Kiwi karters are again crossing the Tasman this year to contest Australia’s Rotax Pro Tour with three set to appear at the opening round in Melbourne this weekend.

Leading the charge will be Auckland’s Aarron Cunningham who will contest the DD2 Masters class title.

Joining him at the meeting at the Todd Road circuit are Dylan Drysdale from Palmerston North, who will race in the Junior Max class, and Matthew Payne from Auckland who will compete in the Junior Trophy class.

This year’s series runs over six rounds between now and July with a standalone Grand Final event in August.

The 2015 series sees the introduction of an all-new class – Mini Max for 9-12 year-olds – and a record first-round entry across all the classes of 230 with both Rotax Light and Junior Max having over 50 entries each.

At subsequent rounds of this year’s Pro Tour the trio contesting this weekend’s rounds are expected to be joined by at least four other young Kiwis.

Auckland brothers Daniel and Mathew Kinsman, who have been front-runners in the Rotax Light class on the past two years, will contest some rounds, as will Wellington sisters Ashleigh and Maddy Stewart from Wellington, Maddy in Junior Max and Ashleigh in Rotax Light.