MG Racing Team Second On Debut
press release
For their first Race meeting together, the newly formed MG Kartsport travelled to the well appointed and immaculately presented Kartsport Manawatu for the first round of the Rotax Max Challenge and the Kart in the Dark.
One of the more polarising figures at the track, team principle and Rotax Heavy driver Aarron Cunningham was always going to put on a show for his legion of fans. Newby and young Karter of prodigal talents, Michael Bird is the second driver to join Cunningham in his quest to vanquish the stigma of karting mediocrity.
After qualifying a solid fourth less than a tenth of a second of Pole, Cunningham was quoted as saying “I came here to party......and I am wearing my party pants”
The outside row of the grid is notoriously hard to start from at Kartsport Manawatu’s Sheriffs Road track and in the first race Cunningham fell victim to the not unusual first turn shenanigans, being run wide onto the grass and rejoining the field in 15th place. A solid drive saw him back up to 8th place by the time the chequered flag dropped.
The second heat saw Cunningham fare slightly better, managing to stay on the track and losing only a position to the grizzled veteran Shane Hodgson. Again an out of character, conservative performance by Cunningham saw him bring the kart home in third, after Hodgson lost a Nassau panel and Steven Currie retired due to mechanical failure in the early laps.
The pre-final saw the third row, yet much more favourable starting position of fifth for Cunningham. However set up saw Cunningham drop back as far as 7th before the chassis started to work as anticipated. Taking advantage of contact ahead of him, Cunningham dispatched first club-mate Scott Fountain and then long time campaigner Brendon Hart, leaving him clear to chase the 5 kart of Lane Moore.
Again on the outside for the start of the Final, minor amounts of contact from the proceeding positions allowed Lane Moore to pull a half second gap that Cunningham pulled back by half way through the twenty four lap final. Never content to give a truly flawless performance Cunningham hit several kerbs on the eighteenth lap allowing Moore to pull the gap he needed, a gap which Cunningham would not be able to bridge again.
A tired yet contented Cunningham was only left to wonder the ‘what ifs’ of the weekend, his vaunted training regime obviously having been left on the shelf over the summer months judging by both his lack of stamina in the final as well as his bottom heavy appearance.
Michael Bird had a weekend to improve upon, a steep learning curve saw him in 19th place in the Rotax Light class.
Both Cunningham and Bird realise the work that needs to be done before the next round in Tokoroa, an extensive training and testing regime being put in place so that both drivers will be better prepared for the next race.
MG Kartsport would like to thank Bob and Rebecca Cunningham for their infinite patience and good humour over the weekend.
