The cream has risen to the top as some of the stars of sport are set to do battle in the second part of the 2022 Gazley National Sprint Championships in Wellington this weekend.
Organisers split the competition into two parts, to enable karters to compete within the confines of the pandemic rules, with the second event at the same Gazley KartSport Wellington facility at Kaitoke in Upper Hutt.
There are a bundle of national champions and rising stars competing in the three remaining classes to be decided, comprising KZ2, Rotax Max Heavy and Rotax Max Light. The competitors collectively have around 30 national titles between them, including Victorian visitor Brad Jenner, who has come off runner-up overall in the SP Tools Australian Kart Championship series in X30 class.
The high profile KZ2 category features two pre-eminent racers in Aucklanders Matt Kinsman, with 10 national titles to his credit across the classes, and Daniel Bray, a four-time national champion.
Add to that Waikato’s Daniel Bugler and Auckland’s Nathan Crang, fresh off competing across the Tasman, and several other exceptional peddlers, and this category is sure to provide some fireworks.
Auckland’s Ryan Urban, one of the legends of the sport and a nine-time national champion as well as a multi-national champion in Superkarts, will have the favourites tag in Rotax Max Heavy class.
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There will be plenty of competition including the 2016 national champion Campbell Joyes from KartSport Hamilton, BOP’s Darren Walker and the respected Palmerston North trio of Brendon Hart, Ash and James Higgins.
The Rotax Max Light has the biggest field with 20 karters, including several in-form competitors with the likes of Morrinsville’s Clay Osborne and Hawkes Bay’s Tom Bewley, who won the DD2 and ROK DVS Junior national titles respectively in the first national sprint event two months ago at the same venue.
Others to watch include two-time national champion William Exton from Marlborough and Australian visitor Brad Jenner amid a strong group of contenders.
Official practice and qualification runs from 1pm on Saturday, with racing from 9am on Sunday comprising two heats, pre-final and final to finish around 3pm
The racing on Sunday will be live-streamed via the KartSport NZ Facebook page and website, with live results on My Laps Speedhive
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