October 19, 2014 - KartSport Taranaki October Club Day

Finally a nice day! The weather was mint, after a week of rubbish. Luckily, we had a late start (thanks daylight saving!) as I hadn’t been able to fully reassemble the kart after some maintenance. The kart was put together and the tuning run began. There was only one driver in both the JR and Mini ROK classes, which was a bit disappointing...but a sign of things to come at Taranaki. The kart was fast and looked good. A few combinations tried...axles, jetting, tyres, widths...all resulted in some great gains and the nett result was lap times within 1/10th of a second off the current Mini ROK lap record. Most of the drivers were complaining about the lack of speed in the track after such crap weather, so after factoring this in, we’re hoping for a good run at the North Island Champs this coming weekend in Rotorua. The encouraging part of the weekend was the lap times were good, after Supreme Kart Supplies found an issue with the engine after the Rotorua CIK Club Day.

October 4, 2014 - KartSport Rotorua October CIK Club Day

Once again we were challenged with shocking weather, the Rotorua circuit was lashed with heavy rain and wind, making the testing with the Sodi Kart team very difficult on Friday. We found some changes which gave Thomas plenty of extra speed and confidence for the mock-CIK race day on Saturday. A quick trip to the doctors after Robert cut his hand trying to start the generator left him with 4 stitches took the shine off a good day. The Saturday conditions were terrible, 4° and snow...with hail and rain the rest of the time. A new set of wets was fitted and the tuning run completed. Thomas found himself qualifying 2nd in the Mini ROK class and 5th overall. This was a great effort and set him up for a good finish in H1 and he started the Pre-Final from P5 as well. The final was another good race, with Thomas almost making it to 1st place but he made a slight mistake in the braking area in turn 6 and turned the kart around. This dropped him to 3rd place and whilst he fought back to pass 2nd place, he was then pipped across the line for 3rd place. The encouraging part of the weekend was the lap times were only 1/100th of a second off the fastest, so we have found some pace....and only 2 meetings from switching classes.

Special thanks to Jody and Claire Vincent and Mat Kinsman for helping find the speed we need and to Grandad Barney for making the trip with the trailer to Rotorua and to Donna for coming up from New Plymouth to support us.

October 23 - 26, 2014 - KartSport NZ North Island Sprint Championships, KartSport Rotorua

The NI Champs has been the event we always seem to struggle the most at. Well, this year was no different! The team travelled to Rotorua with the hope of improving on our 2012 and 2013 attempts at the North Islands. This time, the weather played ball but the team struggled all weekend and never achieved our true potential. Add to this a suspicion that the engine was not perfect, due to a choke issue we found at the last meeting. The format of the event meant our race day was completed on the Saturday 25 October. The kart lacked pace and even with Thomas driving the wheels off it, he could only qualify 10th fastest, which was very frustrating. Some serious head-scratching ensued, bringing many changes to the kart to try and find some speed.

Thomas was around 6/10ths of a second too slow initially, so we looked at the jetting and chassis again to try and establish what we were missing. After finishing Heat 1 in 9th and Heat 2 in 8th, Thomas found himself on P8 for the Pre-final on Saturday afternoon. Once again, the kart had been lifeless so we made a decision to modify the setup again to release grip on such a hot and sunny day, in the hope it may help. This made things better, narrowing the margin from 6/10ths to 4/10ths off the pace, but a small driving error and an average start meant Thomas went backwards during the Pre-final to 10th position. The race was very hard to watch and even though he was obviously driving as hard as possible, he just couldn’t make forward progress. The team was really scratching its head by now, trying to understand what was going so wrong.

When the final rolled around in the afternoon, the plan was to try and get as far up as possible, with a podium unlikely due to the class of the field. Starting 5 rows back on the grid at 10th spot, Thomas managed to get up to 8th within a few laps. The front four karts had made a slight break on the field which made it hard for Thomas to catch, so he drove his heart out but slipped back to 9th position after the 16 lap race. Not the result we were hoping for, but at least we made some speed gains and he spent some valuable time in the seat, acclimatising to the new and much bigger chassis. As usual, we have a number of people to thank for this event:

Grandad Barney.....….we simply couldn’t do this without you….THANKS!

Jody Vincent and Mat Kinsman

Sodi Kart NZ and International Kart Supplies

Jared & Liam Lawson for cool heads when things were heading “pear-shaped”

Chris Rooney and Gareth Playle for their support all weekend

Maurice Frost of Supreme Kart Supplies for his advice

Plant & Platform Consultants for their constant support

January 24 & 25, 2015 - KartSport Auckland City of Sails

The 2014 City of Sails event was a poor event on the back of the highly successful trip to Melbourne, so the 2015 event was a chance to redeem ourselves! The weather was awesome, very hot and dry. The team travelled to Auckland a night early to spend a few hours in the workshop fine-tuning a new setup for the Sodi kart with expert tuner, Mat Kinsman. Then, an afternoon at the Auckland track for some driver training and we were amped and ready for action on Saturday morning. The engine gremlins returned however and some repair work was required on the sub-standard wiring loom on the Vortex engine. The heats were upon us before we knew it, so battle commenced. On Day 1 Thomas got smashed around a fair bit, finding himself at the rear of the field and having to drive back after being driven into or over top of! The kart had pace, but he couldn’t “buy” a good race finish! At the end of Day 1, he found himself in P8 after recording 4th, 8th, 4th and 6th finishes. A change of the kart setup overnight was repaid with more speed on Day 2. The track was being run in the opposite direction and Thomas enjoyed this direction more. He scored a 9th, 4th, 11th and 4th in the heats, which placed him in P6 at the end of the meeting. Not a bad result considering he was knocked off the track in 5 of the 8 races over the weekend. In H8 he was lightning fast and lowered the existing track record to a very respectable 34.188s! The weekend was a great learning experience and the team is very grateful to Mathew Kinsman, Jody Vincent and all those who helped us out.

February 8, 2015 - KartSport Manawatu Club Day

An early start to the day for the team in order to get to Palmerston North for a run. After a good weekend in Auckland, we needed to get some practice in prior to Nationals. There were a number of drivers who turned up, and the weather was playing the game too. The engine issues seem to have been overcome, as the kart was fast all day. Some tuning modifications through the day yielded some great speed gains, with Thomas setting the fastest lap in the Grand Prix. He won H3 and through the day recorded 5th, 6th, 1st, 5th and 8th finishes, which put him in 4th overall. Whilst he drove a great GP, he was passed with two corners to go which resulted in a loss of two placings and ended up 4th in the GP as well. The kart was fast and looked great on the track, so we left the Manawatu with renewed optimism. We learned a lot more about the kart setup and as always have to thank Mathew Kinsman and Jody Vincent for the help and assistance.

March 8, 2015 - Round Three, Bayley's WPKA Goldstar Series - KartSport Taranaki

After a successful club day, full of testing and more learning, the team was very keen to see how fast we could go against some very tough competition. The weather on Saturday for practice was abysmal, so the kart stayed warm and dry in the trailer for the day. The entry list for the Sunday main event was great and included a number of very fast competitors, meaning Thomas would have his work cut-out for the day. His grid draws were 2-6-9 and 11 for the first four heats. Heat 1 was a great race with Thomas finishing up in 2nd after a good battle with Jackson Rooney from Manawatu. Heat 2 was another great race from P6 to finish fourth after a slight driving error dropped him from second. A re-focus and the bit now firmly between his teeth, Thomas came out in H3 and drove to the front from ninth spot. H4 produced a fifth placing, which meant he lined up alongside a very quick Tom Greig in the final. Being on the outside for the turn 1 is never ideal, but all got around cleanly, despite some shuffling of positions. However, the entry into the sweeper was to be Thomas’s undoing, with contact between two karts and the loss of a chain, H5 was a DNF! A real shame for the other driver, who is a series entrant, but we still managed to secure 2nd overall for the day and a fastest lap for the day which was 2/10ths under the existing lap record. Thomas then drove from P11 to 5th in the Grand Prix, proving genuine speed in the Sodi chassis with less than three weeks to Nationals...this filled the team with confidence. Thanks as always to Jody Vincent and Mat Kinsman for all their help over the weekend, and well done to our youngest Sodi team member...Emerson Vincent who came away 6th in a field of 17 angry Cadets! Not bad for 6 years old!!

March 15, 2015 - KartSport Manawatu Club Day

Another drive to Palmerston North to get some last practice laps in prior to Nationals. The plan was to get to the track and setup, using a previous setup from the February club day, which was fast. The kart looked great, we back-to-back tested both engines and they were both good. A nice quiet night was had with a view to getting amongst it on Sunday. Robert was a race official for the CIK-format club day, so there were limited opportunities to drastically change too much. Thomas did not qualify well, which was disappointing...bringing the kart to P7. The first heat was a good drive to 4th place...the kart looked very settled. H2 was another good drive, making some good passing moves and bringing the kart to 3rd spot. After lunch and some additional changes, the Pre-final rolled around. Thomas started off P4 and drove a good race to get up to 3rd. The kart was a bullet for the first 8 laps, but gripped up and started to slow. Luckily, Thomas held on to keep his position. After a couple of changes for the Final, Thomas drove another good race and brought the kart home 3rd. While not a win, we have a few ideas about how to find the last 1/10th of a second we need. The team is focussed on doing well at the Nationals in three weeks. Thanks to Jared Lawson for the setup advice on the day, and to IKS and the Sodi Racing Team.

March 22, 2015 - International Kart Supplies 3-Way Series Round 1, KartSport Mt. Wellington

Robert and Thomas headed to Auckland to contest the 2015 IKS 3-Way Series. Following the previous couple of runs for testing gearing, we had what we felt was a great setup and the kart was on the pace for the “Reverse Oval” meeting, always a very fast track. H1 rolled around and Thomas drove to 3rd, only 1/10th of a second off Billy Frazer. H2 saw Thomas secure a win by 0.852s from 2nd place. He was 5th in H3 after getting held up early, but bounced back to win H4 and the Final after a couple of solid performances. With the first round under his belt, Thomas heads into Round 2 with a 4 point lead over Billy Frazer and Josh Parkinson. A huge thanks to Jody and Claire Vincent of Sodi Kart NZ and Mathew Kinsman of International Kart Supplies for supporting us as always as we now build toward the Nationals.

April 1 - 4, 2015 - CB Norwood 2015 KartSport NZ Sprint Championships, KartSport Manawatu

The team was full of confidence heading to Palmerston North after a couple of solid race meetings leading into the Nationals. We got set up in the marquee and hit the track on Wednesday afternoon to get some practice laps in. The kart was great, both engines were on song and the setup was good. After some rest, we go back into it on Thursday, lapping the track just outside the track record, so we were very happy with that. Come qualifying on Friday and things did not go so well, losing 7/10ths of a second per lap from the previous day. As a result, Thomas did not qualify well...bringing the kart to P13. The gap from P1 to P13 was only 4/10ths of a second however, such is the competitiveness of the Mini ROK class and quality of the drivers. Saturdays racing was in dry conditions and H1 saw a good drive from P13 to 11th, after getting held up mid-race. Some changes to the kart for H2 resulted in another good drive and getting up to 7th spot. After lunch and some additional changes, Thomas started off P7 in the Pre-final and drove a good race to get up to 5th. The kart was looking good, but Thomas felt we had too much rear grip so this was altered for the Final. The changes turned out to be detrimental, robbing the kart of 2/10ths per lap. Thomas drove well to bring the kart home in 8th on the track. After the final wash-up of the relegations of drivers, technical eliminations etc Thomas was awarded 5th overall. Whilst disappointed that we could not get on the podium, the team is very proud of its efforts. We’re also very proud of Mathew Kinsman for his fantastic drives in Yamaha Lights and Rotax Max Light to secure back-to-back 1NZ’s in both classes. What a fantastic achievement, well done Mat and the Sodi Racing Team! Congratulations to Josh Parkinson, Billy Frazer and Tom Greig on your NZ, 2 and 3 plates. The hard-luck story of the weekend has to go to Jackson Rooney, who drove his heart out, was probably the fastest all weekend but was let down by mechanical issues in the Pre-final and Final. We’d like to mention some key people who continue to support the team in so many ways:

Grandad Barney thanks for everything mate!

Donna, Jessica and Hannah...your support at the track was amazing, especially when things weren’t going well for Thomas

Jody and Claire Vincent, Mat Kinsman and the Sodi Racing Team boys for always offering advice and encouragement to the driver, you guys are awesome!

IKS Race Engines for the great powerplants

Plant & Platform Consultants...Steve, thank you so much

Lindsay at The Sign Shop...thanks to you and the team at The Sign Shop

Jared & Liam Lawson for the advice and support over the weekend

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July 27, 2014 - KartSport Taranaki July Club Day

The build-up to the July Club day was fairly intense, with Thomas, Donna and Robert attending the local “Phantom of the Opera” production in New Plymouth on Friday night followed by our niece (Ashley) celebrating her 21st on Saturday night. An early start was tough, but the conditions at the track were kind and a great day was had by all. The turnout was very disappointing, with only 17 drivers coming along, but great to see some drivers who hadn’t been to race for a while. Thomas only had two competitors and our focus was to squeeze as much speed out of the kart to try and get under 32s lap times. He drove really well, but the 31s target eluded us by 0.63s! Thomas won all 5 heats and the Grand Prix by healthy margins which was good.

Jessica ran her Junior Yamaha kart today and faced some competition from the Jury boys and new Junior driver, Robbie Johnson. She battled away but struggled with lack of “seat-time” and took a few races to “get in the groove”. She got close to breaking the 29s barrier also, but fell just frustratingly short. Still, she put in some solid performances and made us all proud with her determination to keep trying hard. She finished up 4th for the day and 4th overall in the Grand Prix. Once again, we’d like to thank Grandad Barney for making another trip to support the kids racing and Maurice Frost for his advice during the day.

August 9, 2014 - KartSport Taranaki Annual Club Prizegiving

With the prizegiving coinciding with the IKS 3-Way Series in Auckland, Thomas was unable to attend the prizegiving. Jessica was present and she was very pleased to have been awarded the Pease Family Trophy “Encouragement Award” which was very nice. She gave a very touching speech and thanked all those who have always encouraged and said nice things to her. This is testament to the great club we have at KartSport Taranaki.

Thomas received a number of trophies to add to his collection and these included “Frost Family Trophy” for the Summer Series, “TKC Cadet Trophy” for the Winter Series, “TKC Hoffman's Family Trophy” for the Club Championships, “TKC Cadet GP Trophy” for the Grand Prix Series and the “WF Lacey Challenge Cup” for the 30 Lap Enduro. Robert was lucky to be presented with the “Dedicated Member” award by the club for the second year in a row, which was very nice also. The trophy cabinet is looking comprehensive now.

August 10, 2014 - International Kart Supplies 3-Way Series, Round 1 at KartSport Mt. Wellington

Following the KartSport Taranaki annual prizegiving, Robert and Jessica drove to Auckland to prepare for the IKS 3-Way Series. Following the previous day of testing running in reverse direction, the kart was on the pace. The tuning run confirmed this, with nothing needing to be done for H1. Thomas drew P8 and chased hard to end up in 2nd by only 9/10ths of a second. H2 commenced from P5 and a great drive saw Thomas progress to win the race, setting a new lap record for this direction in the Cadet ROK class. He started H3 from P2 and bolted away early, never looking like being challenged coming home 6.5s and almost 1/4 of a lap ahead of the field. In H4 Thomas started on P9 and couldn’t quite catch the leader for the win, securing another 2nd placing. These results placed him on P1 for the final. This was a great race and had it not have been for the lap scorer miscounting the laps remaining, the race could have been won by Thomas. A look at the video afterwards confirmed that the lap board suggested there were still two laps to go, but the chequered flag was being waved. Nevertheless, he had secured the Round 1 victory by a slim margin of 1 point.

Huge thanks must go to Jody and Claire Vincent of Sodi Kart NZ and Mathew Kinsman of International Kart Supplies for supporting us and sponsoring the series. Thank you also to Jared & Kristy Lawson for letting the team stay at their house. We are looking forward to returning to Mt. Wellington on 30 & 31 August for the remaining rounds.

August 30 & 31, 2014 - International Kart Supplies 3-Way Series, Rounds 2 & 3 at KartSport Mt. Wellington

A bleak, wet and cold day greeted the team when we rolled into Mt. Wellington on Saturday morning to practice for the final two rounds of the IKS 3-Way Series. Our kart wet setup was something we were keen to iron out, as it has tended to be the “Achilles Heel” of our racing. Thomas has always been good at driving in the wet conditions, but Robert has struggled at times to provide the best setup. After some particular focus on Saturday at getting the chassis as good as it could be, the kart was dried and put away.

The Sunday weather was not much better, so the newly developed wet setup was well tested in the three morning heats. The kart was very quick and Thomas had the “bit between his teeth” as this was the last series he would be doing as a Cadet, and he wanted to go out on a high note. He started brilliantly, scoring three heat wins with margins of at least 14s in each. In H2, he notched up a 20s margin on the field and was relentless in applying pressure to race very hard. The weather switched to a greasy mess for the remainder of the heats in the afternoon which was difficult to set the kart up for. Local driver, Billy Frazer, came out firing and won the 4th heat but Thomas hit back and won H5 & H6....the latter by way of a great pass into “Clubhouse” for a 0.292s victory over Billy. H7 was a disaster, as the greasy conditions meant a very last-minute setup change to wets, without a chance to alter the gearing, leaving Thomas with about 3 teeth less than he needed. Billy waltzed away with a 4s margin and Thomas simply could not get near him in this race, as the kart struggled to produce enough power through the tighter sections of the “Oval”. Nevertheless, Thomas accrued enough points (548) to win the series from Billy by 8 points. Thanks to Billy for pushing us hard at each round of the series, it helped remain focused on doing well.

A massive thanks to Jody and Claire Vincent of Sodi Kart NZ and Mathew Kinsman of International Kart Supplies as well. We spent the Friday before setting up the new Nordica Sodi chassis and appreciate everything you have done for us. Thank you also to Deb Pickering for letting us stay with her and to all those who came to the track to support Thomas on his last race-day as a Cadet. We are keen to travel to Hawkes’ Bay on 5 September for the 47th Blossom meeting.

August 24, 2014 - KartSport Taranaki August Club Day

The August club day started with the club AGM. Robert was voted in as President of KartSport Taranaki which was an honour and he is keen to do the best for the club in the coming year. There are a few things that he would like to achieve, one being setting up systems to allow the club to successfully host the NZ Schools in July 2016.

Thomas was keen to do well in his last ever club day as a Cadet, and he did not disappoint. He hit the track firing and won all five heats by healthy margins. His focus was also to lower the track record and he did this by recording a 31.922s lap. This is the first time he has been in the 31s bracket, so he was quite satisfied with his effort. He backed this up with a GP win, taking 6 races from 6 starts. Thanks to all the Cadet competitors at KartSport Taranaki for the fun and learning over the past four years, Thomas is really looking forward to moving to the Mini ROK class in his new Sodi kart.

September 28, 2014 - KartSport Taranaki September Club Day

The run of poor weather continued, with persistent rain ultimately forcing the club day to be cancelled due to massive amounts of standing water creating a safety issue for the drivers. Thomas was very fortunate to have the expert assistance and support of Jared & Liam Lawson, who drove from Auckland to help with the chassis...thanks so much boys! Even though the conditions were rubbish and the field was small, Thomas was the only Mini ROK kart and he had two Yamaha JR drivers to try and beat which was always going to be a challenge. In H1 the kart was good and Thomas secured a 2nd. A few changes were made and another 2nd place...by a closer margin which was great. The kart looked great and he was driving well. H3 produced another 2nd place after an axle change which improved the kart again. H4 was another 2nd and more speed was found. As the karts lined up for the final, the heavens opened and a deluge of water hit the track. All drivers spun out of the race at some stage, so the decisions was made by the Clerk of the Course to abandon the event.

Special thanks to Grandad Barney for making the trip to New Plymouth and to Donna for bringing out lunch and looking after us all. Looking forward to doing some testing at Rotorua in preparation for the North Island Champs in October......

September 5, 6 & 7, 2014 - 47th Annual KartSport Hawkes Bay Blossom meeting

Another weekend of terribly changeable weather was not ideal for the debut meeting in a brand new chassis, with a number of variables thrown at Thomas. From wet and greasy to dry and fast Hawke’s Bay gave us every type of condition it could. Luckily, the cool and calm heads of Jody Vincent and Jared Lawson kept the team focused on trying to learn as much as quickly as possible. Thomas got three dry runs on Friday afternoon and he seemed happy with the kart setup, just needed more power!

An early night was had to ponder what to do on Saturday for the anti-clockwise direction of racing. A fairly big field of 14 quality drivers lined up on Saturday morning and Thomas started his Mini ROK campaign with a 5th place. His lap times were 6/10ths off the fastest, so room for improvement. H2 was a rear of field start, with him moving up to 9th place. The lap times were heading south as the weather deteriorated further. H3 produced a 10th, thanks to a mix-up by the officials which meant Thomas had to start from P14 instead of P3 where he was supposed to. This yielded a 10th which was far from ideal! H4 was another start from the rear of the pack, with Thomas managing to climb up to 10th again. By the end of day 1, he was 9th overall.

Sunday did not improve much weather-wise, with strong downpours of rain making the track greasy and hard to read. Thomas battled with another greasy track and scored a 6th position and put in lap times only 3/10ths off the fastest on track. H6 was a disaster with Thomas getting squeezed wide on the first corner and falling off the track and getting stuck. He was pushed back on but the damage to his race was done, bringing the kart home in last position. Another setup change with a drying track brought a 7th finish from P11 and times that were only 2/10ths slower than the fastest, so improvements were being made. The final was the best race of the weekend and a 9th position, with his lap times only 1.5/10ths off the best. So the final position was 9th and a whole heap of learning was done.

Thank you to Jody and Claire Vincent of Sodi Kart NZ and Summer Vincent for making all the great food. Thanks to Randal as well for the coffees! Special thanks to Grandad Barney for making the trip to Hawke’s Bay to support Thomas. Cheers to Jared Lawson for the great help with the chassis tuning and well done to Liam Lawson on some great driving in Junior Rotax. We are now intending to spend some time trackside to get some laps in and get faster!!