New Sunbelt Champions Will Be Crowned

This will be the 30th year of the Central NZ Sunbelt Sprint Championships, it's unique racing format has Karters race at two tracks over two days, at kartsport Nelson and kartsport Marlborough. Drivers then have to find their way through the field over 8 heats and a final, with only dropping their worst race result.

With the drivers entry list nearly confirmed its looking likely we will have new driver/s on the top step of this years podium come Sunday on Queens Birthday weekend. We have over 70 drivers coming from all over New Zealand attending this years event from as far North as Auckland and as South as Invercargill. None of defending Champions from last year have entered so far which will give new drivers a chance to take victory.

Drivers to keep an eye on over Queens Birthday weekend is Nelson's Josh Bradley in the Cadet Rok Class after a strong result last year with 2nd place and he will also have a home track advantage for the first 5 heats.

Also we have William Exton from Marlborough and Jacob Mitchell from Canterbury both drivers won their classes last year but move up a grade into the Vortex Mini Rok Class for 2015 so they both will be looking to take the win.

Another driver to move up is Nelson's Jarod Fisher, now in Junior Rotax. Fisher won the Junior Restricted class last year, and has been on form in recent times winning the Jason Richards GP last month. But Fisher will have to deal with the current South Island Champ Ayden Polaschek from Christchurch so will be a great battle to watch.

Ryan Urban and Daniel Connor both from Auckland are likely to lead the charge in the Rotax light field. Urban has won many New Zealand titles and is the current 2NZ for Rotax Heavy. Connor also was ranked 2nd in New Zealand in 2013 in the Rotax Light class and has just recently won the last Round of the NZ Rotax Max Challenge which as held in Tokaroa so keep an eye on that battle.

The Rotax Heavy class has a very strong field of 17 drivers and will be a very hard class to win. Nelson driver Kevin Barker came close to winning the event last year but missed out by only a few points to UK driver Tiffany Chittenden. Barker will be wanting to go one better this year and take the top step of the podium. Another driver that may pop up on the podium is Aucklander Keith Wilkinson, he has never raced down here before but had a very strong result at this years National Title coming home 4th.

Nelson driver Matt Butchart will be on strong form in the KZ2 class but there are a few drivers that could easily take out the title which include Daniel Bugler from Marlborough, Ryan Yardley and Bailey Paterson both from Canterbury.

This year being the 30th anniversary we will see a fitting new class added to the Sunbelt Championship, we will he a field of Vintage Karts doing demonstration races at the two tracks, across both days.

Photo: Nelson's Jarod Fisher on his way to win the Junior Restricted Class at the 2104 Sunbelt Championship. By Chris Symes / www.shuttersport.co.nz

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