The SuperKart Drivers Club of New Zealand in conjunction with the Australian SuperKart Events ran a Trans-Tasman Series last season held over multiple rounds at Hampton Downs, Taupo Motorsport Park and Manfeild. The winners of the New Zealand series in the Rotax Light and Heavy classes won a trip to Australia to race at the Australian Superkart Championship. The winners of the corresponding Australian series have won a trip to race at our National SuperKart Champs coming up at Manfeild in July. Representing New Zealand at the Tailem Bend circuit was Tyler Edney in the Rotax Max Light class and Shannon Noble in the Rotax Max Heavy class.  

The team arrived at Tailem Bend, a rural town in South Australia, 85 kilometres south-east of the state capital of Adelaide on Thursday 29th February. They first sighted the karts that they would be racing on Friday the 1st.

The karts are a Scorpion chassis, not like the sprint chassis that we race in New Zealand. They are purpose built for Road Racing and are slightly longer with a more laid back seating position. They have a very narrow rear track, (the rear width is 140mm narrower than what we run here in New Zealand)!

Tyler and Shannon spent all day Friday at the track with a total of four sessions on the 5km long circuit. Tyler showed good speed, but it was hard to compare his pace against the other drivers. Unfortunately Shannon had an engine misfire and could not get any more than 11,000rpm from the motor and only had limited track time.

Saturday: First thing in the morning there was a quick practice session and the boys scrubbed in their tyres. Qualifying was next and Tyler ended up by himself with no tow resulting in a fifth place grid for the first race. Shannon still had issues with his engine and ended up qualifying tenth.

Saturday Race 1: Tyler quickly came through to the front of the pack on turn one. He would share the lead throughout the race with two other drivers and ended up third at the chequered flag. Once on the track racing with other karts a gearing change was needed as he found that the kart was sluggish out of the tighter corners. Shannon was still struggling with engine problems.

Saturday Race 2: Tyler was at the pointy end again but the lead was changing several times each lap with a group of three other Aussie drivers. On the last lap Tyler ran wide to avoid a clash involving two other karts and dropped back to fourth, about fifty meters adrift. With one corner to go he had got back onto the pack and crossed the line side by side with the current Australian Champion, just missing out on a win by 0.03 of a second. Sadly Shannon was still having engine issues.

Sunday Race 3: Tyler fitted his own engine that he had bought over from New Zealand and combined with a few small changes to the kart was back into the lead by turn one. He and two other karts broke away from the pack with the lead constantly changing similar to the previous two races. He crossed the line second again. Shannon now powered by the engine that Tyler had taken off his kart had much better pace and was starting to make headway on the field.

Sunday Final: Tyler was starting from P2 in the eight lap (40km) final race. Six karts broke away from the main group with three of those karts sharing the lead each lap. Tyler finally broke away slightly on the fifth lap but his lead was eroded away as he came up to lapped traffic. He had to do it all again and on the last lap managed to gain a twenty meter lead and crossed the line in first place! With his kart now performing as it should, Shannon could show his true form and drove through the field to brilliant sixth place! This put him in eighth place overall for the meeting.

Tyler ended up in second place overall for the event, only eight points behind the leader, and thirty three points in front of the third placed driver. The final round is at Winton Raceway in Victoria on the 4th-6th October. Tyler intends to compete at this meeting where he will attempt to secure the Australian SuperKart Championship.

Considering that it was their first time competing at an Australian SuperKart event in unfamiliar machinery, both of our drivers did New Zealand proud! They have given their Aussie counterparts something to worry about when they come to Manfeild on July 20^th–21^st to try their luck at the New Zealand SuperKart Champs hosted by the SuperKart Drivers Club of NZ.

Report supplied by Superkart Drivers Club

Photo Credits: Dunn Photographics.

Article added: Tuesday 12 March 2024