Kartsport NZ Island Title Winners Crowned

Latest Batch of Kartsport NZ Island Title Winners Crowned

KartSport New Zealand's annual North and South Island Sprint Kart Championships title meetings usually produces a fresh crop of class title winners.

That was definitely the case at his year's North Island meeting at Hamilton over the weekend. But not so much at the South Island one at Nelson.

At the SsangYong North Island meeting at the KartSport Hamilton Club's Agrisea Raceway adjacent the city's international airport only three of the eight 2017 North Island titles went to established drivers, KZ2 to Matt Kinsman, Rotax Max Light to Dylan Drysdale (both from Auckland) and Rotax Max Heavy to Zach Zaloum from Hastings.

The other five went to up-and-comers Taylor Harte (DD2 and Jay Urwin (Cadet ROK) from Tauranga, Ryan Hancock (Vortex Mini ROK) from Cambridge, and Joshua Bethune (Junior Yamaha) and Ryan Crombie (Rotax Junior) from Auckland.

In stark contrast the Mike Pero 2017 South Island meeting at the KartSport Nelson club's The Hits Chocolate Velvet Raceway near Richmond was all about the status quo. Multi-time South Island champion Chris Cox from Rangiora added the 2017 Open class title to his list, while current Cadet ROK class 'King' Louis Sharp from Christchurch, the reigning NZ #1, and top local driver Matt Butchart, both successfully defended the South Island titles (Sharp Cadet ROK, Butchart Rotax Max Heavy, they first won in 2015.

Two drivers, Christchurch's Caleb Cross and Picton's William Exton, also claimed two class titles apiece over the two days, Cross 125cc Rotax Max Light and 100cc Yamaha, Exton Rotax Junior and Junior 100cc Yamaha.

Finally, fresh back from representing New Zealand at the annual ROK Cup International meeting in Italy last weekend, Jacob Douglas from Christchurch was the other class winner at the Nelson meeting, adding the South Island Vortex Mini ROK class title to the New Zealand one he won at the 2017 KartSport NZ Sprint Nationals at Easter.

Both meetings attracted strong entries with over 110 across eight classes at the North Island one and almost 80 across eight classes for the South Island one.

Each meeting was run over two days (Saturday and Sunday) but the formats were slightly different this year.

At the South Island title meeting the Nelson club is kept with tradition and ran qualifying, two heats and a Pre-Final and Final for four classes on Saturday and four on Sunday.

For the North Island titles meeting the Hamilton club ran qualifying and heats for all eight classes on Saturday, and all eight pre-finals and finals on Sunday.

Ends

CAPTIONS
Class winners at the SsangYong KartSport NZ North Island Sprint Championship meeting at Hamilton on Labour Weekend Sunday included Matt Kinsman (#30 KZ2) from Auckland, Jay Urwin (# 20 Cadet ROK) from Tauranga and Ryan Hancock (#88 Cadet ROK) from Cambridge. Photo credits: Fast Company/Graham Hughes. Class winners at the Mike Pero KartSport NZ South Island Sprint Championship meeting at Nelson included Caleb Cross (#66 Rotax Light & 100cc Yamaha), William Exton (#42 Rotax Junior and Junior Yamaha) and Louis Sharp (#1 Cadet ROK). Photo credits: Fast Company/Chris Hogan

RESULTS
SsangYong 2017 KartSport NZ North Island Sprint Championships KartSport Hamilton's Agrisea Raceway Hamilton Sat-Sun Oct 21-22

KZ2
Final
1. Matt Kinsman; 2. Rhys Tinney; 3. Jordan Morris; 4. Jacob Cranston; 5. Hunter Cheetham; 6. Aaron Woolley

Rotax DD2
Final
1. Taylor Harte; 2. Ryan Yardley; 3. Jono Buxeda; 4. Scott Howard; 5. Bond Roby; 6. Tony Walker

125cc Rotax Max Light
Final
1. Dylan Drysdale; 2. Jaden Hardy; 3. Corey Green; 4. Michael McCullough; 5. Campbell Joyes; 6. James Higgins

125cc Rotax Max Heavy
Final:
1. Zach Zaloum; 2. Ashley Higgins; 3. Caleb Hartley; 4. Scott Allright

Rotax Junior
Final:
1. Ryan Crombie; 2. Jackson Rooney; 3. Joshua Parkinson; 4. Breanna Morris; 5. Fynn Osborne

100cc Yamaha Junior
Final
1. Joshua Bethune; 2. Sam Wright; 3. Braeden Snowden; 4. Jackson Rooney; 5. Connor Davison

Vortex Mini ROK
Final:
1. Ryan Hancock; 2. Ayrton Williams; 3. Kaden Probst; 4. Liam Sceats; 5. Ryan Bell; 6. Tom Bewley

Cadet ROK
Final
1. Jay Urwin; 2. Ashton Phipps; 3. Judd Christiansen; 4. Hayden Lines; 5. Blake Dowdall; 6. Kiahn Burt

Mike Pero 2017 KartSport NZ South Island Sprint Championships KartSport Nelson's The Hits Chocolate Velvet Raceway Sat-Sun Oct 21-22

Open
Final
1. Chris Cox; 2. David Pinkerton; 3. Matt Butchart; 4. Simon Moore; 5. Jack Noble-Adams.

Rotax Max Light
Final
1. Caleb Cross; 2. Chris Cox; 3. Scott Manson; 4. Jarred Cleghorn; 5. Thomas Emmerson; 6. David Pinkerton

Rotax Max Heavy
Final
1. Matt Butchart; 2. Kevin Barker; 3. Arron Black; 4. Bryce Borlase; 5. Kyle Hollingworth; 6. Daryl Wehner

100cc Yamaha
Final
1. Caleb Cross; 2. Jarred Cleghorn; 3. Jack Noble-Adams; 4. Kevin Barker.

Rotax Junior
Final
1. William Exton; 2. Zac Christensen; 3. Jacob Mitchell; 4. Adam Godwin; 5. Logan Thompson; 6. Oscar Noble-Adams

100cc Yamaha Junior
Final
1. William Exton; 2. Adam Godwin; 3. Zac Christensen; 4. Dominic Robertson; 5. Oscar Noble-Adams

Vortex Mini ROK
Final
1. Jacob Douglas; 2. Jaxon Harvey; 3. Chris White; 4. Josh Bradley; 5. Liam Pink; 6. Samuel Cayford

Cadet ROK
Final
1. Louis Sharp (New record 35.382); 2. Ollie Workman; 3. Arthur Broughan; 4. Peter Bouzinelos; 5. Lochiel McGregor; 6. Izaak Fletcher

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