Kart racing under way

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Eastland Kart Club last weekend held the first points meeting of the club's 10th year.

The club, started by the late Murray Michie, has some big meetings coming up this season.

Judging by last Sunday's racing — which was top notch — the action on the track will live up to expectations.

This season each class will have four races plus an all-in contest at the end of the meeting — for those who want an extra race and the chance to run against drivers in other classes for bragging rights.

In the KT lights, Luca Vita was all class and had four wins.

Seth Hall had two seconds and a third placing, while Luca's dad, Mike Vita, picked up a second and two thirds.

Daniel Taylor had a second and a third.

Another father-and-son contest was in the open class, where dad Dylan MacGregor and son Vinzent MacGregor went head to head and ended up with a race win each.

Dylan's kart packed it in and so did Robert Gomm's kart, so the class was called off.

Dylan had the fastest lap of the day (19.562 seconds) and Vinzent had the second-fastest (19.644s) — a great effort from both drivers.

Sunday's meeting had the biggest Rotax field seen in many years in Gisborne. Luca Vita and Ben Briant had two wins each.

Second placings went to Luca Vita (two), Barry Irvine and Glenn Harrison. This was Harrison's first points meeting and his first podium placing.

Ben Adcock had three third placings and Barry Irvine, one.

Club member Kelvin Bull travelled from Tauranga to race.

The young guns class had three races. The fourth race was called off after repeated restarts and crashes on the first corner.

In the modified section, Tim De La Haye won three races, Hamish Worsnop had a few second placings and Brodie Gooch picked up three thirds.

In the standard class, Logan Irvine had three wins, Nixen Gooch had three second placings and Conrad Gooch picked up three thirds.

Lyn Lyle had two wins, a second and a third in the women's section.

Robyn De La Haye and daughter Hayley De La Haye had a win each.

Tessa Irvine, Hayley De La Haye and Sharyn Rogers each had a second placing.

Rogers also had two third placings and Irvine had one.

In the KT heavy class, Ben Adcock and Fred Winterton both had two wins, a second and a third.

Buck Rogers picked up two seconds and two thirds.

A good-sized field contested the all-in feature at meeting's end. This season drivers get points that go towards a season total. The top three have the right to run numbers 1, 2 and 3 on their karts.

Vinzent MacGregor drove splendidly to win the 10-lap feature. Ben Briant was second, Tim De La Haye third, Mike Vita fourth, Luca Vita fifth and Kelvin Bull sixth.

The next meeting is tomorrow at the Aerodrome Road track off Awapuni Road past the speedway. Racing starts at 10am.