There was a large Kiwi contingent at the 2009 Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals meeting at Sharem Sheikah Egypt from 5-12 December.
The track officially opened for Grand Final business on 7th with practice on 8th before qualifying on the 9th and race heats on 10th and 11th followed by the Pre-Finals and Finals on the 12th.
New Zealand was directly represented by four drivers, Daniel Kinsman, Matthew Hamilton, Paul Booth and Ryan Urban.
New Zealand has a strong and consistent record of achievement at Rotax Max Grand Final meetings having fielded a team since the very first one in Puerto Rico in 2000 with a best finish of third in the Junior class for Earl Bamber (now one of the brightest young prospects on the world single-seater motor racing scene) at Lanzarote in the Canary Islands in 2004.
Tony Chambers from Right
Karts, the NZ Rotax Max agent, was in Egypt with the team and provided
daily updates and pictures. Follow the progress and results of the Kiwis at the Grand Finals below.
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Day 1 - 07/12/09
Handing out of equipment for assembly
With all the team finally arrived it was good to have everyone there at the track in one piece with all the teams different story's of surviving Cairo and its madness.
The day was fairly basic with the handing out of karts, seats, tyres, lead etc. With all the parts available all four drivers assembled there karts to the desired spec, most of whom had brought data from NZ from either previous testing or other help from kiwis using the same products back home.
Daniel being one who is a person who believes in good luck pulled out of the raffle kart number 31..........a good sign for sure being a race number that has been with the Kinsman family for a long time.
Mathew pulled kart 54......both numbers add to 9 so also maybe a good sign. Paul and Ryan's were fairly un-eventful numbers with Paul pulling 20 and Ryan with the longest walk to get his kart with kart number 70.
Everyone assembled the karts with little fuss and are now all buzzing for some on track action.
A big thanks to Fiona Hamilton with help with the pictures and also check out the Facebook page she has made for the team. |
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Day 2 – 08/12/09
Practice Day
Another scotching hot day with the temp hitting 26 by the early morning. On the agenda for the teams four drivers were 2 x un-timed 20min practice sessions. For all 4 lads they all took the safe option to use the first 5 mins of there first session to finish the run-in state in which the motors are received from Rotax BRP (the engines are received with 20 mins run on the dyno) this was a wise choice as all four drivers were more than happy with their engines once they had run them hard.
As these were un-timed sessions it is hard to know who is quick and who is not, by the attention our karts were receiving by other teams mechanics it seems we must be doing a good job so far. Will let the boys explain how they felt there 2 runs went below.
Daniel - Junior Max
Mathew - Senior Max
Paul - DD2
Ryan - DD2 |
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Day 3 – 09/12/09
Official Qualifying
This was it, the day where all the talk stopped and the kiwi boys proved their worth. All four drivers had 2 x un-official practice sessions and 1 x official timed qualifying session. After their timed practice sessions in the morning the lads had a good idea where they fell into place, for some a lot of work was required, for others it was a case of some fine changes knowing the new tyre gain was going to come.
Daniel was our first out for qualifying and started out with good speed but that good turn of speed was short lived and kart turned from fast and free to slow and stuck. By the end of the session Dan was down in 16th place in the group of odd numbers, posting a best time of a 1:01,683, 5 tenths off the quickest in the group who was Brendon Lee from Malaysia with a 1:01,162. After the even number group of karts had completed their session Dan was left down in 31st place, official pole going to Edward Jones from the UAE with a time of 1:01,151. A seat change height has been made over night which should give Daniel a good starting place for the morning.
After Mathews up and down run in the mornings 2 sessions he went into the official qualifying run with a well set-up kart that him and father/tuner John had put a lot of hard work into between the practice sessions. He started off well running inside the top 10 in his group for most of the session and only dropping out of it to 11th on the very last lap. He recorded a best time in his even numbered group of a 1:00,728, just short of 5 tenths slower than the groups quickest, Sean Frost from South Africa with a 1:00,289. The end numbers after both groups had run were Matt sitting 22nd position, Sean Frost had ended taking pole overall in both groups.
Paul's big learning curve was getting straighter by each run and he was making big gains each time on the circuit. He was 32nd in both his practice runs and was taking big chunks out of his personal bests each time. He finished his odd number group in 24th position, 8 tenths off the pole sitter Ralph Odendaal from South Africa with a 58,547. Paul's good run came to an end when they went through post qualification tech checks. The DD2 class was still only allowed a minimum 182 main jet size. Team Booth had mistakenly fitted a 180 thinking that was the minimum. After a hearing with CIK stewards they handed down a penalty of last place qualification meaning Paul was to start off the back, not bad considering the fine and ban which could have been enforced.
Ryan was hoping for a repeat of last year and had two solid runs in the morning to prove that it could be possible. He started the qualifying session with a quick time straight out and juggled top 6 times with many of the names from the Euro challenge. At the end of session Ryan was 7th with a 58,961 in the even numbers with his good mate Jason Pringle from Australia the quickest with a 58,794. At the completion of both runs Ryan was 14th with a bit of work to do to find the smallest amount of margins. |
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Day 4 - 10/12/09
Heat races Another perfect day weather wise for day 4 of the Rotax Max Grand Finals here in Egypt. The boys all started with a 15 min warm up. Matthew and Daniel where the first out on track in their respective classes and after a few set up changes overnight came out on top in their groups placing them both about 5th fastest overall in their respective classes. Ryan and Paul then followed with Ryan being fastest in his group and Paul steadily improving his times. After all of the boys had completed their warm-ups with no troubles we where looking forward to the racing. Two heats were to follow for each of the boys and below is a quick summary of the placings. Daniel having qualified 31st started on row 9 for the two races. Race one he claimed 7th place and in race 2 5th after having been pushed down to 18th at the start. A good drive and 3rd quickest time of the race sets him up well for tomorrow. Matthew started on row 6 of the grid and had a terrible first corner being turned around on the outside. He managed to get away quickly and made his way back from 25th to 9th by the finish. In the second race again there was trouble at the start after he was pushed from behind down the inside into the first corner. After finally managing to stop he worked his way back up to 8th then was driven over while trying to miss someone else's accident and finally made his way back to 11th. Paul started both of his DD2 races from the rear of the field and improved in the first race to 26th position after gaining 8 spots at the start. In the second race he drove consistently to finish which is definitely a feat in its self. Ryan had 2 fantastic races finishing the first in 4th place and then improving to finish 2nd in his second. Ryan looks very strong and the 3rd race tomorrow should be exciting. For the boys tomorrow brings one warm-up, the final heat and the repercharge if needed. New Zealand is looking strong and we appreciate all the support from back home. |
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Day 5 and 6 – 11 and 12/12/09
Heats, Pre-Final & Finals.
For the ever popular NZ team today was D day, to qualify for the pre-final or not to qualify. A 3rd heat and for the unlucky ones the last chance race would determine this. As another hot day arouse the kiwi team were in high spirits.
Daniels heat started the worst way possible with him being driven over while trying to settle into position at the start, putting Dan into a half spin and dropping many places. As he worked his way back through the field this proceeded to happen another two times with Dan making clean, full passing moves on people only to be driven over by the freight training driver behind. After all the drama Daniel finished the heat in 29th giving him a grid 17 start for the pre-final. With his best lap only 0.0800 off the quickest he is in with a good chance.
Mathew had the complete opposite with barnstormer of a drive up to 4th then 3rd at the end of the race. Late in the race Matt made some good ground up on the eventual winner Mike Joossens from the Netherlands. After his good run in the heats Matt is starting the pre-final from grid 9...a good luck sign for sure.
Paul's final heat in DD2 started very well with him getting inside the top 20 within the first lap after avoiding a first corner accident. He ran here for a good half the race but got shuffled back by a few heavy passes and ended the race in 22nd place. After Paul's heat results he was to go through to the last chance race were only the top 6 place finishers would proceed though to the pre-final. His starting grid would be 25, always going to be a hard ask. He had a great start and got inside the top 20 but after avoiding some contact in front of him he ended up finishing close to were he started in 24th position. Paul's run at the world finals had come to an end but in Paul and fathers Peters own words "What an unbelievable event and we defiantly want to come back"
Ryan had a carbon copy heat to Daniels
with him being straight lined up into turn 2 at the start of the heat.
As he started to make his way back through dropped a wheel off through
the fast infield chicane and lost a position. In his own words he said
he needed to calm down, relax and get on with the job again. This he did
and made his way back up to 15th position from the back. At the time of
sending this the pre-final grids for the DD2 were on hold because of
driving infringements and tech issues. Finals ....
After a week of build up with practice, qualification and heats the finals day had finally arrived. 3 of the 4 kiwi drivers had made it though to the finals day, a huge effort in itself. Another hot winters day dawned in Sharm El Sheik, the pits now looking like a ghost town as half the drivers were eliminated the previous day.
Daniels Pre-final was a frustrating one with him being caught in the thick of torrid and mostly untidy battles. He finished the pre-final in 15th position. Dan was obviously not happy with both the driving standard of those around him and the kart set-up. Main complaint was a lack of rear grip on the new tyre so a seat movement was made. His final started well with him making it through the first few laps unscathed. The kart took a while to come on and in that time Dan got hustled round a little, making 2 places forward then loosing 3 from once again, other drivers and over-zealous passing manoeuvres. It was like this right to the last corner with him driving through the last turn 3-4 wide, all drivers battling for 11th place. Daniel crossing the line in 13th place, although not a 100% happy with his position it was a great effort in what is the hardest Junior kartsport class in the world.
Mathew continued his faultless run with a strong run forward to finish his pre-final in 3rd position, not an easy drive as Matt worked hard to get there and earned every last piece of track to claim his 3rd spot. Main complaints from Matt were a lack of top-end which could only be fixed by leaning of the main jet, as we were already on the leanest aloud a float height change was made. His final started clean with Matt getting to the lead for a number of laps, the kiwi team were hanging off the fence, it was great. He battled hard and got shuffled back to 3rd were he ran for a long time until the chasing Austrian driver made his move. He passed Matt and gaped him in a matter of laps, Matt had no answer and settled for 4th. At the end of race the Austrian driver was found to be under weight handing 3rd place to Mathew, the team were ecstatic. A great effort from team Hamilton, a class act amongst the worlds best.
Ryans pre-final was the last to run and with all of the team watching on we had high hopes for another top 6. This was very short lived with Ryan's race ending at turn two with one of the Canadian drivers running Ryan up the exit curb and then some, driving up and over Ryan's engine ripping the air box apart. Ryan limped back to the pits covering the carb with his hand, his slumped head said a thousand words. After purchasing a new air box half and checking over everything it was finals time. A huge ask off the back but we had nothing to lose. He made a clean start and gained a handful of places within the first couple of corners. It all came to a halt when the field banked up with 3 karts coming together over the back half of the circuit. This left Ryan nowhere to go but take avoiding action and spin. Once he got going again he made good time and started to make his way back through the field but this was halted by a sticking throttle which was caused by dust and sand in the throttle cable inner from the off-track excursion at the start. He carried on for a few laps but it became to dangerous, the right hand tie rod was also bent from contact. He retired within a handful of laps finishing 30th overall.
The end of the day the team was called to stand on the podium and receive their 3rd place in the nations cup, a great honour and a proud kiwi moment to see our silver fern emblazed suits standing up there while the rest of the team yelled and screamed and waved our flag with pride. Well done boys. You had a hard road but you done Kartsport NZ proud, you presented yourselves well all week, drove with respect even when it was not given and handed your karts back to the manufactures in top condition.
The NZ team would like to thank all their family's who travelled with them and everyone back home for all their messages of support, it means a lot when your competing that far from home. Fiona Hamilton for her help with these press releases and the facebook site. Right Karts and the NZ Rotax distributor network for their support of the Rotax Max Challenge. Kartsport NZ, mykart.co.nz, John Lennox, Graham Moore and Ross Mackay. And the big thanks and fond memory's to Ian Love, his international experience and advice, help with sorting the drivers visas and he massive contribution to Kartsport NZ. You will be sadly missed Ian and we dedicate our 3rd place in the nations cup to your memory. Our best wishes and thoughts go to you Lyn and thank you for all your hard work you also put in. |
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Special thanks to Tony Chambers who supplied these daily reports and photos directly from the Rotax Grands Finals in Egypt.
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