It’s all go all over this weekend
Ahigh-powered Labour Weekend is about starts and finishes on the Kiwi motorsport calendar.
Some codes wrap up winter calendars; others get summer programmes under way.
But one of the weekend’s biggest events is a standalone fixture. The annual McKeown Petroleum Waimate 50 Motorsport Festival brings sprint and drifting competition to the streets of the South Canterbury town on Saturday and Sunday.
Waimate’s attractions include Hayden Paddon running his Hyundai i20 AP4 in its high-power hillclimb specification along with leading drift stars Cole Armstrong, Darren Kelly, Gaz Whiter and “Fanga” Dan Woolhouse.
One series that has scheduled its decider for the long weekend is the national offroad racing championship.
After North and South Island regional events, the offroad racers carry forward early season points to battle at the national finals. The venue is Matapiro Rd in the
Crownthorpe district of Hawkes Bay. Saturday features shortcourse racing while Sunday’s challenge is 10 laps of a 25km run to provide a 250km enduro race.
There’s also a double header of motorcycle racing in Taupo over the long weekend. The Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park sees the Honda/Circuit Club Motorcycle Register endurance event on Sunday with one, two and threehour races on the programme.
The Taupo Motorcycle Club’s Digger McEwen MX Park hosts the traditional opener to summer motocross season. Strong fields have been announced for the
Huka Honda MX Fest with mini and junior riders on Saturday with Senior and Vets racing on Sunday.
Karting also has a doubleheader with its traditional Labour weekend North and South Island sprint championship events. The Butch Pet Foods North Island Sprint Championships is at Giltrap Group Raceway in Auckland and the Mag & Turbo Tyre & Service Centre South Island Champs are at Silverstream Raceway, North Taieri Dunedin.
Both are Saturday-Sunday meetings with more than 90 entries across eight classes for the North Island one and more than
60 across six classes (five title ones plus a non-championship support class) for the South Island event.
Drag racing competition for the
2019-20 season gets under way in Christchurch on Sunday with the first round of the newly structured national drag racing points series hitting the quarter-mile ’strip at Mike Pero Motorsport Park.
It’s the first of nine national championship dates this summer and points are at stake in Competition Eliminator, Supercharged Outlaws, Competition Bike, Sport Compact and Top Street categories.
Several northern region speedway tracks are scheduled to open on Saturday with Auckland’s Waikaraka Park, the Baypark Speedway at Mt Maunganui and Kihikihi Speedway set for 2019-20 season opening night action. Sunday eveningsees season openers at Napier’s Meeanee Speedway and the Oceanview Speedway at Whanganui.
Although not strictly a Labour weekend event, the Targa New Zealand crews will be gathering in Taupo on Monday for final checks ahead of their five-day tarmac rally run via New Plymouth, Whanganui and Dannevirke to finish in Palmerston North on Saturday.
And there’s plenty to keep an eye on around the international scene.
The Virgin Australian Supercars Championship remains in endurance mode with the Vodafone Gold Coast 600 on the streets of Surfers Paradise and the penultimate round of the World Rally Championship is testing title contenders in Spain. Formula 1 visits Mexico City and the stars of MotoGP and the Moto2 and Moto3 classes are racing on Phillip Island at the Australian GP.