Brothers Daniel and Mathew Kinsman are now first and second in the class points standings but it was fellow Aucklander Kane Taylor’s fight back drive in the Right Karts 125cc Rotax Max Light class Final which had everyone talking at the penultimate round of this year’s Gen-i KartStars Rotax Max Challenge of New Zealand in Auckland over the weekend.
After finishing second to fastest qualifier and eventual round winner Mathew Kinsman in the second Light heat on Sunday Taylor looked set to get even closer in the Pre-Final only to grind to a halt with what turned out to be a broken wire in his kart engine’s kill switch assembly.
Ironically he had been hit by a similar problem at the same track two years ago when he only had to finish the Final to earn a trip to the Grand Final.
This time, however, the wire broke in the Pre-Final, meaning he could still contest the Final, albeit having to start it from the back of the grid.
With the broken wire found and fixed he did just that, quickly working his way up through the field and tagging on to the back of the leading bunch before working his way past title contenders Daniel Connor and Daniel Kinsman and setting off after Mathew Kinsman, setting the weekend’s fastest 125cc Rotax Max Light class lap time in the process.
It was spectacular stuff and when the chequered flag came out Taylor was just three seconds down on Mathew Kinsman with Connor third, Daniel Kinsman fourth and James Penrose fifth.
Points-wise the situation in the premier Lights class couldn’t be closer with Daniel Kinsman still in front on 345 points but older brother Mathew now just three points behind in second and the other round winner this year, Daniel Connor, third another eight points back.
Heading into the round Daniel Kinsman still appeared odds-on favourite but where he struggled to find a suitable set-up for his kart, his brother’s seem to get better and better as the weekend went on.
“What we’ve found,” said Mathew,” is that we’ve got a kart that, the longer the race is it just seems to get stronger and stronger where other people’s seem to grip up and their times drop away. We seem to be able to maintain the same time throughout the race.”
And Daniel?
“Yeah,” he said,”we struggled from qualifying as far as chassis set-up is concerned. We made a few changes for the Final but obviously went the wrong way which hurt us a bit.”
And so, with two round wins apiece now, and trips to this year’s Rotax Max Grand Challenge in Portugal for both the winner and the runner-up in the 125 cc Rotax Max Light class what’s the strategy going to be at the final round of the New Zealand series in Rotorua next month?
“We’re just both going to have to take our A games to Rotorua and whoever takes it takes it, “Daniel said. “I’m fine for him (Mathew) to have it and vice versa.”
Top Junior Scott Manson from Christchurch was just happy to be cleared to drive at Auckland after injuring his left knee in a clash in the Final at the most recent round at Te Puke, but if anything there was even more pressure on him in Auckland with local CJ Sinclair pipping him for pole position in qualifying and Sinclair and Palmerston North driver Josh Drysdale beating him in the heats and Pre-Final.
Come the Final though Manson was back up to second behind Drysdale at the flag to limit the damage to his hard-won points lead.
Drysdale was again on top form and did well to win two classes on the one day, the Arai Helmets Junior Rotax one and the KF3 one which runs under the Mi Sedaap Pro Kart Series which shared the programme at the KartSport Auckland meeting.
The points leader, Hawke’s Bay driver Zach Zaloum, also came under serious pressure in the Strata Networks 125cc Rotax Max Heavy class with Tauranga driver Niki Urwin – the paraplegic who races with a special hand-control steering wheel on his kart – qualifying quickest, winning the first heat outright then finishing a close second to Aucklander Shane Hodgson in the second heat, Pre-Final and Final.
The result is that Urwin now has an 18 point lead in the over 32-years class-within-a-class, meaning he is odds on to win a trip to the annual Grand Final (whihc this year is being held in Portugal) for a second time. Zach Zaloum still leads the overall Heavy class standings but Urwin has now leap-frogged Aarron Cunningham for third behind Zaloum and Auckland round winner Hodgson, as well as leading the over-32’s class-within-a-class.
The focus of the Gen-i KartStars Rotax Max Challenge of New Zealand now turns to the final series round at Rotorua over the September 22-23 weekend.
