Series newcomer Daniel Harvey made him work for it, but KartSport Mt Wellington club member Ben Morrison claimed the most heat race wins at the third round of this year’s CRC SpeedShow Top Half (kart) Series at Edgecumbe on Sunday.

Morrison was again the pace-setter in the new Vortex Mini ROK class and won four of the five heat races, conceding only one – the second – to Harvey.

By comparison only three other drivers out of the 120-strong entry across nine classes won more than two heat races apiece, with CJ Sinclair (Mt Wgtn) winning three of the five to top score in Open, Caleb Hartley (Tok) three of the five to claim the honours in 125cc Rotax Max Heavy and Steve Muggeridge (of host club KartSport Eastern Bay of Plenty) three of the five to beat Whangarei’s Richard Macey and arch-rival (and fellow Eastern Bay of Plenty clubmate) Graham Knight to the top spot on the ClubSport 120 podium.

Daniel Harvey was not the only new series arrival to shake things up at the Edgecumbe round either. Aucklander Nathan Reid ended up third in 125cc Rotax Max Light after two seconds, two thirds and a fourth in the heats.

Closest points finish of the day, meanwhile, came in the Open class where young gun CJ Sinclair ended up just one point ahead of old hand Snow Mooney despite his three heat wins from five starts, Mooney winning the other two heats and finishing second Sinclair in the other three.

That, as it turned out, was the exception, however, with four different winners in Formula Junior, Junior Restricted 100cc Yamaha, Cadet Raket and 125cc Rotax Max Light, and three in 125cc Rotax Max Heavy and Cadet ROK.

Other class winners at Edgecumbe were Fyn Osborne (Hamilton) in Cadet Raket, Cullern Thorburn (Rotorua) in Cadet ROK, Lee Zeltwanger (Mt Wgtn) in Junior Restricted 100cc Yamaha, Suvarn Naidoo (Hamilton) in Formula Junior and Campbell Joyes (Hamilton) in 125cc Rotax Max Light.

The four round 2014 CRC SpeedShow Top Half Series concludes with a final round in Auckland on Sunday June 22.

CRC Speedshow is New Zealand’s premier automotive and motorsport expo which this year will be held at Auckland’s ASB Showgrounds over the July 19-20 weekend. More information on this year’s CRC Speedshow Top Half series can be found on KartSport New Zealand’s website www.kartsport.org.nz/events/2014-top-half-series and Facebook page www.facebook.com/TopHalfSeries