Canterbury karters found success at both of KartSport New Zealand’s Island title meetings over Labour Weekend this year, Christchurch’s Simon Hunter winning the 125cc Rotax Max Heavy class title at the Pace Engineering North Island meeting at Waitara in Taranaki and North Loburn’s James Penrose winning both the 100cc Yamaha Light and 125cc Rotax Max Light class titles at the Evolution Motorsport South Island event at Mosgiel near Dunedin.

The wins meant both drivers extended impressive winning streaks, Hunter a four-time winner of the New Zealand Yamaha Heavy and two-time winner of the New Zealand 125cc Rotax Max Heavy title, and Penrose a four-time New Zealand title winner and now a five-time winner of a South Island title.

Hunter was one of nine title winners at the North Island meeting, hosted by KartSport Taranaki at its Todd Energy Raceway at Waitara. They were;
* 125cc Rotax Max Light – Mathew Kinsman from Auckland
* 125cc Rotax Max Heavy – Simon Hunter from Christchurch
* 100cc Yamaha Light – Andy Schofield from Cambridge
* 100cc Yamaha Heavy – Shaun Reay from the Hawke’s Bay
* KF2 – Arie Hutton from Auckland
* Junior 100cc Yamaha – Campbell Joyes from Hamilton
* KF3 – Mitchell Turner from the Hawke’s Bay
* Junior Restricted 100cc Yamaha – Sebastian Bainbridge from Auckland
* Cadet – Callum Hedge from the Bay of Plenty

Conditions at the North Island meeting could hardly have more different on each day with dry cool weather on Saturday and heavy rain on Sunday. That made it harder for the drivers contesting classes on Sunday to match the consistency of Saturday winners like Mathew Kinsman and Campbell Joyes, who both completed clean sweeps, qualifying quickest and winning all four races they contested.

To his credit Mitchell Turner won his four races to claim the KF3 class title on Sunday though the quickest time in qualifying on Friday (in the dry) went to Aucklander Arran Crighton.

And Auckland young gun Sebastian Bainbridge was certainly not handed the North Island Junior Restricted 100cc Yamaha title on a plate, having qualified back in ninth place on Friday and finished the first heat race on Sunday in that position before winning the second then finishing second to defending class champion Jacob Cranston in the pre-final and finally getting and staying in front to make the title his in the final.

The weather was more consistent in Mosgiel, the South Island meeting escaping the forecast rain until all nine finals had been run and won.

James Penrose was the standout driver at that meeting, completing a clean sweep of qualifying the heats and the pre-final and final in 125cc Rotax Max Light on Saturday and battling with quickest qualifier Chris Cox and top Invercargill driver Jamie Conroy before clearing out to add the South Island 100cc Yamaha Light title to his tally on Sunday.

With two titles to his name the 18-year-old was one of eight title winners at this year’s South Island meeting. They were;
* 125cc Rotax Max Light – James Penrose from North Loburn
* 125cc Rotax Max Heavy – Michael Collins from Christchurch
* 100cc Yamaha Light – James Penrose from North Loburn
* 100cc Yamaha Heavy – Chris Dixon from Dunedin
* Open – Dyson Freeman from Dunedin
* KZ2 – Chris Cox from Rangiora
* Junior 100cc Yamaha – Scott Manson from Christchurch
* Junior Restricted 100cc Yamaha – Caleb Cross from Rangiora
* Cadet – Jacob Mitchell from Christchurch

Other drivers to impress at Mosgiel were Scott Manson who dominated the Junior 100cc Yamaha class despite strong competition from fast-rising fellow Christchurch driver Marcus Armstrong and defending class title-holder Jordan McDonnell, and Christchurch’s Michael Collins who stepped up to take the 125cc Rotax Max Heavy title after a tough battle with top local driver Daniel Harvey.

Like James Penrose, Chris Cox also kept a long-held tradition of title-winning at the South Island meeting alive, this time claiming the KZ2 class silverware from Christchurch driver Matt Williams and Invercargill’s Jamie Conroy.

Williams crossed the line first in the final, but a time-penalty put him back behind Cox, the KZ2 title the sixth the Rangiora driver has won at a South Island meeting in seven years.

Another Rangiora driver, Caleb Cross made it two titles in two years, though in his case it was the Cadet title at the North Island championship meeting in the Hawke’s Bay last year, and the South Island one in the Junior Restricted 100cc Yamaha class this year.

Finally while all the titles were won by out-of-towners at the North Island meeting two went to Dunedin drivers at the South Island one, 100cc Yamaha Heavy to Chris Dixon, Open to Dyson Freeman.

KartSport is a safe, affordable motorsport which caters for all ages, with categories for Cadets (6-12yrs), Junior Restricted (10-14 yrs), Juniors (12-17 yrs) and Seniors (15 yrs and over). To find out more about it go to www.kartsport.org.nz