Hamilton Best Of The Kiwi Karters In Las Vegas
| press release | 24 November 2015 |
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Matthew Hamilton ended up best of the five-strong contingent of Kiwis with fifth in the S1 class final at the 19th annual Superkarts USA SuperNationals meeting at Las Vegas in the United States on Sunday.
The Christchurch-based international, who won the S4 class on debut at the event in 2013, qualified sixth and after a dnf in the first heat finished seventh and fourth in the other two then worked his way from P12 to fifth in the Final.
Above: Matthew Hamilton aboard the factory Aluminos kart
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Fast Company/Todd McCall
Fellow Kiwi Daniel Bray also contested the S1 class as well as KZ.
A carburettor issue saw Bray qualify well back (31st) in S1 but he worked his way forward in the heats he finished and stormed back to 11th place in the Final after falling to the rear of the field avoiding a multi-kart pile-up on the first lap.
It also looked like he was set to claim a fifth place on his own in the KZ class Final, only for his kart's engine to blow on the last lap!
Above: Daniel Bray
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Fast Company/Todd McCall
Earlier in the week and weekend the 28-year-old had set the sixth quickest time in KZ qualifying and had a best finish of third in the heats.
Bray was one of the few drivers at the meeting to contest more than one class and afterwards said it had taken its toll.
"The track was very fast and very bumpy and my body is certainly feeling it now," he said on Monday.
Tiffany Chittenden was the only other Kiwi to make it to a class Final, the expat Brit who now lives and races out of Christchurch matching her 2014 event placing of 18th in the S4 Masters class Final.
Cromwell-based Auckland teenager James Blair found the going tough in qualifying and the heats in the S2 class but persevered and made it as far as the LCQ (Last Change Qualifier) race where he finished an event-best tenth.
Unfortunately that was not quite enough (he would have needed a top six finish) to get him a start in the Final.
Above: Tiffany Chittenden
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Fast Company/Todd McCall
Dunedin Junior Joshua Bethune also faced an uphill battle in the TaG Junior class, qualifying 46th (out of 71) and making it into, but failing to finish, his LCQ race.
This year's SuperNationals event was held on a new 1340 metre long temporary car park track at the Las Vegas Convention Centre.
