The closest battle of the Bay of Plenty Kart Club Champs for 2011 came down to the last lap of the final race in the Rotax Max Lights class when Fulton Penny nipped past Michael Scott.
The neatly judged inside passing move at the right-hand hairpin gave Fulton the win in the final and left the pair tied on six points each after five races. The tie-breaker becomes the result of the final race with Fulton's race-winning move and margin of 0.337secs at the flag being enough to claim the title.
The one-day club champs saw 48 drivers in action at Fagans Valley Raceway on Sunday. The challenges included racing on the 725-metre track in anti-clockwise direction in the morning and switching to the clockwise configuration in the afternoon along with changeable weather conditions that eventually deteriorated into steady rain for the finals.
Minor placings in Rotax Max Lights class were also tightly fought and after a tie for third place on points it was her third place in the final which secured third overall for Bailey McIntosh ahead of Steven Gaskell.
The biggest field of 16 contested the Cadets class where Edgecumbe's Reece Hendl-Cox recovered from a sixth placing in heat one to score four wins and secure the title ahead of the closely matched Joseph Terry and Adam Bell.
Chris Lee won both the Junior Yamaha and Formula Junior titles. Formula Junior was especially close with second and third placed Mitchell Sanders and Josh Adlam also taking race wins.
Corey Green was unbeaten to successfully defend the Yamaha Lights title ahead of Carly Tollenaar while Deon Symes won the Yamaha Heavy title and Stuart Gould was unbeaten in the Rotax Max Heavy class.
The BOP Kart Club wraps up its 2011 calendar with a Christmas Fun Day and prize-giving at Fagans Valley Raceway on December 4.
BOP Kart Club Championship results:
Cadets: 1 Reece Hendl-Cox, 4 pts; 2 Joseph Terry 9pts; 3 Adam Bell 10pts.
Junior Restricted: 1 Jordon Grant 4pts.
Junior Yamaha: 1 Chris Lee 4pts; 2 Brandon Grant 8pts; 3 Jordan Valentine 9pts.
Formula Junior: 1 Chris Lee 6pts; 2 Mitchell Sanders 7pts; 3 Josh Adlam 11pts.
Yamaha Lights: 1 Corey Green 4pts; 2 Carly Tollenaar 9pts; 3 Andrew Barber 11pts.
Yamaha Heavys: 1 Deon Symes 6pts; 2 Darren Walker 12pts; 3 Darryl Clarke 13pts.
Rotax Max Lights: 1 Fulton Penny 6pts; 2 Michael Scott 6pts; 3 Bailey McIntosh 11pts.
Rotax Max Heavys: 1 Stuart Gould 4pts; 2 Dean Hansen 8pts; 3 Rob Bull 12pts.
Open: 1 Keith Warwick 4pts.
A Fast Day Out
Two of the fastest Class 1 Unlimited machines in Kiwi offroad racing will be among the drawcards at a double-header motorsport event in the TECT All Terrain Park on Sunday.
Billed as "A Fast Day Out" the Bay Offroaders portion of Sunday's activities is a trial run for offroad racing in the motorsport section of the All Terrain Park as well as a fund raiser for Camp Quality.
The topline cars which both featured as front runners at the recent Taupo 1000 are the Class 1 racers of Whakatane's Clive Thornton and Malcolm Langley.
Thornton's Chev V8-powered Desert Dynamics racer is a two-seat buggy while Langley's single-seater Bakersfield is powered by a Mitsubishi Evo powerplant. Another crowd pleasing vehicle will be the Class 8 Nissan V8 Thunder Truck of Gary Baker.
Sunday's action will include short course racing from 10am with a separate track area for the new KiwiTrucks Youth category which has been introduced by the Offroad Racing Association of NZ (ORANZ).
The offroading event is being staged in conjunction with Camp Quality, a national charity that aims to support children living with cancer and their families.
Public admission to the day is free, and there will be a sausage sizzle onsite with children's drinks also for sale. Profits from the day will go to Camp Quality. There will be some limited opportunities for the public to make a donation to Camp Quality and have a ride in an offroad racing machine.
Running alongside the offroading will be the final round of the Motorsport BOP 2011 club points series.
A gravel sprint event for rally and road-going cars will use a newly completed 2.8km loop of gravel road. Reconnaissance takes place from 10am with three timed runs to decide the competition.
Both events will share the motorsport hub area as the pits and headquarters. The TECT All Terrain Park is signposted from the Pyes Pa roundabout on the Tauranga end of Pyes Pa Rd (State Highway 36) and from the Rotorua end as well.
Still going strong
Veterans motocross has built a strong following in recent years but for the Mr Vintage MX Series which comes to the Bay of Plenty this weekend the critical factor is the age of the bikes rather than the riders.
The second round of the series for pre-86 bikes will see about 80 riders in action at the Awakaponga MX track on Saturday.
The Mr Vintage series is raced over five rounds and mainly takes place in the lower North Island but Bay of Plenty enthusiasts have organised the second round of the series after the opening round near Feilding last month.
Classes cater for Class pre-75 machines and two classes of Pre-86 bikes in Evolution (twin shock, air-cooled and drum brakes) and Linkage classes for water-cooled bikes with linkage style rear suspension.
Racing gets under way at 10am and the Awakaponga MX track is at the corner of Caverhill Rd and Braemar Rd near Matata.
