Kartsport Mt. Wellington 3-Way Series, Round 1
from Aaron Cunningham
Over the weekend of the 4th and 5th of June, Kartsport Mt. Wellington held its annual 3 Way series. The highlight of the club’s calendar, the 3 Way Series has always supplied a high level of racing over the usually slow winter months and this year it would prove to be no different.
Racers from as far away as Taupo converged on the track come Sunday to face the starter and where rewarded with clear and bright weather, albeit slightly crisp. Two special guests were present, New Zealand Herald Motorsport Editor Eric Thompson was racing and broadcasting personality and former Hauraki DJ Chris Parkinson had kindly agrees to do the MCing and commentating duties.
The largest class of the day was the resurgent Cadet class. Local club hero Liam Lawson took line honours after battling with Lee Zeltwanger and Amy Smith for the class win, with Liam now having a tidy points lead leading into round 2. A high standard of driving was shown by all young drivers, with Sam Wright at only eight years old showing that he is improving by leaps and bounds. He finished 5th for the day hanging onto the back of fourth placed Ashton Grant. In the unrated class, the winner of the day was Ben Morrison, followed by Alexa Adam and Laurelle Shanley.
Recent graduate to the Junior Restricted Class Sebastien Bainbridge showed some excellent pace over the weekend, adapting well to his new GP chassis and the bigger Yamaha motors. A couple of moves left him stranded high in the bags, learning a lesson in racing against the bigger boys. The trio of Aaran Chrigton, Michael De Ponte and club stalwart, Chelsea Herbert lead the way with consistent racing and fast lap times. Chelsea DNFing the last heat robbed her of the possible round win and let Aaran win the round in convincing fashion, despite Michael’s pit crew (Grandad Billy) getting it right for the last heat and crossing the line frist.
Formula Junior winner Dion Pitt made good use of the new tyres he won in the morning raffle to give himself some breathing space, winning the first two heats in fine style. A very competitive Luke Dobbs suffered from mechanical difficulty early on in the day but rallied to take two heat wins and 3rd over all. A very consistent Logan Rogers-Jenkins suffered from a DNF in the final heat costing him the round win but was good enough for second.
Junior Yamaha saw consistent driving from Sam Carpenter take the round win with two wins and three thirds. An unusually relaxed Sam saw him keep his nose clean and conserve his gear – hopefully a sign of things to come in the Rotax Challenge as well as the Prokart KF3 series. Oscar Grant was second with Daniela Haigh having a great day and coming in third. Dave Kinsman claimed a heat win after a couple of bad races to take fourth.
Rotax Heavy saw long time club supporter and last year’s most improved driver take the round win. Roger Edwards not only won but shaved three tenths of a second off his personal best around Mt. Wellington’s physically demanding circuit. 2nd was shared by Taupo’s Teddy Bassick and recent returnee, Paul Wood-Stotesbury after several seasons with the Formula SAE program.
Rotax Light saw two unusual entries arrive early Saturday to race. Usual heavy racer Aarron Cunningham and American Kartworks Colorado Pilot Daniel Bray placed there karts on the grid for morning warm up. After 5 heats of furious, aggressive racing, Daniel Bray had won all five heats only to be teched out by a trivial oversized drain hole in his airbox. This handed the round win to Cunningham – his first win in a light class since 1999. Rollo Davies recovered from a puncture in race one to finish third and Ben Drummond performed consistently in the first four heats to crash out in the final to take second.
The incident free meeting was followed by a plethora of prizes that were on offer at prize giving thanks to the efforts of Sue and Neville Carpenter as well as Jared Lawson. Thanks must also go to the 3 Way Committee and all those that volunteered their time to make the meeting happen.
Round Two of the series is on the weekend of the 17th of July, where the fast reverse track will be raced, no doubt this will be as successful a as the first.
