New Zealand karting’s Stewart sisters, Ashleigh and Madeline from Wellington impressed in their Australian Kart Championships debut at Ipswich in Queensland over the weekend.
Ashleigh, 17, ended up best of the four-strong Kiwi squad at the fourth (and penultimate) round of the 2016 series, with a 12th in the TaG125 class. In her first drive in a 6-speed gearbox- equipped KZ2 class kart, Madeline, 15, also did well, crossing the finish line 22nd in the Final.
Having qualified eighth quickest and run as high as sixth in the heats Ashleigh was actually quick enough for at least a top six place in the Final. However she ran off the track and had to work here way forward from the rear of the field in both the fourth heat (in which she ended up 16th) and the Final (12th)
“Overall, we’re really happy with our first Karting Australia Championships experience, ” the girls’ father Tony said on Sunday evening. “Ashleigh is a bit disappointed she could not convert her pace into results but Madeline is pretty happy with her first outing in KZ2. She certainly found it physically and mentally very hard but she managed to pull off a few good passes and improved every time she went out.”
Auckland’s Ryan Grant was the other Kiwi contesting the KZ2 class but any chance he had of improving on his sixth overall place in the class points standings were dashed when he cracked a rib after clipping a trackside kerb on Friday.
He drove on, in considerable discomfort, in the heats, with a best placing of fifth but the pain forced him out of the Final.
“It just got worse and worse. Then when I put new tyres on for the Final and touched a kerb on the first lap I could hardly breathe so I did a few more laps then had to pull in,” he said.
Young gun Liam Sceats, also from Auckland, didn’t get the start to the weekend he wanted, qualifying 24th in the Cadet 12 class. He worked his way forward in the heats though with a weekend-best 13th in the fourth before crossing the line 16th in the Final
More than 220 entries across nine classes were received for the weekend round of the Australian Kart Championship presented by Jayco and Castrol Edge at Ipswich in southern Queensland.
The four Kiwi karters can now look forward to the final round of the 2016 series to be contested at Melbourne’s Todd Road kart track over the September 24-25 weekend.
