Kiwi karters found themselves without any windfall in the penultimate round of the SP Tools Australian Karting Championships in Ipswich, Queensland at the weekend.
A group of New Zealand karters crossed the Tasman, among 400 entries for the round, which again brought about some fierce competition.
Auckland Parolin driver Nathan Crang showed improvement throughout the weekend in the KZ2 class where 2019 world champion, Marijn Kremers from Netherlands showed his class to claim the overall honours.
Crang moved his way from 17th in the first heat, to 12th, then 10th and ninth in the fourth and final heat. He started eighth on the grid for the 24-lap final, working up to fifth where he remained in an excellent performance.
He was later among three drivers to be disqualified from the final, to spoil an otherwise strong showing.
“It was a great comeback after a poor qualifying when we got bogged on our fast lap but still no excuse,” said team leader Daniel Bray. “Nathan never gave up and we kept working on the kart to get it better.
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Bray said it was a great result over the line in the final with Jake Klarich third, Nathan fifth and Supercars driver James Golding sixth.
However, Nathan weighed in 0.4kg under weight over the scales and was disqualified from the final.
National champion Jay Urwin, from the BirelART team had two top-10 finishes in heats spoiled with a DNF in the final heat, to leave him in 12th on the grid for the final. He had a strong run to remain mid-pack to finish 12th, but was later penalised five placings.
Luca Burns (Kart Republic) who started the final from the 12th row, did not finish, and it was a similar fate for Isaak Fletcher (Tasman Karts) in the KA2 final.
Vortex driver Grayson Stowe from Hawkes Bay was 29th and Jackson Culver (Tasman Karts) 33rd in the final of the Cadet 12.
The final round is in Melbourne on 25-27 August.
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