Motor Sport
Chris Cox from Rangiora was back to his winning best at KartSport New Zealand’s annual South Island Sprint Championship meeting at Invercargill over Labour Weekend.
Victory in the 125cc Rotax Max Light class at the 2018 KartSport NZ South Island Sprint Championships meeting at the KartSport Southland club’s Invercargill Oil Shop Kart Raceway on Saturday earned the 26-year-old his 12th South Island title in 13 years; a record which includes three from Junior classes and the rest from key Senior ones like KZ2, 125cc Rotax Max Light, and 100cc Yamaha Light.
He dd it style too, qualifying quickest and claiming a clean sweep of wins across all class races, including the title-deciding 26 lap Final from fellow KartSport Canterbury clubmates Cameron Hay, Thomas Emmerson and Jack Noble-Adams.
The other big story to come out of the two-day Invercargill event was Dunedin driver Arron Black’s title win in the Rotax Max Heavy class.
Black, the proprietor of Dundein’s Mag & Turbo tyre and service centre and a keen Historic Touring Car racer, qualified quickest and was unbeaten in the heats, Pre-Final and Final to take his second South Island kart title; his first earned when he was a Junior back in 1995! Second in class was top local driver George Keast, third Kevin Barker from Nelson.
Picton’s William Exton also had a good weekend, successfully defending both his South Island Junior 100cc Yamaha and Junior Rotax class titles. Another strong showing saw Christchurch’s Adam Godwin runner-up in both classes.
Louis Sharp, meanwhile, added the South Island Vortex Mini ROK title to his CV with a dominant pole/heat race/Pre-Final/Final winning run in that class. Dunedin pair Jaxon Harvey and Rotax Max Heavy class winner Arron Black’s son, James Black, battled mightily all day for the other two steps on the podium, the nod in the Final going to Harvey, from Black with Nelson’s Ollie Workman fourth.
It was just as close in the Cadet ROK class where Arthur Broughan from Blenheim stepped up to claim the South Island title from recent Mainland Series class winner, Lochy McGregor from Nelson.
The South Island Sprint title meeting was hosted by the KartSport Southland club at its Invercargill Oil Shop Raceway at Sandy Point Domain. It attracted almost 60 entries across six classes from throughout the South Island.