Wednesday morning was a practice and into qualifying.  Initially the weather was holding, and I went out on slicks but it did end up raining just as we went out so the practice was fairly slow and slippery.  We took a gamble and got it wrong, 90% of the field was on wets. Come qualifying time it was raining, we changed the set up and the tyres to wet, but this was my first time on this new track on this different type of wet tyre for a very quick 6 minute qualifying session.  Neither my mechanic or I were familiar with this tyre so we made a call to run a particular tyre pressure to meet the condition of the track but as the qualifying progressed on we soon realised we had it so wrong, and we didn’t have any pace.  I was disappointed to qualify 27th for my group which meant I start on 27th for all 5 heats.  I took this away knowing that it meant I had to move forward every race if I wanted to make the prefinal which only took the top 72 on points.  At the end of the first day we had qualifying heats, I made up 8 spots in this session and the kart felt much better and we learnt more to make a few more changes for the next day.

Thursday (Day 2 of Competition) was a big day, with good and bad… 

Race 1 I went hard, was up to P12 from 27 and was catching up to a pack of 6 karts when my engine died with 3 laps to go – the coil crapped out and I had a DNF.

Race 2 I went full send making 5 passes on the first lap and then 6 more by the 3rd lap, then a full course yellow came out and turning to red flag once the met 75% completed so the race finished! I finished P14, I really needed the laps to get more passes in but that is what it is. Overall I was really happy because we had learnt more and had good fast setups for dry and wet!

Friday (Day 3 of Competition)

First race which was the 4th qualifying heat race was in the morning on wet cold track, I had a good start and did as many passes as I could in the first few laps but the field spread out heaps so I finished p16 from 27 which wasn’t too bad in the conditions.

Qualifying heat race 5 in the afternoon was a mainly dry track and the last round of the heats, I knew I had to push hard as it could be my last race and I needed to do my best and make every pass count. I went a little too hard at times and my mechanic was panicking but I finished strong in P12 from 27.

Overall I made it into the superheat! which is like a pre-final in NZ and I start P25. I sat around 52nd overall – it wasn’t over yet. I held hope that if I had a really strong finish in the superheat I could make the grand final, just maybe.

Day 4 of competition (the last day of the Rok Cup Super Finale representing NZ)

The day started with a 5 minute practice on a slightly wet track, mine was at my 8.20am in the morning I was the second quickest by .05 of a second, so I was feeling real good about going into the superheat.

Next up at 10.20 was my superheat. It was pouring down with rain which didn’t worry me because we had been fast in the rain and the dry, I started in P25 and made a heap of passes up in the first few laps and by the end I was in P12. Even the commentator said I had made up a huge amount of places and could it be enough to get in…  I worked out I made over 75 passes across the quali and 6 races – I was on!

We had to wait for all the results of the other races in my class so they could add all the points up – unfortunately I didn’t have enough points to make the grand final due to my mechanical DNF I had in my 2nd race and my day was done.

Overall I had a wicked time, made some new friends, learnt heaps, got to race against other kids from all over the world and liked all the passing I got due to my unlucky qualifying. I really liked being part of Team NZ, watching everyone else race, getting their feedback and tips from their track experience, and all the support from everyone.

My mechanic Dennis Kramp was great to work with, the kart got better and better, he was awesome and honest, and I really liked having him on my team.

This trip was amazing, so much more than I imagined. I definitely want to continue racing overseas and challenging myself. It opened my eyes up to a whole new world of racing, that has even more competition, amazing tracks, teams and setups. But I also came home really grateful for NZ kartsport, what it’s taught me, the friendships and competition that is really good for a small country, and how we really go hard with what we have.

Thank you to all my amazing sponsors that got me to Italy to race, it’s something I will remember forever and I learnt so much from it, and has set my dreams on fire! Thank you so much!

I am trying to quickly jump out of the jetlag and get back into normal routines like school and sleeping patterns as I am racing again this weekend!! Next up is the North Island Sprint Championship at my home track in Hamilton. It’s going to be a huge event with 170 entries from around NZ. I am racing in two classes, DVS Junior and Junior Rotax, both with sizable grids. The outlook is for rain on Saturday which is qualifying and two heats, Sunday might be drier for the prefinal and final. I am hoping to do my absolute best and give it everything, it all comes down to the last race on Sunday… so the focus is get a good qualifying position, move forward and secure a front row start for each class in the final as winner takes the title! Come out to the Hamilton track to catch the racing, my Hamilton Club has pulled together a cool setup for spectators with coffee and food available.

Below are some of my favourite pictures from the Rok Cup Super Finale (mum covered all bases with track photographers getting the pics).

Thanks again. I am just so stoked with the experience and pumped to keep racing hard and achieve more!!