Karters compete for sprint titles

Press, 4 April 1985, Page 29

Karters compete for sprint titles

Ten Christchurch drivers will leave for Auckland today to compete in the New Zealand sprint kart championships at the demanding Rosebank circuit over Easter week-end.

Big fields can be expected in all classes as the number of classes has been reduced from 11 to seven. The Christchurch karters have each received $2OO from the Christchurch club to offset travelling costs.

John Hamilton, of Christchurch, will defend his 125 cu cm gearbox and 250 cu cm open championships. However, he had not raced sprint karts since winning the titles 12 months ago, devoting his energies to superkart racing. He might have trouble holding his titles from two other Canterbury competitors, Graham Stevens and Bob McWhinnie. Lyndsay Sword is another

prospect. The 100 cu cm senior class has 50 entries and all drivers have to race against time to determine the 24 finalists. Murray Davies, the present national champion, failed to qualify from a field of 45 at a recent meeting in Auckland, but he is determined to make amends. Paul Larsen, the much improved Mark Childs, and Nigel Wilkinson are other prominent Christchurch drivers competing in the class. Both Larsen and Davies will contest the open class, for karts restricted to engines up to 150 cu cm without a gearbox. The Christchurch drivers in the two junior classes are Damien French and Paul Milk. French has raced once before on the Auckland circuit and is confident of faring considerably better than he did on his first visit