New drivers a boost as Eastland Kart Club season gets under way in Gisborne

Kolten Irvine, in his "Red Devil" machine, won the kids' feature race at the Eastland Kart Club's opening meeting of the summer season; Gisborne Speedway Club Sam Hughes showed his skill (inset) on the kart track in winning the adults' feature race. Photos / Barry Irvine

It was feet to the floor on Sunday as the Eastland Kart Club held its first points meeting of a 2025-2026 season that is showing instant signs of being a bumper one.

The club, started by the late Murray Michie, is now into its 13th season.

Lots of new drivers have joined the club and officials are delighted to see a lot of these are in the kids’ classes, which is a great boost.

It’s also great for speedway because a lot of the youngsters go on to the ministocks youth class at the nearby Awapuni track.

Sunday’s main feature race held at the end of the meeting featured 10 drivers going at it over 10 action-packed laps in what is always a highlight of the meeting.

Gisborne Speedway Club president Sam Hughes showed his skill on the track by taking the win while Eastland Kart Club president Daniel Taylor timed his run well to come home second.

Bill Mooney was third, David Alfrey fourth and Shaun Barwick fifth.

Adding to the interest is that one of the 10 laps has to be a joker lap completed on the old and shorter track. Drivers choose what lap that can be, so there’s a element of randomness to the action.

The kids’ feature race over eight laps (no joker lap) saw the rookies and juniors go wheel to wheel.

“Red Devil” Kolten Irvine won from Asha Hughes, Nixen Gooch, Javae Govender and Leni Lee.

Driver-of-the-day honours went to Chloe Hughes (kids), who turned on possibly her best-ever display, and Barry Irvine (adults), who had three top-three finishes.

Fastest lap of the day on the new track was 21.394s by Sam Hughes while Taylor’s 20.771s was quickest for the joker lap.

At the start of the day, the adult drivers do timed laps to see which group they start in.

The fastest start in Group A and depending on results, drivers can move up or down the groups of which there were two on Sunday.

In Group A results, Sam Hughes, Shane Murrell and Bill Mooney had a win each; Hughes had two seconds and Shane Murrell a second; and Shaun Barwick had two thirds and Ian McGrory a third.

In Group B, Daniel Taylor had two wins and Dallas Wanoa one win; David Alfrey had two seconds and Barry Irvine one second; and Irvine had two thirds and Liam Nicol one third.