Young Auckland karter Matthew Payne led the Kiwi charge at the opening round of Australia’s Rotax Pro Tour kart series in Melbourne over the weekend, dominating the Junior Trophy class.
Quickest in qualifying and the winner of all three class heats on Saturday, Payne slipped back one place to finish second in the Pre-Final on Sunday morning and was shuffled back to third early on in the Final in the afternoon, before working his way back to the front to take the chequered flag and claim the overall class win for the round.
Fellow Junior Dylan Drysdale from Palmerston North also enjoyed a strong run in his class, Junior Rotax, qualifying third and winning a heat to start the Pre-Final fourth and finish third and the Final third and cross the line fifth.
Aarron Cunningham found the going tougher in the DD2 Masters Senior class, qualifying 16th and carding a 13-12-14 run through the heats and ending up 17th after starting 13th in the Pre-Final.
He had a better run in the Final though, starting 17th but crossing the finish line in 10th position.
The trio now return to New Zealand to contest the first round of the local Rotax Max Challenge series in Rotorua this coming weekend.
The next round of the Australian series is in Dubbo in central New South Wales over the March 21-22 weekend.
