Weather Gods Smile on Citrus Kart Meeting

by Phil Green

For the first time in a number of years karters enjoyed fine weather at the Bay of Plenty kart club hosted Farmer Motor Group Citrus two-day invitation meeting over Queen's Birthday weekend.

Bradley Hicks
Photo : Fast Company/Greg Henderson

Historically, it has always rained on one of the race days but this year’s event saw settled weather at the Fagan’s Valley Raceway near Te Puke.

In the Bayfair Panelworx sponsored Cadets class Whangarei’s Thomas McLean came away unbeaten after winning every heat he started. Cameron Taylor also from Whangarei and Bradley Wilson from Auckland filled the podium.

The Pak ‘n Save Rotorua Junior Restricted class was the biggest class of the weekend with fourteen competitors entered in it. It also produced some of the closest racing of the weekend with the top six or seven drivers all achieving podium positions over the two days of racing.

Aucklander Bradley Hicks eventually took the class honors from Hamilton’s Rhys Tinney. Auckland’s Shaun Grocock and Tauranga’s Stephen Appleton were tied on 21 points for third overall with the place going to Grocock on count back. Grocock also set the fastest lap of the race in four heats and set a new lap record in heat six with a blistering 38.133 seconds around the 725 meter track.

The Goldfinger Nail & Body Salon Junior Yamaha class saw local drivers featuring at the front of the field. After the completion of Saturdays four anti-clockwise heats Scott Hatton was leading the class on eight points. A return to the normal 'clockwise' direction on Sunday saw Pukekohe’s Daniel Colville lift his game and claim three of the four heats to take the overall win from Hatton and BOP’s Rex Edwards.

Edwards was on target for a class win but was left ruing what could have been after losing a chain in heat three and spinning out of contention in heat seven after contact with another kart.

The Mark Dufty Panelbeaters Yamaha Lights class provided some spectacular racing and any one of the top six drivers was good enough to win the class but the home track advantage gave local John van Bommel the top honors.

Yamaha Heavy stalwart Darren Asilabie showed his MBY Engineering class that experience counts for everything and comfortably claimed class honors, taking five heat wins along the way. Rotorua’s Lance Fisher and Tauranga’s Deon Symes fought it out for the remaining rostrum positions and finished the weekend in that order with just a two point buffer between them.

Kartsport NZ driving academy coach Niki Urwin took a clean sweep win in the Makzgear Rotax Lights class showing that he is well qualified to hold such a position. Auckland's Declan Hull claimed second spot just one point in front of Yamaha Lights winner John van Bommel who enjoyed his debut in the competitive class.

One of the smaller classes of the weekend was the Marshall Batteries Rotax Heavy’s class which saw Bay of Plenty’s Arryn Hill have his first drive of the year and take out the class winning all eight heats as he liked.

Niki Urwin
Photo : Fast Company/Greg Henderson

Brendon Simonson and Rob Pakes took the remaining top three spots.

The Mouat’s Engineering Open class saw some very tight racing at the front of the field. After day one local Ryan Belworthy in his KZ2 Maranello and regular Battery Town Porsche GT3 Cup driver Jody Vincent were tied for the lead both claiming a couple of wins, a second and a fourth place for the day.

However it would be Auckland's Melissa Urban, driving a 250cc powered Arrow chassis, to raise the bar on Sunday taking three of the four heats and stealing the overall class win from Belworthy by just one point. Vincent struggled with kart setup on the Sunday but banked enough points to take third overall in just his second kart meeting of the year.

2008 Farmer Motor Group Citrus Kart meeting Bay of Plenty Kart Club Fagan's Valley Raceway Te Puke Sat/Sun May 31/June 01

RESULTS

Bayfair Panelworx Cadets: 1. Thomas McLean 7pts; 2. Cameron Taylor 18; 3. Bradley Wilson 29

Pak 'n Save Rotorua Junior Restricted: 1. Bradley Hicks 14pts; 2. Rhys Tinney 19; 3. Shaun Grocock 21.

Goldfinger Nail & Body Salon Junior Yamaha: 1. Daniel Colville 13pts; 2. Scott Hatton 16; 3. Rex Edwards 17.

Aussie Butcher Formula Junior: 1. Mitchell Beach 12pts; 2. Scott Reddish 13.

Mark Dufty Panelbeaters Yamaha Lights: 1. John van Bommel 16pts; 2. Ross Tregonning 18; 3. Ethan De Jong 23.

MBY Engineering Yamaha Heavy: 1. Darren Asilabie 11pts; 2. Lance Fisher 17; 3. Deon Symes 19.

Makzgear Rotax Lights: 1. Niki Urwin 7pts; 2. Declan Hull 23; 3. John van Bommel 24.

Marshall Batteries Rotax Heavy: 1. Arryn Hill 7pts; 2. Brendon Simonson 14; 3. Rob Pakes 21

Mouat’s Engineering Open: 1. Melissa Urban 12pts; 2. Ryan Belworthy 13; 3. Jody Vincent 22

Distributed by FAST COMPANY on behalf of KartSport New Zealand. To find out more contact Ross MacKay on 021 677 919 or via e-mail at ross@fastcompany.co.nz