Numbers tell the story of Top Gear Top Half Series' success

With entries for this weekend’s Top Gear Top Half Series at Tokoroa set to again meet the 130 target, coordinator Roger Smith is looking forward to another round of close and exciting racing across all classes.

“This is the largest number of entries we’ve had for the third round of our series for the past three years with absolute no drop-off from our earlier rounds,” he said this week.

This weekend’s round of the 2019 series is being hosted by the KartSport Tokoroa club at its Stihl Shop Tokoroa Raceway at Amisfield (adjacent to the town’s airport). The 765 metre track is a challenging one but certainly a favourite of drivers as it allows for close and action-packed racing.

Junior Rotax will be the biggest class this weekend with 26 youngsters already entered. Hamilton driver Clay Osborne will be the one to beat this weekend after a dominating performance the second round at Rotorua last month. Aucklanders Zach Blincoe and Hayden Bakkerus will also be looking to carry on their strong performances at previous rounds.

In Cadet ROK Aucklander Maxim Kirwan will be aiming to extend his championship lead, but after Cole Turney’s strong run at Round 2, he will be a young gun to keep an eye out for this weekend. Carson Daly and Miles Baker (both from Hamilton) will also be looking to chase down Kirwan this weekend.

This weekend the Supreme Kart Supplies-sponsored Vortex Mini ROK class also gets the Giltrap Group Dash for Cash. Entries currently stand at 19 with more expected. Auckland pair Sebastian Manson and Ashton Phipps will be the youngsters to catch this weekend after strong performances at earlier rounds. A driver who showed a big improvement, Alex Rose, will also be looking to carry on where he left off at Rotorua.

In the Senior classes Hamilton driver Fynn Osborne and Aucklander Ashton Grant will lead the way this weekend in Urban Performance Rotax Max Light. However Rotorua local Bradley Hewson and Tauranga female Gemma Winters will be wanting to show strong form after their efforts at previous rounds.

Meanwhile in MG Tyres Rotax Max Heavy entries have hit 18 for Round 3 with Adam Bell, Darren Walker, Marco Giltrap and Caleb Hartley all capable of dominant performances this weekend.

Rotax DD2 will see Sam Waddell and Jason Lee go to battle again this weekend with Josh Bethune, the latter fresh back in New Zealand after a combined kart/car campaign in the United States. In the KZ2 class run concurrently Graeme Smyth will be looking to maintain his championship advantage over young gun Sam Wright while up-and-coming KZ2 driver Michael Adolph is also worth keeping an eye on.

Finally, there will be 11 drivers competing in the WRB Karting Supplies-sponsored ClubSport 120 class. Whangarei’s Shannon Noble will be the one to watch after his strong performance at round 2 but long time series champion Steve Muggeridge is not keen to give up his ‘top dog’ status just yet.

The Top Gear Top Half Series would not be possible without the support of the following sponsors;

Naming Rights Sponsor: Top Gear Rotorua Limited

Gold Sponsors for 2019: CRC Industries, Formula Fit High-Performance Centre

Silver Sponsors: Duffett Door Solutions, Giltrap Group, Lightning Race Gear, Employment Law Advocacy

Bronze Sponsors: One Stop Promotions, Emilee Jane Photography, Awards Trophy & Engraving Experts, JOP Print, Lascom Motorsport, Harris Race Radios, Flatline Computer Company and Game Over Indoor Karting Auckland and Headcase Design.

Class Sponsors for 2019 are:
Cadet ROK – TCB Motorsport
Mini ROK – Supreme Kart Supplies
Rotax Max Junior -International Kart Supplies
Rotax Max Light – Urban Performance
Rotax Max Heavy – MG Tyres
KZ2- Spartan 4 Toyota
DD2 – Right Karts
ClubSport 120 -WRB Karting Supplies

CALENDAR
2019 Top Gear Top Half Series
Rnd 1: Hamilton 17th & 18th August
Rnd 2: Rotorua 21st & 22nd September
Rnd 3: Tokoroa 5th & 6th October
Rnd 4: Bay of Plenty 9th &10th November

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