Sunbelts 2015

Day one:

Tuning runs

We spent friday driving up to Blenheim and Nelson to get some track time. My first session ever on the Blenheim track and i was about a second off the fast lap pace. After some more practice there and the kart set up we drove over the hill to nelson track. My tuning runs at Nelson was looking in hopeful as i was 2 seconds slower than the quickest driver. After more practice we set the kart up for Saturdays racing at nelson and packed away.

Day 2

Raceday 1 @Nelson

Despite our slow average tuning day the kart and myself was pretty much on pace during the racing. Race one finished in 4th, then 5th, 7th, 6th and 8th, I wasn't involved in any major crashes and managed to stay out of trouble leaving the day coming 6th overall in the championship...tomorrow at Blenheim we were hoping to continue a good streak and search for a win!

Day 3

Raceday 2 @Blenheim

As much as the team hoped to have a good day and this track was my personal favourite i had terrible luck! In race one i started on grid 2 and by the first corner was coming last after being taken out and pushed wide by multiple drivers. I made up places and finished 9th that being my worst finish of the weekend. In race two we had serious issues with the motor on my kart and it lacked power and was flat everywhere, luckily i still made up two places from my start position and finished 8th. Finally we sorted the kart out and had a slightly better next race finishing 7th and then 8th in the final.

Sunbelts Weekend:

So overall this was a good weekend with average results and came out of it 8th overall. Thanks to all my sponsors, Motul, HPE, Precision Motorbikes and thanks so much to WKS kartstore for all your help, couldn't have done it without the team!!

Another bad day of racing at my home track. Had two DNF's and one DNS. Ended up in a crash with two other drivers but was just a racing incident unfortunately this caused my shoulder to get refractured and my kart some serious damage. I decided to go out for the final but take it easy but because the kart had a bent axle and steering was also bent i was struggling with my shoulder to steer and finished the race second to last. Overall ended the day with little points, a broken kart and more pains. Thanks to my sponsors HPE, Motul, Brap and Precision Motorbikes for your support! Next meeting is travel up north for the Sunbelts Championship...

Had my first tuning run back in the kart today and unfortunately we had some troubles with the wheel coming off, the kart and i then went fall speed into the wall. Luckily i'm ok and no serious injuries, just a few bruises and pains....the kart however had more damage and now we have one week to put all hands on deck to get it fixed for the memorial meeting! I seem to be having a lot of bad luck in karting but lets hope this week we can turn it around and have a good finish this weekend!!

Sum up:  

I had a great time being the no.1 mechanic for my driver Jarred Cleghorn who put some great laps in around the Kartsport New Zealand Manuwatu track in Palmy North! Congrats to Jarred on his comeback in the final from back of grid to 13th after a DNF in the pre-final. A huge congrats to the team at WKS on the awesome results throughout the weekend, Ayden Polyschek and Matt Hamilton on your 2NZ. Well done to all the competitors who raced and those who got a podium placing.

This was a great experience for me so I would like to thank everyone who made it possible for me to help run a top driver but I must say I still prefer to be behind the wheel myself. Awesome job to all the officials, helpers, Kartsport NZ and Manuwatu for putting on such a great Nationals. Biggest thanks goes out to the team at WKS Kartstore who helped Jarred and myself have a successful and fun weekend!

Next goal now is to get myself better and race fit again so I can get back into my kart...

Day One + Two:

We had plenty of practice during these two days and it was all about setting up the kart for the tough and technical Manuwatu track. After my driver Jarred Cleghorn learnt the track it was time to make small adjustments to try and improve the handling and speed of the kart. By the end of these two days we were reasonably satisfied that we had a quick machine to do well in qualifying during the Friday session.

Day three:

Even though we wouldn't spend much time on the track today we had one 5 min tuning run and then two 5 min qualifying sessions which determined where Jarred would start the heat 1 + 2 races. The team and myself was very happy to have the 77 kart starting off grid 5 for the heats out of all the rotax max light drivers. Congrats to Jarred for putting in such a great time on a track you had just learnt the day before!

Day four:

Heat 1 + 2:

My driver started off grid 5 and had good pace in both heats unfortunately the starts were very tough with a lot of pushing and shoving which meant we got pushed back a bit in the feild. Good effort all around though and finished heat one in 9th and heat 2 in 7th meaning he would start the pre-final in grid 8.

Pre-final:

Jarred had a good start to the pre-final and was fighting hard with him and the kart looking super quick when unfortunately he got taken out. The other guy was at fault as Jarred already had the pass on when the guy turned down on him, because of this incident we got a DNF as the chain had come off and Jarred would start the final from the back end of the grid and have to work his way back to the front.

Final:

With not much chance of a podium place after the bad luck in the pre-final my driver did an awesome job of driving hard but fairly to get through the field and back up to 13th place by the time of the chequered flag. I was a very happy mechanic and the team including Jarred was impressed by his driving to make so many places up, especially against such a competitive field of drivers.

Missed out on the opportunity to race this weekend because of my karting accident three weeks ago. Have seen improvement but still am unable to race. So congrats to both my drivers who raced the historic A50, the team worked very hard to get good results and thanks dad for taking my place as one of the drivers. Happy I was well enough to support and give tips to the guys during the day on getting the most out of the car! Now it's time to start packing for kartsport nationals as we leave in one day...will keep this site updated on how the team progress!

Been a week since my kart crash and feeling a lot better. Plenty of recovery to come and unfortunatly due to my accident i am unable to race a historic open wheeler tomorrow and now can only be support crew. As much as thins sucks im looking forward to helping the team get a podium finish and have a fun day!

Also cant wait till nationals next week where i am now going up with the team to help out.

Watch this site for updates in the next couple weeks about car racing and the NZ karting nationals.....

Had another awful weekend racing that ended with me being taking to hospital by ambulance. Speed was looking good through the final endurance race and i was in fourth until i hit the curb and severely injured my ribs, shoulder and tweaked my neck ruining my chances of a good finish. Thanks to all my sponsors and everybody who looked after me during my painful experience. Congrats to the team who had top drivers and thanks for looking after all my karting equipment.

Awful weekend of racing. Got taken out in every race except two where one of them i got a dnf as my motor stopped halfway through the race. Also lacked pace in the one race where we had no serious problems occur. Tough weekend racing got 7th overall so will be looking for huge improvements at the next race meeting. In the mean time will be tuning runs and driver training

Tuning runs today with new motor. Has a lot of pull but lacking overall speed which we will be hunting for tomorrow. Can't wait for Canterbury Championships will be good racing with heaps on the grid. Get along and watch tomorrow for some pacey kart racing. Bring it on boyz!!

Great weekend at Ruapuna (Mike Pero Motorsport Park) for the 2015 Skope Classic! Team manager for the weekend and had both the drivers finish in the top 10 in the final. Weather was awesome and the crowd that turned up to watch the historic and classic cars was great. Thanks to everybody involved who made it a great 3 days, not often i get the chance to be out of the car looking after drivers. Think i prefer being behind the wheel too....

Good weekend of racing. Had three 4ths, two 3rds and a 2nd and got 4th overall. Was really good to represent my new sponsor HPE and get some resonable results for them and the team. Next meeting is Canterbury Championships where i look to keep racing hard and improve my driving.