Mason top Kiwi in Portugal
Levin’s Logan Manson was top Kiwi at this year’s ROK Cup International final meeting finishing eighth overall in the Mini ROK class’ Vortex Trophy B final in Italy.
Christchurch driver Jacob Douglas also made the Vortex Trophy final, finishing 20th. The third member of the 2017 Kiwi squad, Kaden Probst from Auckland made good forward progress in three of his four heat races but didn’t make the cut.
Manson, the reigning New Zealand ROK Cup series’ Vortex Mini ROK class titleholder, got better and better as the threeday event at the South Garda kart circuit at Lonato in northern Italy went on.
He set the 20th quickest lap time in his qualifying practice heat on Thursday, placing him 99th out of the record 162 entrants in the Mini ROK class.
He then improved on his starting position (20th) in all four of his heat races.
That placed him on P14 for the Vortex Trophy final in which he again improved on his starting position and set his fastest race lap of the event.
The result was the best finish for a Kiwi yet at a ROK Cup International event plus a special spot prize at the event prize giving for the driver who had travelled furthest to compete - 18,658km.
Experienced karter Matthew Hamilton, who acts as a mentor to Douglas, complimented Manson on a job well done
‘‘We had worked out that to make the B final he had to average about a top 15 or better in each heat and that’s exactly what he did.
‘‘He did a great job in the final too, staying out of trouble and in the end wasn’t far off the front pack.’’
Meanwhile, New Zealand KZ2 class Sprint champion Dylan Drysdale ended up sixth in the premier KZ2 class at Australia’s annual Race of Stars international invitational kart meeting in Queensland, without even contesting the final.
So heavy was the rain that lashed the Xtreme Karting Complex venue at Pimpama on the Gold Coast that the event was called off before several class finals could be run
The organisers decided the finishing order in those classes would be on a points-scoredover-heats basis.
That was good news for Drysdale, who crossed the finish line in eighth place in the fourth heat, but ended up sixth overall when his previous placings were taken into account.
‘‘Sixth was definitely good for his first attempt,’’ said mentor Daniel Bray. ‘‘Dylan had good speed in the dry though we got a little stone stuck in the carb in the second heat which hurt his pace in that race.
‘‘He also had good pace in the wet just some little mistakes here and there, but all in all very good.’’