Top Six Spot for Drysdale at Rain-Hit Aussie Kart Meeting

Top Six Spot for Drysdale at Rain-Hit Aussie Kart Meeting

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 over the weekend - without even contesting the Final.

So heavy was the rain that lashed the Xtreme Karting Complex venue at Pimpama on the Gold Coast on Sunday that the event was called off before several class Finals - the KZ2 one amongst them - could be run, prompting the organisers to decide the finishing order in those classes on a 'points-scored over the heats that had run' basis.

That was good news for Drysdale, who crossed the finish line in eighth place in the fourth heat (which counted as the Final) but ended up sixth overall when his previous placings were taken into account.

"Sixth was definitely good for his first attempt," said mentor and usual N-Zed Motorsport teammate 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."

Taylor Harte from Tauranga and Madeline Stewart from Wellington also contested the KZ2 class and were classified 17th and 22nd respectively.

The other Kiwi contesting a Senior class, Ashleigh Stewart, ended up competing in the TaG125 class Final when the weather was at its worst, doing well to finish 25th. So hard did the rain get that the race was declared on the 11th lap with the officials going back to the previously completed lap for the final race order.

Emerson Vincent from Pukekohe and Liam Sceats from Auckland were the top-scoring Juniors, finishing the Cadet 12 Final line astern in fourth (Vincent) and fifth (Sceats) places respectively.

An excellent sixth in his debut in the premier Junior class, KA2, meanwhile, was Connor Davison from Hamilton.

Big winner over the weekend for the second year in a row was reigning and now two-time World KZ class champion Paolo De Conto. CRG teammate Pierce Lehane was second and Patrizicorse team BirelArt driver Rick Dreezen from Belgium third.

Dreezen's placing was a highlight for former event podium placegetter Daniel Bray who this year was looking after the engines of N-Zed Motorsport team driver Dylan Drysdale, top Australian KZ2 class runner Troy Loeskow, and visiting Europeans Marijn Kremers and Rick Dreezen.

The three-day meeting is part of the big SuperFest promotion leading up to the Castrol Gold Coast 600 Supercar race on the streets of Surfers Paradise this coming weekend.

ENDS

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