Smith Delivers The Double

Jamie Smith was able to deliver in not one but two classes in the first round of the Nelson club points championship.

Smith, who has just returned from a karting hiatus, drove like he had never been away at all, winning both the Rotax Light and Briggs and Stratton classes in borrowed karts at The Signshop Nelson-sponsored event over the weekend.

Briggs and Stratton is new to The Hits Mike Pero kart raceway - and even New Zealand for that matter - and is starting to grow rapidly.

Smith came out and won the first two races but had a DNF in the third. He bounced back to win the next two races though and that was enough take the overall win from Brian Lotter and Nick Stilborn.

Andrew Stratford was putting a lot of pressure on Smith throughout the day and even posted a new lap record for the class. But an unfortunate moment that saw Stratford lose his chain on the final lap of heat four forced him to retire.

The Rotax Light class had a lot of drivers that were very keen to get their 2016 season off to a flying start, but again Smith had other ideas and dominated the field to win three out of the five races.

Ben Stilborn put up a hard fight to come home second with Brandon Dove, also in a borrowed kart, close behind in third.

One of the hardest fought classes and one of the most exciting to watch was the Rotax Heavy class. Kevin Barker, who is suffering a broken rib, took the win from Bryce Borlase and Brendon Gridley who took over the wheel in the final from Caleb Russ who also had damaged ribs.

Adam Gibson, racing in the open class, drove well to win from Gary Fisher who showed good pace all day.

Josh Bradley won three of his heat races in the Vortex Mini Rok class with Louise Gridley behind in second and Pip Coakley rounding out the podium.

Kayden Richards won the Rotax Junior class and Ollie Workman improved his personal best lap time in taking the win for Cadet Rok.

Bo Hill had to miss round one of the Nelson club points championship, but for very good reason as he was racing in Rotorua for round one of the New Zealand Rok Cup Series. Hill's weekend started off very well when he qualified second on Saturday in a strong field of 17 New Zealand's top drivers.

He managed two fourth placings on the Saturday, but got unlucky on the Sunday races with a sixth and a 16th place result.

This weekend Barker will be heading to Palmerston North for the New Zealand Rotax Max Challenge. This will be Barker's first time racing in the series but it won't be his first time at the fast flowing track as he took a win there a few months back.

Also attending is Brendon Gridley who will be the mechanic for world DD2 champion Ryan Urban of Auckland and Ryan Wood from Wellington.

Photo Credit - Rebecca Connor Maling

Article via The Nelson Mail