News
Got any news to add? Please enable Javascript to view webmaster's email.
2011 SI Open Review
By Barry Emms
On the 10th of November, nearly a year after initial planning took place, we were underway with 33 entrants, 8 in "C" division, 8 in Production and 17 in Performance. 21 turned up for practice on Thursday, light wind and fine weather. Come Friday Murray Shaw from Nelson had emailed advising that he was withdrawing, and Nick Ferrier, in Christchurch to attend a weeding would arrive later in the weekend. Timing equipment and transponders were supplied by Auckland club and Grant Crawshay ran the system throughout the event. When Grant was racing I believe Trevor Hookway looked after the timing. The decision had been made to run three races per round, each division would run as one group. This would push races through quicker and gave competitors high quality competition.
Friday, first day of competition, produced strong wind all day N/East to start with swinging around to the East later. Early afternoon racing was halted as the wind was gusting to 40km/h. Then it resumed with one race for Production and two for Performance. "C" class decided that the wind was just too strong.
The high winds caused mayhem on the tarmac as it was difficult to hold Karts down on three wheels. Karts were tipping over, sledging in the corners, Jim Dale went over twice, cutting his elbow, Trevor Hookway tipped and was hit by a wheel, cracking several ribs. Didn't stop him racing though, or laughing for that matter. Peter Richardson may have lost a finger nail when his hand was jammed under a wheel. Ivan Purtle crashed badly, damaging a sail and cutting his hand. Bob Jelley was on hand to make a good temporary repair so that Ivan could continue. Shirley Dale went over during a dial up and decided conditions were to gusty. Mike Dale caught a big gust at the museum end and ploughed straight ahead into the straw bales. Ally Crabb tipped over and also suffered gear failure. Theo Vondervoort blew a front tyre and crashed.
Other than those few mishaps a great days racing was enjoyed by everyone. Bruce Hales, with only 2.5 tendons in one shoulder (should have been an easy pushover) but proved just as compedititive as usual. During the wait for the wind to settle down several of us tried our 2M sails. They certainly accelerate when the wind comes up, my top speed increasing to 61.4km/h. Personally, I believe all entrants did extremely well to handle the conditions. My distance travelled on the was 37.74km
Saturday, as predicted, arrived with rain and a light wind from a Southerly direction. Graham Allum arrived in the morning feeling unwell, and headed back home to Blenheim. Jim Dale laid out a circuit using the taxiway and apron. The new course required tacking in places and the light breeze and wind direction led to dead patches on the apron. Not helping was being wet through, I ended up with six layers on. I don't recall any major accidents, however there were spins and bumps. There was also mud and grass and plenty of it. Down the taxiway negotiating the marker required Karts to move onto the grass to enable a fast turn. By about 3pm most of us were relieved when racing was called off. My top speed for the day was 56.1km/h distance travelled 23.21km.
Saturday night, the official meal took place at the Hornby Working Men's Club and included our monster raffle draw with over 50 prizes. The evening went well with most leaving at a reasonable hour to rest up for more racing in the morning.
Sunday, overcast, no rain and the track had dried out other than a few puddles. Another light wind from the South but shifted around a bit. Jim laid out a different course still utilising the taxiway and apron. The main difference was that the taxiway could be negotiated without tacking and sailing along the apron could be achieved using different courses, some faster than others. Nick Ferrier arrived having encountered car problems on Saturday, and managed a few races before heading away. Corri Stein was unwell and retired. Brent Thompson had business to attend to and was also absent. Although speeds were down a bit, racing was very competitive. It wasn't long before the last race finished and Karts were packed up, the site cleared away ready for prize giving. My top speed, 49.3km/h and distance travelled 19.63km.
Although all the competitors in each division raced together Production and Performance were split up into classes by weight and the results worked out accordingly. Click here to view the results (pdf). The first set, "Results SI Open" records how every competitor finished across the line, the other one has split Production and Performance up into weight groups ready for prize giving and these are the official results.
Lets not forget all the other competitors who made the event a huge success. Thank you for competing and keeping the place getters honest. During the time I watched races, usually marshalling on a corner marker, I noted many of you making big improvements. This is how it is, racing against experienced Karters over three days with a variety of conditions, everyone improves.
There are many other members who helped make the weekend run so well. Louise Meltzer and Iarene Jelley on the flags and counting down the starts, Grant Crawshay and I think it was Trevor Hookway running the timing system between their races, Steve Hall, Rex Walker and probably others I didn't see corner marshalling. Don McDonald providing the camper van to house the timing equipment. Auckland club for supplying the timing equipment and Transponders, Blokart Int for sharing the trophy costs, NZBAI for supplying the "C" class trophy. Graeme Gordon and Urban Wheels for running the BBQ and supplying the mob with sausages, Anne Rogers for providing a massage service.
Also the various members and businesses that generously supplied raffle prizes and to all those who were just as generous in buying tickets. To the Museum for holding back on construction so that we could run the event unhindered. There will be others who I cant remember right now, but thanks to everyone, it takes a team to run a successful event and we achieved that. Indeed this is a fitting end to Wigram as we have known it for the last couple of years. Next Sunday is a new beginning, less sealed surface bringing new challenges.
I trust all of you have enjoyed the event as much as I have. On behalf of the committee, thank you for entering and contributing to the 2011 South Island Open. We look forward to inviting you back again to a future event.
A bumpy road to the SI Open
A four day South Island Open was originally scheduled to start on the 24th February, finishing on the 27th. Planning had started back in November 2010 and there were 44 entrants. History will record that on the 22nd, an earthquake struck and Christchurch suffered badly with loss of life and severe property damage. Some of the entrants had already arrived and were traumatised along with the rest of us. Those on the committee that could still be contacted made the decision to cancel the event, wisely, as the aftermath unfolded.
New dates were set, initially for late October then revised to mid November, coinciding with Christchurch show day. This time around the New Zealand Open was included, following on from the SIO. This was not to be due to the proposed Museum extension which was timed to start in October. As time dragged on and no decisions on funding for the extension were made the NZO was moved to Papamoa. Finally in early October the decision was made to continue with the SIO, this decision hinged on the continued lack of funding and our belief that it would be unlikely that any physical work would start before the 13th November. How wrong we were, a couple of weeks before the SIO commenced word came through that funding was in place and work would start almost immediately. We were fortunate that the Museum considered our event important enough to delay on site work until after the 13th. Construction did start on forming an access way through the fence and across to the taxiway at the far end of the grounds and the machinery completed this work at midday Thursday the 10th during practice.
2011 NZ Open Review
The 2011 New Zealand Open Championship has just been held at Papamoa. The complex is commonly known as "Blokart Heaven" and the track is laid out next to Blokart International headquarters. While not that large in area this sealed track is built with various track options to suit wind from any direction.
The event got under way on Wednesday the 28th September with practice, racing followed over the next four days. As it turned out the first two days were reduced to practice and cruising about, at times when the wind decided to join in. The rest of the time was spent catching up with Blokarters from other clubs, looking at the various Karts, buying parts from the Blokart shop and generally relaxing. Various Blokart clubs from throughout New Zealand were represented with seventeen entrants from Kaimai club (Papamoa, Bay of Plenty), sixteen from Auckland club, four each from Capital club (Wellington), Canterbury club (Christchurch), and Manawatu club (Palmerston North), two from Bay club (Bay of Plenty), and two from Hamilton club, in total forty nine entrants.
Entrants were divided by weight into four divisions with six in Light, up to 70kg, twelve in Middle, 70 to 80kg, twenty in Heavy, 80 to 90kg, and eleven in Super Heavy, over 90 kg. Amongst the entrants were current and past world champions, club champions, and a scattering of keen members from the various clubs. Some entrants had raced at Blokart Heaven many times before, for others this was the first time they had seen the track. As Thursdays racing was lost due to a lack of wind, pressure was mounting to push the races through on Friday. This was achieved by combining Light and Middle into one group, running all the Heavies together and leaving the Super Heavies to themselves. With light wind these groups competed without too many incidents and by the end of the day everyone had completed ten races.
To run races and record results the Auckland Club supplied their sophisticated timing system housed in a purpose built trailer. Each Blokart was fitted with a transponder which relays signals to the timing equipment, via a pick up loop laid across the track on the start/finish line. Manned by Auckland club members this system ran to perfection and provisional race results were posted as the next race was getting started. The Rugby World Cup Blokarts were put to good use, speeding across the track to pick up the results between races.
To start a race Karts sail from the dummy grid out onto the track where they wait for a dial up start signal from the timing equipment. Usually of two or three minute duration, sailors use a countdown timer on their Karts to judge time. The aim is to cross the start line at high speed coinciding with the finish of the countdown period. This is easier said than done, any Karts over the line early have to loop around and cross the start line again, losing precious time. Rather than laps, races ran for a period of five minutes and all Karts were required to cross the line after the finish signal.
Saturday dawned to cooler weather and more light wind. With ten races already completed the pressure to push races through was reduced so the light and middle weight divisions were run separately. The Heavies were split into two heats, competitors being randomly selected for each heat. All divisions completed seven races for the day. Sunday started with the odd spot of rain and the possibility of better wind. The wind did pick up at times but most stuck to 5.5M sails. All divisions managed to complete another four races bringing the total to twenty one races completed. According to my GPS, distance covered over the five days came to 144.03km and maximum speed achieved was 44.9km/h during practice Wednesday and 42.1 during racing on Sunday.
A full breakdown of the results can be found here, suffice to say that Auckland were outstanding with 3 firsts and 3 thirds, Kaimai did very well with 1 first, 3 seconds and 1 third and Capital managed 1 second. The other clubs missed out. Overall the racing was excellent with good hard competition throughout the event. Points were allocated - one for first, two for second and so on and all competitors dropped their two worst results.
There was the odd bit of drama, Super Heavy weight, Bernie O'Donnell, split a new tyre that was pumped up harder than any sane Karter would even think about. Jim Dale punctured in one race as did Roger Lennox-Robertson. The Guru, Paul Beckett, was disqualified at the start of a race for putting a foot on the ground. Mind you that's an improvement on taking out the timing trailer as he did at last years event. Bob Jelley suffered a DNF for not crossing the finish line after the finish signal. Ross Vickers took a short cut, jumping off a small grass hill and splitting a mast section. Sarah Tootill tried the same short cut a couple of times without apparent damage. Being a lot lighter than Ross she was airborne for a greater distance but still landed with a thump.
David Heilbron provided a commentary for quite a few races and did a great job, as did Paul Beckett on occasion. Overall the event ran like a well oiled machine, good organisation, no timing issues, results posted instantly and friendly competitors. Thank you to all those who took the time to ensure the event was so successful, well done.
Barry Emms - Canterbury blokart Club
Blokarts Featured In Rugby World Cup Opening
Custom electric powered blokarts featured in Act 2 of the RWC opening cermony. See it on Youtube
& check out Kart Cam & ABC's latest newsletter for details.
New Zealand Open
Due to the Earthquakes and uncertaintly regarding the Canterbury Club's venue, the NZ open has now been relocated to blokart Heaven in Papamoa from September the 28th through to October the 2nd.
South Island Open
As many of you will know, timing of this years South Island Open has been disrupted by earthquakes and now a possible Wigram Air Force Museum extension. The latest information our club has received is that a decision will be made September 7th. If the go ahead is given, construction may or may not start before the SIO. Tenders have closed however we understand that further funding is still required. If the Museum extension goes ahead the tarmac apron will be reduced by about a third and the remainder will be sheltered to some extent, nevertheless we will still have a useable area to sail on. Our problem at this moment is that we don't know if we will have access to Wigram in November.
Our committee has decided to continue planning to hold the SIO, from Friday the 11th November through to Sunday the 13th with a practise day available on Thursday the 10th. We look forward to your support and entry to this prestigious event. We must emphasize that at this stage we have been given no guarantee that we will be able to hold the meeting on the dates advised so please make no financial commitment towards travel or accommodation. When we do have more details to hand we will send out an update and if the event proceeds offer to billet competitors who are unable to find accommodation.
NZ Open and South Island Open
The Canterbury club has advised that due to proposed extensions to the museum at Wigram the apron area may be disrupted at some future time period. Without a firm idea on when this may take place the BAI has decided to shift the NZ Open to another venue and date, yet to be decided. Apologies to those who have already arranged flights and accommodation. The Canterbury Club will advise on the South Island Champs but are still hoping to be able to run this event. Further information on the NZ Open will follow once venues are arranged.
NABSA Blokart Champs
The North American Blokart Sailing Champs were held on Ivanpah, near Las Vegas at the end of March. It was a warm up event to the 3rd World Championships that will be held there in 2012. Six competitors from NZ participated, Ross Vickers, Andrew Sands, Paul Beckett, John Sherlock, Ted Philip in performance divisions and Grant Crawshay in production heavy. Grant won his division and the overall production class. Santi Oliver from Spain just beat Ross Vickers and the rest of the Kiwi's in the overall performance results, however Ross won the performance lightwight and Paul Beckett the super heavy division. You can view the results here. (PDF)
Kaimai Blokart Club
A new club has been formed called the Kaimai blokart club. Check back for contact details. The club has members from all over the Waikato and BoP. Its home base will be at Blokart Heaven.
South Island Open Cancelled due to Christchurch Earthquake
A message from the Canterbury Blokart Club.
Dear members and Blokart friends,
The [canterbury] committee trusts that you and your families have come through today's disaster without too much damage and no injuries.
With so many reported deaths, injuries and people trapped, it is likely that some of you will be badly affected.
If you are in a position where you or your family require help or support please let me know and I feel sure club members will be only to willing to offer support.
The weekends event has been cancelled, a copy of the email forwarded to entrants is copied below for your information.
Yours sincerely
Barry
Dear Entrant,
As you all be aware CH has been devastated today. As I type this the house is being rocked by after shocks. At this moment we have not been able to contact Jim Dale or one or two other committee members, however we have made the decision to cancel the event. We understand that this will disrupt North Island entrants, some of whom are already in Christchurch or on their way.
Reality is that already more than 60 people have died, others are trapped, infrastructure in the central city and other areas is badly damaged. We have no idea how today's quake has impacted on our own members and trust that they are all OK. With the magnitude of today's disaster we felt that the only responsible course of action was to cancel, to do otherwise would fly in the face of the tragic loss that many families are facing at this time.
Dave Griffin advises that anyone booked with Air NZ should advise the airline that they wish to use the "Fare Flexibility" clause, and put their tickets on hold or ask for a refund. Regarding the future scheduling of the SIO, in due course we will look at options and bring all of you up to date.
Yours sincerely
Barry Emms.
2010 Blokart World Championship Results
18/10/2010
The Kiwis retained their Performance Champs Ranking - with 3 world champions.
Congratuations to Gabe Young, light weights, Russell Harray, heavy weights and the "Guru" Paul Beckett for the super heavy division.
Also congrations to our other podium winners Angus Young 3rd in the light weights, John Nicholson 2nd in the heavy weights and Theo Vondervoort 2nd in the super heavies. ,
Results are available here (HTML) on the blokart worlds site or here (pdf).
NZ struggled in the middleweights, with Luke, Grant, Nick and Jenny putting in their best performances. No Kiwis were entered in the production divisions.
2010 Blokart World Championship Updates
14/10/2010Not much wind on the first two days is leaving everyone frustrated. For more news and updates - check out the Auckland Club's blog .
2010 BAI New Zealand Secondary Schools Blokart Championships
The NZBAI & the Auckland Blokart Club are pleased to host the 2010 BAI New Zealand Secondary Schools Blokart Championships 30th and 31st of October at Ardmore airfield, Auckland.
Details & Entry Forms(pdf).
NZ Team for the 2010 World Blokart Champs
26/6/2010New Zealand has a large and strong team heading to the 2nd World Blokart Champs in Ostend Belgium in October. Gabe Young and Russell Harray both won their divisions in the NZ Open and are attending to defend their world titles. Theo Vondervoort and Luke Jones both won their divisions at the NZ Open and will be competitive at the worlds as well.
2010 NZ Open
26/6/2010A big turnout with the windless day being the practise day on Thursday, and building over the weekend, providing a very enjoyable 4 days despite the drenching on Sunday. Sunday was probably the wettest we've ever sailed in for a whole day. Some sailors were wishing blokarts did float after becoming submerged 1/2 way up the pod when they found the lakes hidden in the puddles. The guru once again proved his skill at crashing after surviving (unhurt) from the crash of the weekend. Lots of other really enjoyable moments with the blokart 10 Anniversary Celebration party on Saturday and dinner on Sunday catching up with all the other competitors from all over NZ (and our US and Australian visitor's).
North Island Champs
10/5/2010The 24 races on Saturday was not repeated on Sunday with the wind failing to appear. After setting up early Saturday morning the racing kicked off about 10.30 for the 82 entrants. The wind was fluctuating a bit so there was a mixture of 4 metre and 5.5 metre sails in use. After one round we ran two races at once starting them 2 minutes apart. Using a 1.8 km course, either 2 or 3 times around, meant plenty of separation between the 2 races. This enabled plenty of races with a few breaks as planes landed. The wind dropped about 3.30 but a bit of patience and it came in about 15+ knots before settling down to 10-12 knots. Some great fast sailing with the wind up saw plenty of grins on the sailors. A meal and lucky draws followed at a local restaurant with most heading away not too late after the busy day. On Sunday the wind just didn't make it. There were periods when it looked promising but would then drop away again. Plenty of karts out trying hard and even some bursts into the 30+ km/hr but nothing sustainable or suitable for racing. The thank yous were done early, especially to Gary for organising the airport and Phil, Debs and Leslie for handling the timing and resorting results today. This is the best hard surface race track in NZ and we will be back again next year.
Dates for North Island Champs & NZ Open
28/3/2010The dates for the North Island Champs at Ohakea are the 1st and 2nd of May. The NZ Open will be held at Blokart heaven over Queens Birthday weekend, from Friday to Monday the 4th to 7th of June.
South Island Open
17/2/2010The first event of 2010 was the Canterbury club holding the inaugural SI Open at Waitangi Weekend. This was a fantastic event with many visitors jealous of Canterbury's Wigram venue. See Canterbury's website for the Results.
2009 NZ Secondary Schools' Youth Champs
2/11/09Congratulations to Dominic Griffin the overall winner and Ben Campbell who won the over 65kg division. Results
The Auckland Club Champs
2/11/09A succesful event held with the Youth Champs. Check out www.abc.gen.nz for results.
Teams Racing at blokart Heaven
12/9/09The teams racing at blokart Heaven on the 8th of August was abandoned after two and a half rounds due to lack of wind. Check out the mailing list for comments about the weekend.
AGM
12/9/2009Thanks to all the members who attended. Rowena Lennox-Roberston is our new secretary. Members also approved the constitution change making blokart sailing a drug free sport.
Constitution Update
12/9/09The committee believes that it will be beneficial for the Association to join SPARC (Sports & Recreation NZ) to give blokart sailing some recognition as a sport and to make funding applications for the clubs easier. To join SPARC we must have an Anti -Doping policy. The easiest way is to update our constitution to subscribe to the rules and regulations of Drug Free Sport NZ. This update was approved by the members at the AGM.
Secondary Schools' Championships
12/9/2009Early bird registrations have now closed. Don't miss out - there is now two weeks left to enter! The entry form is here. (DOC) Only $45 to enter for two days of fun!
