July 29, 2012 - KartSport Taranaki July Club Day

Robert returned from Brisbane late on Saturday after sending both Cadet engines to Maurice Frost to be dyno-tuned. It was revealed that “AJ” had too much cylinder leakdown so a new ring was fitted, along with a new muffler. After a re-tune by Maurice, we headed to the track to run the engines and see how they performed. Josh and Frazer Parkinson, Alex, Ashton and Dylan Grant and Liam and Jared Lawson from Mt. Wellington had travelled south to get some practice in prior to the North Island Champs in October. Thomas was fast and “AJ” seemed good to go. Jessica had a couple of runs and she decided that her goal for tomorrow was to try and break her personal best in the 29 second barrier she set in April this year. We packed up, escorted our visitors to their hotel and headed home to prepare the BBQ for the visitors from Auckland. We had a house-full which was great…

Following a relatively early night, we arrived at the track early to get set up. There were 6 Cadets in attendance and 4 Juniors, so better fields than normal. Thomas had grid draws of 5, 4, 1 and 2, with a repeat of H3 for the GP. Thomas struggled in H1 and was sitting in 3rd until the penultimate lap, when Josh and Ashton (Auckland) crashed into each other and gifted Thomas the race win! The kart looked a bit slower than Saturday, so we experimented with gearing and the engine tune. H2 started well, but Thomas was a bit too eager to get to the front and clipped the LR tyre of Dylan Grant (sorry Dylan) which dislodged the front bumper. A black flag resulted and Thomas placed 6th! Luckily, the next two races went well for Thomas and he managed to secure 1st places...only just holding off a very hard charging Dylan Frere who had real pace! The points placed Thomas on pole for the 5th heat, which he also won….but only just! We fitted “Viper” for the GP and it was full of pace, with Thomas winning by 30 or 40 metres which felt great.

Jessica had a great day, but could not match the pace of Matthew Podjursky and Brittany Riddick. Jess collected four 4th places and had a DNF in H4 after turning the kart around and not being able to restart the engine. The GP was a good result, with her being gifted 3rd after a loose rear tech bar spelled the end of the race for the kart in front of her. In H4 she got close to her PB of 29.913 by posting a fastest lap of 29.962s, and drove very consistently all day after a front wheel alignment made the kart drive so much better.

Liam Lawson was the fastest JR for the 6 races, winning all from Zane Riddick and Ryan Jury. All-in-all, a very good weekend of racing and the weather was kind for a change!

September 30, 2012 - KartSport Taranaki September Club Day (run in CIK format)

We got to the track on Saturday afternoon and there was a lot of activity going on. Around 9 visiting cadet drivers had descended on Taranaki for some familiarisation of the track prior to the North Island Champs in 3 weeks time. We fitted “Tank” and tested its pace against Sam Wright (Auckland) and Jackson Rooney (Manawatu). The kart was reasonable, but Dylan Frere again had awesome pace, so the decision to fit “AJ” for race day was made. The Saturday testing with “AJ” produced the fastest lap ever since we bought it, so we packed up and went home in anticipation of a good days racing for Sunday.

The weather was brilliant and we got to the track early to get a park! The days racing format was: tuning run, time-trial, 2 x heats, pre-final and final. Thomas had been working through the strategy required for qualifying in his head and was keen to put it into practice. We fitted new slicks for the tuning run, in an effort to scrub a set in for the North Islands. As the temperature came up in the track however, we had to resort to old rubber as we were losing too much speed and sticking to the track!

Thomas went well in the time trial and managed to qualify fastest for the 2 heats. Starting on G1 for the first heat, he was fast off the start, but with a lap to go went wide in an effort to get past the leading kart but got passed while on the outside and dropped a few spots and ended the Heat in 5th. Determined to improve that result saw a better drive in H2, seeing him end up 2nd. These two results meant Thomas started the pre-final from G4. He drove a great race and swapped leads various times with Thomas taking the race win. This found him on pole position for the 15 lap final. He got a great start and got a jump on the field. Another driver got past him and he opted to sit behind him for a few laps before picking him off 2 laps from home. Thomas then held on for the race and day win. A great event for our confidence heading into the North Islands in 3 weeks time.

The day was stalled for a period after Kaleb Ngatoa tangled with another JR kart which sent him heavily into the steel wire fence. His kart looked like it was destroyed and Kaleb was taken to hospital in the ambulance. Luckily he appears to have only suffered severe bruising. Hopefully Kaleb will be OK and compete in 3 weeks? It would be a cruel blow for him as he has been on the wrong end of some back luck since the Nationals this year. Thanks to Maurice Frost again for his knowledge and tuning tips over the weekend, it certainly helps to make us faster!!

August 26, 2012 - KartSport Taranaki August Fun Day

The August Club Day had been downgraded to a fun day only, so we decided to run our old gear and try some chassis setup testing. There was not much motivation to run hard, so we bolted “Tank” on and put some miles on it. It is running a lot better and was giving times in the mid 32’s which was OK, but Dylan Frere had more pace so Thomas had to chase him hard. There were a couple of out-of-towners which we were able to keep behind us. Luckily the points did not count, so all things going well, Thomas should have enough points to wrap up the Winter Series and GP Series with one round remaining. Jessica ran the Junior Yamaha kart and drove really well but couldn’t quite match the pace of the others and had to settle for 3rd on the day. Her driving is still good, even though she is busy focused on Brass Band, Junior Brass and Taranaki U15 Rep. Hockey, so karting is on hold at present.

October 18 - 20, 2012 - KartSport New Zealand North Island Sprint Championships, KartSport Taranaki

Robert arrived back from Brisbane on Thursday morning and drove straight to the track to catch up with the team for practice. Thanks to Murray and Matt Podjursky as well as Anthony Bruce and Amy Pearce for assisting Donna get the kart ready for the practice sessions. Thomas had a few runs with “AJ”. His times were pretty good and he looked fast. The weather was OK, the track had been wet and dried from a morning shower. We ran “Viper” during the last session on Thursday and it was looking great.

Brimming with confidence, we put the kart away and headed for home. Time Trials day weather was also OK and “Viper” was as fast as the previous day. In TT1 Thomas was 2nd fastest and he posted 5th fastest time in TT2 after being held up mid session by a couple of karts he struggled to get past. Overall our best time was 5th fastest so we were to start in G5 for Saturdays Heat racing.

Still happy with this, we left the track in the afternoon and planned for race day. Thomas was very calculated with his Time Trials which was great, so this put him with an inside start, 2 rows back for the heats. After some discussion around the previous 2 days and a good sleep Thomas was raring to go on Saturday. He had his “race-face” on and was determined to get to the front and try to take home the title. H1 was going well until Thomas had a half spin at the pits hairpin. He regained his placing however with a determined drive back to 4th. H2 saw him drive well again, bringing the kart home in 4th which meant he was tied on points with Jackson Rooney from Manawatu. He was placed 5th on the grid for the pre-final and was ready for action! Unfortunately, the kart seemed slow and didn’t get off the corners as well as before. Upon inspection and some consoling of the pilot, it was discovered that 2 of the rear axle grub-screws had fallen out and the remaining 2 had worked loose. The axle was moving and jamming on the rear brakes every time Thomas tried to turn. Some new grub-screws were found (thanks to Owen Greig!) and the axle repaired. Some more engine tuning (cheers Robbie Ngatoa!!) saw Thomas hit the track and post lap times 0.4s faster than before. He drove really well and battled with Josh Parkinson (Mt. Wellington) for 4th place. A little frustrating as we knew we had plenty more speed in the kart prior to the event but could not extract it on the day? Thomas was very happy to receive his trophy at prizegiving but we couldn’t help but wonder where he could have finished on pre-event form….the joys of motorsport!! Our focus is to get “Viper” back to its best and do well in the upcoming Goldstar Series opener in 2 weeks in Palmerston North. Thanks to all those who helped us. Congratulations to all those who took out titles this weekend.

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April 29, 2012 - KartSport Taranaki April Club Day

The weather was looking to turn a bit nasty, and after a very brief practice on Saturday to test the new KT100 Junior engine for Jessica, we headed home not really knowing what to expect on Sunday...so the team turned up ready to race and hoping for success. Newly rebuilt “Tank” had only arrived on Thursday, so it was the first few test runs for it also. It was competitive enough with the times from the tuning run and the first two heats in the low 33s bracket but is going to need a bit more running before it’s at its best. His starting grid draws were 2, 1, 2, 3 and 1 for the final. The first race was good to watch and Thomas led for most of it, but left the door open 3 corners from home for Zane Riddick to sneak though for the win. However, he was sure not to repeat this error for the remaining 3 heats and final, winning all 4 races. He was keen to try different gearing and setup options throughout the day, which didn’t really yield any huge gains in speed. We decided to bolt on “AJ” and then drove away from the others….what a nice feeling horsepower is!! Thomas drove well and carried out some good passes. It was great to see him also win the GP after leading from the start of the race, well done Thomas.

Jessica was pretty keen to see how well the engine and kart ran in the Junior configuration. She reckoned it was way more scary-fast than the JR, but was looking forward to the challenge. The first heat started well, but she turned the kart around and didn’t finish...it was about then she asked if she could have a clutch fitted! She recovered from H1 with 4 x fourth places which left her on grid 4 for the GP. She finished in 4th place in the GP but could not match the pace of the others. The kart looked good and after 2 months out of the kart was a little rusty. She tried her best today and went the fastest she has ever been around the Waitara track at 29.913s. With some more time in the seat, she could be a lot more competitive, although she is fairly busy with her other activities and this may prevent her from spending a lot of time at the track in the near future? She made us very proud with her attitude and commitment to improve, nice one Jess!

May 5 & 6, 2012 - WPKA Goldstar 2011/12 Round 4 - KartSport Wellington...Thomas 2nd again!!

Another trip to the capital city to compete at the Kaitoke track. We were hoping for fine weather, as the last 2 times we have been there, we came home absolutely drenched! And others have the cheek to call Taranaki wet…? The weather was overcast and a bit chilly for Saturday practice, but very nice for race-day. Thomas was itching to get onto the track and get amongst it, on the back of some good race wins at home last weekend. The kart was pretty fast so we only experimented with set-up. After 6 runs, we were happy with everything. We tried running “Tank” and with some more use it should come up nicely?

Thomas drew grids of 3, 16, 6 and 13. H1 saw him drive really well and finish behind Kaleb Ngatoa in 2nd. A good run from G16 in H2 enabled him to get to 8th, even after a small tangle with a slower kart which caused a spin during a passing move. He got back into the “groove” quickly and retained his composure. In H3 Thomas got a great start and managed to pass a bunch of karts before the first corner. He followed Kaleb through the pack and managed to get up to 3rd place behind Jackson Rooney from Palmerston North. A good battle ensued between these two drivers, who are similar in age, experience and speed, with Rooney coming out on top. Another excellent drive unfolded in H4 with Thomas coming from 13th to 2nd, once again behind Kaleb Ngatoa. A hard-charging Zane Riddick from Taranaki could not quite get past Thomas through the windy downhill infield section however. This put Thomas on G2 for the final alongside Kaleb. He had a poor start which allowed Jackson Rooney to pip him into 2nd place off the start. Another great race, with Thomas and Rooney battling until the last corner, where Thomas was able to squeeze past Jackson for another 2nd place. The weekend gave Thomas 9 points which means he finishes 4th for the Goldstar series, with only the non-points round remaining at Manawatu on 2 & 3 June. He then completed the GP and finished up in 2nd spot again behind Kaleb who drove faultlessly all weekend. Thomas and Kaleb battled for the win in the GP, but Thomas just couldn’t quite hang on to the lead. Our No.1 engine, “AJ”, performed really well and we are now looking forward to another great weekend of karting at Waitara on 27 May. Special thanks have to go to Stu Park for his outstanding help and tuning tips over the weekend, which helped us further understand the science that is kart racing. Very pleasing to see Thomas on step 2 of the podium and we can’t wait until he is on the top step. Hopefully, this is not far away for him?

June 5 & 6, 2012 - WPKA Goldstar 2011/12 Championship Trophy Round - KartSport Manawatu

Thomas, Barney & Robert drove to Palmerston North and stayed at the Kingsgate Hotel on Friday night. We arrived at the track at around 11:30am on Saturday and set up at the top of the hill overlooking the circuit. Thomas was itching to get onto the track to try his hand at running in the opposite direction and was keen to get stuck in. Before heading to Palmerston North we had already decided to only run “Tank” to put some extra miles on it in an effort to get it going better. The kart seemed reasonably fast so we only experimented with some minor set-up changes, expecting and hoping for wet weather for Sunday. Tom Greig was quick, as was Kaleb Ngatoa and a couple of others. Typically, the rain turned up overnight but was a bit sporadic on race day. Thomas was happy with the rain, as he prefers the wet conditions to the dry. It’s also a good “leveler” for a lack of horsepower compared to some of the other teams.

He didn’t manage to get great grid draws, which made life fairly tough all day. H1 saw him finish in 7th spot in the damp conditions. The pace was fairly slow and the track didn’t have much grip. Heat 2 improved with a 6th place after a couple of good battles with the other drivers. Kaleb Ngatoa was dominant again during this race. In H3, Thomas drew G2, so a good start was needed to get a jump on the field. Unfortunately, this did not happen and Thomas slipped to 3rd off the start behind another kart. As the race unfolded, Thomas caught the racer in front and made a clean pass through the inside of Manawatu Toyota corner for 2nd. It appeared the driver bumped Thomas so he went careering off the track and stalled the engine. I was advised that not one of the officials watching the race saw the incident? I asked that the official have a chat with the driver, which he did and that was the end of it. The nett result, Thomas ended up 15th in that heat race. The next 2 heats produced a 7th and an 8th, which left Thomas in 9th overall and not very representative of his efforts. Luckily he had amassed enough points to place him 4th in the series prior to this round, even though he was not awarded with anything for this from the organisers. This is the first time awards were not handed out down to 6th place...another blow! They say things come in three’s and this seemed correct because Barney fell on a trip hazard in the pits, breaking his left wrist requiring a plaster-cast. It seems the Manawatu “hoo-doo” remains?? One day we will get this “monkey” off our back, but until then we’ll have to just keep trying hard!

June 9 & 10, 2012 - Round Three, Top Half Series - KartSport Mt. Wellington, Auckland

After a long drive to Auckland on Friday night, it was nice to get into bed and try and get some rest. Up bright and early on Saturday morning, breakfast in the motel and off to the track. Thankfully, Jared Lawson had reserved us a prime spot in the pits next to him and Liam, which was brilliant! We set up, got the kart out and fitted our newest acquisition...another race engine! We borrowed the engine to trial it, with a view to buying it if it was fast. It was with some anticipation that we put Thomas out on the track, due to the unknown potential of the engine and this being our first time at Mt. Wellington. It certainly makes you appreciate how good the Taranaki facilities are, after travelling to a few other circuits around the country. This track surface is quite old, cracked and doesn’t seem to produce much grip. It is very short (495m) and quite a challenging track with limited passing opportunities. It became clear very quickly that to do well Thomas was going to have to work hard.

Nevertheless, the weather was wet/dry/wet for most of Saturday so this made it difficult to assess how fast we really were. Jared and Liam offered some great advice which helped Thomas settle-in quickly and find the best driving lines. After a fairly intense set of sessions, we decided to put the kart away as we had run within 0.5s of the lap record of 28.206s (owned by Liam Lawson) and figured this was probably as good as we were going to get in these conditions.

A nice meal at the Cock and Bull in Ellerslie was complimented by a great 42-10 win for the All Blacks over Ireland and an early night to help prepare for Sunday. Rain fell overnight and wet the track, so we had to run the “wets” for the tuning run. The kart still seemed fast enough so we felt we were in good shape. Due to the number of containers stacked around the extremity of the pits, the wind could not help dry the track, so it was still damp-ish for H1. The only safe choice was to remain with the wet setup, which was the same for the rest of the field. However, after starting on G11 and getting a good run, the track suddenly dried and any grip we had disappeared! Thomas battled away and ended up in 9th, destroying a brand new set of “wets” in the process!! The track had now dried and would remain this way for the rest of the day, so we switched back to a dry setup. Thomas had G5 for H2, and during the first lap, he braked hard to avoid a kart in front and was then hit hard in the rear, spinning him. A following kart then drove over top of him, damaging the front bumper, chrome bar, nassau panel and Thomas’s left hand. The race was subject to a full restart and some quick repairs were undertaken and a clearance from the medical people was given. We had enough time to rebuild the kart with cable ties, “100 mph tape” and a new chrome bar and get back to the grid for the restart! Some nice work from the pit crew and thanks to Jared Lawson too! After the restart, Thomas drifted from 5th to 9th….we thought it was a result of his confidence and a hand getting a battering? However, mid-race he seemed to get it together and started to carve the field up, eventually getting back to 4th!! An amazing drive during which he set the fastest lap of the field at 28.337s! Still excited about the H2 result, Thomas was on grid 8 for H3 and drove superbly again to get to 3rd, with a fastest time of 28.333s. During H3, Matthew Payne (current 1NZ and resident of the Mt. Wellington track) set a new lap record of 28.174s...outstanding! Thomas had so much infield speed that he was able to pass karts at any opportunity that presented itself and Matthew came along for the ride. He was then placed in G2 for the 4th heat and convincingly lead from start to finish for the race win.

These results placed Thomas on G3 for the final, behind Reece Hendl-Cox and Sam Wright. The race was a beauty, with Thomas getting past Sam for 2nd place and only the lack of laps prevented Thomas from snatching the race win from Reece! During the final Thomas posted a 28.178s lap time, which is only 0.004s outside the new lap record set by Matthew Payne in H3 and 0.028s faster than the old lap record set by Liam Lawson...a brilliant achievement! We were stoked for Thomas, he had achieved some outstanding results and had put in some real committed drives, the best I have seen from him. He thoroughly deserved his 3rd overall for the day, and this result cemented his 4th position for the 2012 Top Half Series. We stayed for prizegiving and picked up two trophies to bring home. The long drive to New Plymouth seemed to pass quickly, with us arriving safely home at midnight.

Special thanks has to go to Barney, who worked hard all weekend even with a broken wrist, suffered at Palmerston North the weekend before. Also thanks to Jared and Liam Lawson for their help, and family and friends that came to the track to support us. We hope they got as much enjoyment watching and being involved as we did. Thanks also to Murray, Liz and Matt Podjursky who all offered some helpful advice and support to Thomas...cheers guys! The team has since purchased the loan engine, and it will help as we try to secure some large titles in future. We are now looking forward to the Taranaki Enduro Day which is scheduled for 24 June at Waitara.

June 23, 2012 - KartSport Taranaki Annual Club Prizegiving

The club prizegiving was held at the Old Boys’ Rugby Clubrooms on Carrington Street. There were a reasonable turnout of members and Graeme Sutton was the MC again this year. The meal was excellent and well worth the cost. Thomas collected the W.F. Lacy Challenge Cup for the 2011 Enduro meeting win. This trophy was first awarded in 1965 and has a long list of recipients, so he was very happy to be awarded it. He also collected the Taranaki Kart Club Most Improved Driver trophy which has been previously held by successful drivers such as Mitch Baker, Aaron Marr, Ben Thom and Matthew Podjursky. Thomas also picked up certificates for 2nd in the Club Champs, 2nd in the Summer Series, 2nd in the GP Series and 3rd in the Winter Series. Jessica picked up her certificate for 2nd in the Junior Restricted GP Series also. The team was very disappointed that Jess was not recognised for her efforts to improve since beginning racing and felt she was cheated out of a trophy. We felt she had improved significantly...but such is life.

June 24, 2012 - KartSport Taranaki June Enduro Club Day

Following the annual prizegiving the previous night and a sensational win by the All Blacks over Ireland by 60 to 0, we were hoping for big things on the annual Enduro day. The weather forecast was for rain/showers and fine periods and this is exactly what arrived. We fitted “Tank” to Thomas’s kart and the wets for H1. He was leading by the length of the straight with about 3 laps to go when (in his own words) “my brain went to sleep” and he slipped off the track on the sweeper and stalled the engine, handing the race win to Dylan Frere and Isiah Kenny in 2nd. After a moment to reflect on this, he bounced back to win H2 and H3, placing him in G1 for the 30 lap enduro. The track was dry for the start of the enduro, but a period of rain at lap 20 made the conditions very slippery. To the all competitors’ credit they managed to stay on the wet track with slicks on and no grip...a good effort by them. Thomas won the enduro from Dylan Frere and will retain the W.F. Lacy Challenge Cup next year as well.

Jessica had a frustrating day with a good start in the wet in the tuning run and showing good pace. In H1 she drove well with the wet setup and finished in 2nd place behind Brittany Riddick. Things didn’t go so well in H2 and Jess spun off after 2 laps and had to sit the race out from the sideline. Still frustrated, she tried again in H3...but fell foul of the tricky conditions and came off after 2 laps again. This placed her on G3 for the 50 lap enduro. She was still on wets following a good shower during the previous Junior Restricted race which dampened the track surface. She started well and was going steadily in 4th place. We signaled for her to pit on lap 20 and as she was navigating the “sweeper”, she was not warned by the flag marshal that Brittany had spun up in the middle of the track and hit her side-on, destroying Brittany’s side pod. Jess was gutted, as she was about to come in and change to slicks as the track was almost dry. So a disappointing end to a frustrating day for Jess, but the damage to her bumper and front of the kart was not too severe, although the bumper looks very second-hand now! Have to put this event down to “experience” and move on. The next event is the National Schools event in Wellington from 5 to 8 July for Thomas.

July 5 to 8, 2012 - National Schools Championships, KartSport Wellington

Donna, Robert and Thomas headed to Wellington for the “Schools” and the adventure began only 25km from home! Whilst following an empty logging truck heading south on SH3 through Stratford, the driver blacked out and veered off the road (between two on-coming cars!) and mounted the kerb. Not content with that, the truck then destroyed a hedge before impaling itself on top of a brick/plaster fence outside a house! The driver was semi-conscious when Robert got to the cab to switch the engine off but he was not well. Once the emergency services arrived and statements given, the trip got underway again. Miraculously, no-one else was injured in the crash and the best possible outcome was that the truck came to rest before killing someone!

Once back on the road, we managed to make good time to the Wellington track. Once unloaded, the new bodywork and chrome bars were fitted in preparation for practice on Friday. The weather was filthy and we decided that no practice was necessary on Thursday. We drove into Wellington to check into the hotel. Dinner at Denny's followed which was nice. We travelled to the track on Friday and decided to fit “Tank” to have a few runs. The kart seemed fast and Thomas was driving well. We bolted on the new weapon and gave it a run as well. It was very fast and we were excited by the potential. We purchased a new set of wets for Sunday and cleaned and put the kart away. Our team-mate for the teams section of the weekend, Matthew Podjursky was looking good for his races on Saturday also. Logan Boyde from Taranaki was competitive and things were looking great for all. The weather was fine for the Saturday racing (Junior Restricted, Junior Yamaha and Yamaha Lights) and Matthew drove well to finish in 5th overall. Logan also put in a great performance to bring his kart home in 5th overall also. Poor Liam Lawson had a terrible weekend and got crashed into, damaging his new Sodi kart and a DNF. Once repaired with only seconds to spare, the engine would then not fire up, forcing a DNS.

After a day of helping others put their karts back together for one reason or another, Robert was keen to get organised for our races on Sunday. We decided to run “AJ” on Sunday, as this engine has great pace at the Wellington circuit. The engine was fitted and the kart was ready for racing. We arrived early at the track and were brimming with confidence heading into the tuning run. Thomas was fast and carved his way through the field showing good speed and confidence. We felt he was in good shape for the day. He drew P1 for the first heat, leading the race from start to finish, just managing to hold off a flying Tom Greig for the win. Thomas started from G16 for heat 2 and was going well after a restart and was up to 8th when he drifted a touch wide and collected the wet “ripple-strip” on the outside of a corner which sent him off. Unable to get back on the track, he had to sit the remainder of the race out from the infield. H3 was started from grid 9 but a mistake by another driver heading into the RH hairpin at turn 4 caused about four karts (including ours) to leave the track. Fortunately, Thomas was able to get back onto the circuit and drove hard to get back to 8th place, setting a time only 0.12s slower than the fastest time. Grid 20 for heat 4 saw Thomas having to drive hard to get as close to the front as possible. 5 minutes before the race start, we were set to go out on slicks, but the weather was looking to turn nasty. A quick change to wets proved the right choice, as Thomas carved through the field from position 20 to end up in 8th again. A great drive in treacherous conditions which meant Thomas was to start on G9 for the final heat. He drove a brilliant race, setting the fastest time of the weekend for all the Cadet races of 41.623s. This was outstanding and elevated him to 7th position in the race and 6th for the weekend. We were very happy and proud when Thomas collected his trophy at the prizegiving later that evening. He was also lucky enough to receive a new kart cover from Right Karts in a spot-draw during the evening which was great.

Thanks have to go to the Podjursky family (Murray, Liz and Matt) for all their help and support, the coffees and food...thanks guys, that was awesome!. Thanks also to Stu Park, Maurice Frost, Matthew Hamilton and all the many others who encouraged and supported the team all weekend. Congratulations to Matt Podjursky and Logan Boyde on their placings as well. Thomas and Matt ended up 3rd in the teams section of the event, which was also a great achievement. Congratulations to Matthew Payne on his win, Kaleb Ngatoa for 2nd and Sam Wright on his 3rd place. The drive home was long and we arrived back in New Plymouth at 2am.