Superkart Drivers Club Championship Round 2 – Hampton Downs

15^th & 16^th May 2021

Hampton Downs gave us a cracker weekend for the final round of the Superkart Drivers Club championship. We had the biggest turn out to date with a whopping 64 entries over 5 classes.

A great start to the meeting for the following drivers who took pole position in qualifying in their respective classes on Saturday:

International: Andrew Hall 1:07.72

KZ2: Daryl Currie- 1:10.86

DD2: Tony King-1:13.97

Rotax Light: Harry Townshend- 1:14.09

Rotax Heavy: Aaron Tahu-1:16.73

International:

7 Superkarts made it to the track this weekend, unfortunately 2 of those watched from the pits with Teddy Bassick and Gary Fiebiger falling victim to mechanical dramas early in the meeting. Great racing for the remaining bunch over the weekend, battles had by all. It was a clean sweep for Ryan Urban, he was joined on the podium by Andrew Hall and Steve Sharpe bringing home 2^nd and 3^rd for the round.

1^st Ryan Urban

2^nd Andrew Hall

3^rd Steve Sharpe

4^th Tony Bowden

5^th Simon Davies

KZ2:

A strong turnout for KZ2, with 11 entries this weekend. Some impressive driving from Mark Barnhill saw him secure 1^st place, Mr consistent was Brent Gordon who took 2^nd from Daryl Currie.

1^st Mark Barnhill

2^nd Brent Gordon

3^rd Daryl Currie

4^th David Cox

5^th William Chronis

6^th John Crossman

DD2:

An Impressive turn out for DD2 this weekend, Craig Cook performed very well in only his 2^nd meeting to take the win from Craig Rowe. Craig Rowe and Tony King had a battle on their hands grabbing 2^nd and 3^rd respectively.

1^st Craig Cook

2^nd Craig Rowe

3^rd Tony King

4^th Clint Fell

5^th Daniel Mayall

6^th Lee Sefton

Rotax Heavy:

An awesome turn out for the Heavy class, 13 drivers in total battling it out and mixing it up with those Rotax Light drivers.  Aaron Tahu would have had a full house only he was distracted by a piece of un-mowed lawn and left the track to take care of it.

1^st Aaron Tahu

2^nd Josh Andrews

3^rd Kyrahn Taumata

4^th Michael MacDowall

5^th Bryan Withers

6^th Troy Langley

Rotax Light:

Tight racing in the biggest class of the weekend, race wins were taken by both Harry Townshend and Rianna O’Meara-Hunt. It was elbows out for Mason Armstrong, Keegan Hickson, Tyler Edney and Logan Manson who were all hanging on behind them.

1^st Harry Townshend

2^nd Rianna O’Meara-Hunt

3^rd Mason Armstrong

4^th Tyler Edney

5^th Logan Manson

6^th Keegan Hickson.

A huge congratulations to the following club members who took out the Superkart Drivers Club Championship contested over 2 rounds at Taupo and Hampton Downs:

International:

1^st Ryan Urban

2^nd Andrew Hall

3^rd Tony Bowden

4^th Steve Sharpe

5^th Teddy Bassick

KZ2:

1st Daryl Currie

2^nd Mark Barnhill

3^rd David Cox

4^th William Chronis

5^th John Crossman

6^th Lawrence Wright

DD2:

1^st Craig Rowe

2^nd Tony King

3^rd Daniel Mayall

4^th Clint Fell

5^th Stephen Armstrong

6^th Tim Wakefield

Rotax Light:

1^st Harry Townshend

2^nd Rianna O’Meara-Hunt

3^rd Keegan Hickson

4^th Gemma Winters

5^th Logan Manson

6^th Tyler Edney

Rotax Heavy:

1^st Aaron Tahu

2^nd Michael MacDowall

3^rd Kim Stevens

NZ Superkart Drivers Club Race Report

Jamie Aislabie Celebration – Taupo May 1^st & 2^nd 2021

May 1^st & 2nd saw 51 Superkart drivers attending the Jamie Aislabie Celebration at Bruce McLaren Motorsport park in stunning weather conditions.

It was fantastic to see so many new and existing competitors enter after what seemed like an eternity since the last meeting in January, the Superkart series is gaining momentum at an exciting rate!

It was an honour to race at a meeting celebrating the involvement that Jamie Aislabie has had in many areas of Motorsport. The legend has devoted his life to motor-racing and has been such a massive part of karting in NZ for many years.

International

 It was disappointing that there were only 4 entries for International this round but it still made for some good racing. Ryan Urban took out top honours with Andrew Hall 2^nd, Steve Sharpe 3^rd and Tony Bowden rounding up the class in 4^th place.

KZ2

The KZ2 class had healthy entries, there was an absolute battle royal between Daryl Currie and Mark Barnhill who did not want to settle for bridesmaid honours. David Cox was there to swoop all weekend if either of them made the slightest error. At the completion of race one only 0.5 seconds separated the top three at the chequered flag.

DD2

 Entries in the DD2 Class have really turned around compared to two years ago and was the 2^nd biggest field of the weekend. 14 competitors arrived to contest the class and the racing was simply superb. Class stalwart Craig Rowe had his hands full with Tony King all weekend having a ding dong battle for top honours.

Rotax Light

 A field of 18 competitors demonstrated true class and race craft with a massive pack battling for a win in very close quarters. Positions changed so much during the races that you never knew who would come out on top. Rianna O'Meara-Hunt drove superbly taking out 4 from 4 races. She also took home the Jamie Aislabie Trophy.

Rotax Heavy

 A field of 8 competitors were given a demonstration of shear dominance by Aaron Tahu who spent much of his weekend amongst the Rotax Lights he took home 4 from 4 races. Back in the pack the battles were on for young and old making for some very good spectating.

Qualifying

Ryan Urban topped the International time sheets with a creditable 1.31.126 followed closely by Andrew Hall and Steve Sharp. Mark Barnhill nailed the KZ2 pole from Lawrence Wright and Dave Cox all in the 1:36 lap time. Craig Rowe DD2 took pole from Tony King by 0.1 sec followed by the ever-quick Caleb Hartley. Tyler Edney did a stella job of squeaking Rotax Light pole from Rianna O'Meara-Hunt by a tiny 0.03 sec followed by Mason Armstrong. Aaron Tahu dominated Rotax Heavy from Micheal MacDowall and Kim Stevens.

Race 1

A red flag on lap 1 brought the field back into the pit lane to allow for track clearance however when racing got underway, it was down to business. 

Race 1 Class Winners:

Ryan Urban - International.

Daryl Currie - KZ2

Tony King - DD2

Aaron Tahu - Rotax Heavy

Rianna O'Meara-Hunt - Rotax Light

Race 2

It was a cold track, cold tyres and very cold hands for the start of race 2. Darryl Currie in his KZ2 took the chequered flag due to all the International drivers retiring early. Lap records were broken in all classes except International this race.

Race 2 Class winners:

Andrew Hall - International

Daryl Currie - KZ2 (Lap Record 1.34.816)

Tony King - DD2 (Lap Record 1.37.298)

Aaron Tahu - Rotax Heavy (Lap Record 1.42.526)

Rianna O'Meara-Hunt - Rotax light (Lap record for Tyler Edney 1.38.985)

Race 3

The intensity of racing significantly lifted this time, the whole field turned on a spectacular display attracting a lot of spectators.

Race 3 Class winners:

Ryan Urban – International

Daryl Currie – KZ2

Craig Rowe – DD2

Aaron Tahu – Rotax Heavy

Rianna O'Meara-Hunt – Rotax Lights

Race 4

It was on for young and old in the final, Ryan Urban leading the field home ahead of Steve Sharpe, Mark Barnhill made good of his commitment and took KZ2 from Daryl Currie, Daniel Mayall blitzed the whole DD2 field with incredible pace, Aaron Tahu continued his dominant display in Rotax Heavy and Rianna O'Meara-Hunt showed total control securing her final race win.

Race 4 winners:

Ryan Urban – International

Mark Barnhill – KZ2

Daniel Mayall – DD2

Aaron Tahu – Rotax Heavy

Rianna O'Meara-Hunt – Rotax Light

A huge thank you to Steve Sharpe from Hansen products who treated the Superkart family to Pizzas for lunch on Saturday, your generosity was greatly appreciated by all!