case by a margin of 7 points) in that class, with William Neale from Christchurch third, a further 5 points adrift.

The wet, cool conditions in Nelson on Sunday added a whole new element to the competition, and were in strict contrast to the cool but largely dry weather and track conditions which prevailed for the first day of combined competition at Blenheim the day before.

Rotax Light winner William Exton (pic – Fast Company/Tim Did-Dell)

Consistently finishing races at or near the front of the field – rain or shine – is the obvious way to gain a winning advantage – as NZ #1 Zach Tucker proved with a rare 9-wins-from-9-starts record in the Vortex Mini ROK class.

Only fellow Juniors  Willliam Ruffell (who won the ClubSport Briggs LO206 Junior class) and Tucker’s fellow #1 NZ from Christchurch, Cadet ROK class winner Henry Fisher got close to match that, with four wins and four second places.

Cadet ROK winner Henry Fisher (pic – Fast Company/Tim Did-Dell)

The full list of class winners at the  meeting was;

  • Open – Luca Burns (Invercargill)
  • 125cc Rotax Max Light – William Exton (Blenheim)
  • 125cc Rotax Max Heavy – Arron Black (Dunedin)
  • Briggs LO206 ClubSport Light – Tony Dyer (Nelson)
  • Briggs LO206 ClubSport Heavy – Shane Madsen (Christchurch)
  • Briggs LO206 ClubSport Junior – William Ruffell (Nelson)
  • 125cc Rotax Max Junior – Blake Knowles (Christchurch)
  • Vortex Mini ROK – Zach Tucker (Christchurch)
  • Cadet ROK – Henry Fisher (Christchurch).

Each day’s competition at this year’s Sunbelts event also carried points for the 2021 HSD Building Contractors Mainland Series.

Class point leaders after 4 of the 6 rounds of that’s series are;

  • Open – Luca Burns (Invercargill)
  • 125cc Rotax Max Light – Harry McDonald (Christchurch)
  • 125cc Rotax Max Heavy – Kevin Barker (Nelson)
  • Briggs LO206 ClubSport Light – Tony Dyer (Nelson)
  • Briggs LO206 ClubSport Heavy – Taylor Grey (Nelson)
  • 125cc Rotax Max Junior – Blake Knowles (Christchurch)
  • Vortex Mini ROK – Zach Tucker (Christchurch)
  • Cadet ROK – Henry Fisher (Christchurch).
First in Junior MAX, Blake Knowles (pic – Fast Company/Tim Did-Dell)

2021 TE Contracting Ltd 35th annual Sunbelt Sprint Championships inc. Rnds 3 & 4 of the 2021 HSD Building Contractors Ltd Mainland Series, Cresswell Electrical Kart Raceway Blenheim Sat June 05/The Hits/RWCA Accountancy + Advisory Kart Raceway Nelson Sun June 06 2021.

RESULTS

Open

  1. Luca Burns; 2. William Exton; 3. Jacob Douglas; 4. Jack McLaren; 5. Hamish Carpenter; 6. Kyle Dawson.

125cc Rotax Max Light

  1. William Exton; 2. Luca Burns; 3. William Neale; 4. Jaxon Harvey; 5. Harry McDonald; 6. Cameron Hay.

125cc Rotax Max Heavy

  1. Arron Black; 2. Kevin Barker; 3. Thomas Emmerson; 4. Kyle Rankin; 5. Derryn French; 6. Daniel Bell.

ClubSport Briggs LO206 Light


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  1. Tony Dyer; 2. Logan Rasmussen; 3. Matthew Ryan; 4. Travis Smith; 5. Ferghus Meighan; 6. Rob Frans.        

ClubSport Briggs LO206 Heavy

  1.   Shane Madsen; 2. Taylor Gray; 3. Chris Harris; 4. Rob Blick; 5, Ryan Godsiff; 6. Geoff Bradshaw.

ClubSport Briggs LO206 Junior

1.William Ruffell; 2. Riley Price; 3. Maxxus Blick; 4. Will Partridge.

125cc Rotax Max Junior

  1. Blake Knowles; 2. Dylan Jessop; 3. Ollie Workman; 4. William McDonald; 5. Oscar Jackson; 6. Scott McLaren.

Vortex Mini ROK

  1. Zach Tucker; 2. Charlie Botham; 3. Robbie Batt; 4. Zavier Harvey; 5. Levi McMillan; 6. Josh Hill.

Cadet ROK

1. Henry Fisher; 2. Jack McGrath; 3. Mason Dunphy; 4, Magni Whittle; 5. Nixon Cripps, 6. Braxton Kraayvang er.

Zach Tucker, 1st in Vortex Mini ROK (pic – Fast Company/Tim Did-Dell)

2021 HSD Building Contractors Ltd Mainland Series – Points after Rnd 4 of 6

Open

  1. Luca Burns 569 points; 2. Hamish Carpenter 535; 3. Jacob Douglas 493; 4. Callissa Campbell 479; 5. Kim Smrekar 476.

125cc Rotax Max Light

  1. Harry McDonald 530 points; 2. Will Neale 527; 3. Luca Burns 516; 4. Cameron Hay 478; 5. Jaxon Harvey 466; 6. Mac Berkett 455.

125cc Rotax Max Heavy

  1. Kevin Barker 567 points; 2. Tony Rankin 495; 3. Ian Carter 478; 4. Jamie Johnstone 434; 5. Craig McFarlane 433; 6. Damian Hill 431.

ClubSport Briggs LO206 Light

  1. Tony Dyer 601 points; 2. Travis Smith 588; 3. Logan Rasmussen 530; 4. James Watson 478; 5. Cody Watson 460.

ClubSport Briggs LO206 Heavy

  1. Taylor Gray 587 points; 2. Anton Rasmussen 539; 3. Scott Watson 492.

125cc Rotax Max Junior

  1. Blake Knowles 545 points; 2. Dylan Jessop 504; 3. William McDonald 500; 4. Scott McLaren 483; 5. Chris White 481; 6. Ollie Workman 481.

Vortex Mini ROK

  1. Zach Tucker 636 points; 2. Charlie Botham 524; 3. Levi McMillan 494; 4. Robbie Batt 483; 5. Riley Greig 461; 6. Josh Hill 451.

Cadet ROK


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  1. Henry Fisher 634 points; 2. Jack McGrath 557; 3. Nixon Cripps 525; 4. Cooper Patrick 476; 5. Mason Dunphy 475