Dylan Drysdale from Palmerston North heads a three-strong resident Kiwi contingent contesting the third round of Australia’s Rotax Pro Tour kart series at Wodonga on the Victoria/New South Wales border this weekend.
After two rounds of this year’s Australian Rotax series, Drysdale, 15, is running a close second to Zane Morse from the ACT in the Junior Max class. At the opening series round Drysdale finished fifth, at the second round he went one better for fourth and since the last round he has won the Junior 100cc Yamaha title at the New Zealand Sprint Nationals championship meeting in Palmerston North at Easter.
“I’m definitely looking forward to racing there,” he said before heading to the airport. “It’ll be my first time at this track but my aim is to win the round.”
Drysdale is driving an Exprit kart this year and will have experienced Palmerston North mechanic and set-up man Callum Orr with him this weekend.
These days more and more young Kiwi drivers are crossing the Tasman seeking greater competition, and Drysdale says the differences are not as great as some might imagine.
“There are much bigger fields, but I think the level of competition is the same as here (NZ). It’s just there is more of it!”
Joining Drysdale at the Wodonga meeting will be fellow 2015 Rotax Pro Tour regulars Matthew Payne and Aarron Cunningham from Auckland.
Wellington’s Stewart sisters, Ashleigh and Madeline, and Drysdale’s Kartsport Manawatu club mate Kaleb Ngatoa contested the second round of the Pro Tour in Dubbo in late March, but they are committed to contesting the final round of the Bayley’s WPKA Goldstar series in the Hawke’s Bay this weekend.
Like Dylan Drysdale, Matthew Payne has made an immediate impact on the Australian series and is currently third in the points in the Junior Max Trophy class behind Reece Cohen from New South Wales, and Aaron Love from Western Australia.
Payne made a winning start to his campaign at the opening Pro Tour round in Melbourne in January but slipped to eighth at the second at Dubbo and is looking for a podium return this weekend.
DD2 Masters class competitor Aarron Cunningham is also looking to improve on where he sits in the points in his class, eighth.
This weekend’s meeting has attracted another strong field from across Australia (and New Zealand) with Dylan Drysdale one of two recently crowned 2015 New Zealand Sprint champions entered.
The other is Queensland-based expat Lane Moore, who won his second New Zealand 125cc Rotax Max Heavy title at the nationals meeting in Palmerston North over the Easter weekend.
Moore is not the only expat Kiwi in the pack either.
Dylan Drysdale’s older brother Josh – who now lives and works across the Tasman – will contest the DD2 class.
