The Full Throttle Racing Team, made up of very experienced Dunedin competitors Arron Black and Daniel Harvey, both with over 30 years karting experience, plus 17-year-old current National Sprint Champion William Exton from Marlborough, took out the overall win in this year’s Briggs & Stratton supported National Endurance Championships contested at KartSport Wellington’s Gazley Raceway on Saturday.

The event was contested in dry, cool conditions by fourteen three driver teams, with only one kart not running at the end of the four-hour race (due to a broken seat mount).

Full Throttle Racing won the Briggs LO206 Light class with Gray Hydraulics (Stirling Hughes, Agustin Gonzalez, Mike Love), just 20.7 seconds behind in second place overall. An exceptional performance from the leading Briggs LO206 Heavy team, Wilford Motorsport (Brent Melhop, Shaun Croskery, Thomas Batt), resulted in a tight battle with Gray Hydraulics over the last 30 minutes with Wilford Motorsport finishing just 1.5 seconds behind in third overall and taking home the Heavy class National title. For KartSport New Zealand Vice President/Treasurer and KartSport Wellington President Brent Melhop, the National Teams Championship in Briggs LO206 Heavy was the highlight of his 30 year karting career.

Also taking home a National title was the Briggs Boomtown Racers team (Rob Blick, Andrew Lucas, Jared Hall) from KartSport Marlborough. Their Briggs Heavy Masters National title is the first ever in the sport for Masters (40+ years).

Full Throttle Racing led a total of 141 laps with the top three karts all completing 323 laps (2019: 334 laps, 2020: 321 laps). There were numerous pace kart periods to enable the rotation of flag marshals and this, together with a few penalties for pit lane infringements and pit stop minimum time not being met, affected the results of some teams. However, the event was run in high spirits and with great teamwork and comradery. All drivers and crew are planning on attending next year’s event at KartSport Nelson’s The Hits Asphalt & General Kart Raceway.

The Briggs LO206 engines all hummed strong all day with the only mechanical issue being a broken exhaust pipe, which was quickly replaced. Engines from the top two competitors in each class received an extensive post-race technical inspection.

The prizegiving was very well attended with the overall winning team receiving the Stuart Park Memorial Trophy, presented by Vicki Park, and the South Island Clubs the newly established Interisland Challenge Trophy, donated by KartSport Wellington. This trophy is awarded based on the best Light and Heavy team results from each Island. This year it was won, on a countback, by the South Island Clubs.

Big thanks to the KartSport Wellington team for their superb hosting of the event plus the flaggies and officials for their untiring attention over the four-hour race.

CAPTIONS:

Lining up for the start. Overall podium with Vicki Park. William Exton kart #123. Brent Melhop kart #61. Heavy Masters winning team; Briggs Boomtown Racers (Rob Blick, Andrew Lucas, Jared Hall). Tech Officer Richard Simmonds performing post race engine technical inspection. Credit: Olivia Melhop Photography. Pace kart leads. Credit Sean Lockyear

Facts and Figures

Leader Lapchart                                                                                           Total Laps Led

1-4                        Tasman Karts#1                                                                Full Throttle Racing          141 laps

5-72                      Full Throttle Racing                                                           Wilford Motorsport             59

73-86                    GDT Racing                                                                      Tasman Karts #1                57

87-102                  Full Throttle Racing                                                           The Beaver Boys               26

103-116                Capital City Seadoo                                                           GDT Racing                      14

117-142                The Beaver Boys                                                               Capital City Seadoo           14

143-154                Wilford Motorsport                                                             Gray Hydraulics                 12

155-207                Tasman Karts #1

208-254                Wilford Motorsport

255-266                Gray Hydraulics

267-323                Full Throttle Racing

Longest Seat Times: (Each driver must be on track for a minimum of 60 minutes)

William Exton                    1h 52m 32s

Patrick Davy                      1h 49m 49s

Glenn Houston                  1h 35m 1s

Chris Harris                       1h 33m 55s

Glyn Mears                        1h 31m 10s

Cameron Hay                    1h 30m 34s

Mike Love                          1h 30m 1s

Results

Qualifying

1^st           Tasman Karts #1                               40.976

2^nd          Gray Hydraulics                                 41.067

3^rd           Capital City Seadoo                           41.341

Also      

7^th           Wilford Motorsport                            41.897   1^st Heavy

13^th         Briggs Boomtown Racers                 43.887   1^st Heavy Masters

Overall Result

1^st           Full Throttle Racing (A Black, D Harvey, W Exton)                               323 laps               (1st Light)

2^nd          Gray Hydraulics (S Hughes, A Gonzalez, M Love)                               +20.752 secs

3^rd           Wilford Motorsport (B Melhop, S Croskery, T Batt)                               +22.304 secs      (1^st Heavy)

4^th           Tasman Karts #1 (T Chambers, B Gridley, T Hay)                                1 lap

5^th           High Rev Racing (K Barker, K Rankin, D Bell)                                      4 laps                   (2^nd Heavy)

6^th           The Beaver Boys (l Rasmussen, C Harris, G Bennett)                          6 laps

Also

10^th         Briggs Boomtown Racers (R Blick, A Lucas, J Hall)                            13 laps          (1^st Heavy Masters)

Fastest Laps

Briggs LO206 Light                    Full Throttle Racing (A Black, D Harvey, W Exton)            40.751 on lap 245

Briggs LO206 Heavy                  Wilford Motorsport (B Melhop, S Croskery, T Batt)            41.448 on lap 8

Briggs LO206 Heavy Master      Team Atomise (R Kelly, T Sillay, M Hanks)                         42.355 on lap 197

Article added: Monday 04 October 2021