SHANE HURNDELL Two days into the holidays, Hawke's Bay karter Mitchell Turner can't wait to return to school. But before Mitchell's Heretaunga Intermediate School year seven classmates start questioning his sanity, SportToday can tell them he's fine. It's just that Mitchell will be picked up from school by helicopter on day oneof the second term. ``It's my prize for winning the New Zealand cadet class cham pionship at the weekend,' an elated Mitchell told SportToday yesterday. Last year, one of his sponsors, Vaughan Nairn, of Helicopters Hawke's Bay, promised Mitchell the chopper ride if he won a national title and Mitchell is holding him to it. Eleven-year-old Mitchell won the title in Hamilton on Friday. One of 34 starters in the class, Mitchell qualified second after the two time trials. He won both his heats; the preliminary final after being fourth at one stage and the final by six seconds. It was Mitchell's last nationals in the class, as he intends to move up to the junior restricted ranks after his final meeting in this year's lower North Island Gold Star series in Palmerston North on May 3. Mitchell, who is also sponsored by Orix New Zealand and Tec Distributors, is leading the series, which he won in 2007, by seven points. Nairn was probably half -expecting Mitchell to deliver in Hamilton, which has been a happy hunting ground for him. Last year, he won the Confederation of International Karting title there. He was the only Bay driver to win a title at the nationals. This is the second consecutive year the national cadet class title has been won by a Bay driver, as Maddison Wise won it in Blenheim last year. Maddison was fourth in the junior restricted class at the weekend's nationals. Their Hawke's Bay Karting Club clubmate, Hayden Pedersen, who lives in Rotorua, was third in the Junior Yamaha class.
