The sun was out for the GK Karts Enduro held at the Radio Nelson raceway on Sunday 17th August 2008. With drivers travelling from Marlborough and Christchurch along with great support from local drivers, there where big fields and great racing.

Three sprint races sorted the starting positions for the enduros which started with a Le Man running start. One third of the race had to be complete before the drivers could pit, this kept the field close and made for great racing to watch.

The cadet class was won by Seth Rasmussen who was 1 lap up on the rest of the field. 

The Junior Restricted field featured Scott Manson from CHCH who recently placed second at the Schools Nationals, Scott had the fastest lap time but first went to local driver Grayson Napier. 

The Junior Yamaha class was dominated by Simon Hennah who drove a great race, also posting the fastest lap time.

The 24 strong field for the senior enduro, consisted of Yamaha, Max, KZ2 and Open karts. 

The fastest lap was from Brett Sullivan in the KZ2 but it was the consistency of Grant Kugener driving a Maranello chassis with a modified max engine that went onto win by 9 sec.  

Jamie Duff from CHCH had the horsepower driving a Formula 100 and was running in the top bunch before he retired with mechanical problems. There was some close racing between Jeremy Webb and Andrew Stratford with Jeremy taking out the Max light class and placing fourth overall. 

Max Heavy was won by Raymond White and Senior Yamaha by Shamus Eltham.

As with any enduro it not only comes down to driver ability, but also kart and engine preparation and consistency. It was great to see some of the newer drivers finishing their first enduro, and improving their times. 

GK Karts would really like to thank major sponsors  Exide Batteries,  Motul & Rexel Electrical as well as SpeedSport and Red Bull. We look forward to hosting the enduro in 2009 and continuing to build this awesome event.

Race Results – Enduro

Cadet – 20 mins

1^st – Seth Rasmussen      31 Laps

2^nd – Liam Lotter            30 Laps

3^rd - Jarod Fisher            29 Laps

Junior Restricted – 30 mins

1^st Grayson Napier          50 Laps

2^nd Scott Manson          50 Laps

3^rd Matthew Butchart     50 Laps

Junior Yamaha – 40 mins

1^st Simon Hennah            70 Laps

2^nd Mitchell Napier          68 Laps

3^rd Jessey Jamieson        67 Laps

Senior overall – All classes – 1 hour enduro

1^st Grant Kugener           108 Laps

2^nd Brett Sullivan           108 Laps

3^rd Johnathon Haigue     106 Laps

4^th Jeremy Webb           105 Laps

5^th Andrew Stratford      104 Laps

6^th Andrew Higgins         103 Laps

Story submitted by Gemma Laing for more info visit www.gkkarts.co.nz

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