Another strong entry - at 243 equal to last year's record - bodes well for the success of this year's KartSport Zealand National Sprint Championships meeting in the Hawke's Bay over the Easter weekend.
"Because it was our 50th anniversary event last year people made a real effort to make it to Hamilton, so to match the number this year is a real plus and shows that, despite the battering the economy has taken in the last 18 months, our sport remains in very good heart," says KartSport New Zealand 's Development Manager Robert Hutton."
Ten class titles will be contested over the three-day Sprint Nationals event, Cadet, Junior Restricted 100cc Yamaha and KZ2 on Friday, Junior 100cc Yamaha, 100cc Yamaha Light and 100cc Yamaha Heavy on Saturday, and KF3, Open and the two Rotax classes, 125cc Light and 125cc Heavy on Sunday.
After last year's record 34 Cadet class entries the numbers have evened out a little with 100cc Yamaha Light the most popular Senior class with 31 entries and Junior 100cc Yamaha the most popular Junior one with 30.
One of the main reasons for the strong 100cc Yamaha Light entry is the incentive of a trip to a major event in Japan for the winner.
The prize comes courtesy of Yamaha Motor New Zealand and has been offered for the past five years, with Christchurch driver Matthew Hamilton - one of the favourites again thisyear - winning the inaugural prize trip when the Sprint Nationals meeting was last in Hawke's Bay in 2006.
Hamilton - who now races cars as well as karts - is one of a number of competitors who will contest two - or more - classes this weekend, in his case 100cc Yamaha Light on Saturday and 125cc Rotax Max Light on Sunday.
He is also one of a - large - number of former New Zealand and/or North/South Island champions heading to Hawke's Bay next week for the 2010 National Sprint event.
In the Senior gearbox classes the defending champions are Aucklanders Graeme Smyth (KZ2) and Richard Moore (Open) while in the Senior direct drive class the defending title holders are New Plymouth young gun Alex Geary (100cc Yamaha Light), Auckland's Ryan Urban (125cc Rotax Max Light) and Christchurch's Simon Hunter (125cc Rotax Max Heavy).
With constant movement up the age brackets in the Junior classes it's less common for a driver to return to defend his or her title, but in the elite Junior category, KF3, the the driver to beat is 2009 champion Arie Hutton from Auckland. Hutton will be challenged hard by fellow Aucklanders Bradley Hicks and Paul Blomqvist as well as Nelson’s Matt Butchart and Cambridge ’s Andy Schofield.
With 2009 champion Daniel Kinsman moving up to the Senior ranks, the battle for the Junior 100cc Yamaha title looks set to involve South Islanders Tom Alexander and James Penrose, Rhys Tinney from Hamilton, Jaden Hardy from the Manawatu and Cambridge's Andy Schofield.
Junior Restricted 100cc Yamaha also looks like having a distinct North vs South flavour to it with class champion at the 2009 New Zealand Schools' event, Christchurch 's Jordan McDonnell, set to take on local heroes, 2009 North Island Junior Restricted champion, Mitchell Turner and former New Zealand Cadet class champion Maddison Wise.
With an influx of new young drivers the Cadet class is harder to call, though on form 2009 North Island champion Jacob Cranston should expect competition from KartSport Manawatu club member Thomas Ingram and Taranaki Kart Club member Matthew Podjursky as well as local boy Trey Nairn.
A bonus for competitors at this year's event is that their entry fees have been covered by Bridgestone New Zealand. The event will also have something of an international flavour this year with five Ausatralian drivers forgoing their annual Sprint Nationals meeting at Puckapunyal in Victoria for the New Zealand one in the Hawke's Bay.
Competition at the Hawke's Bay Karting Club's ZM Kart Raceway track at Fern Hill starts on Easter Friday and continues through Saturday and Sunday. Competition starts at 9.45am each day.
