Sam Thornley of Canterbury has won the 2018 Lizzie of Rosslands Rising Star Kidz Kartz Series which was held over two meetings at Cambridge and Alexandra Park last week.
The annual series saw 12 drivers from New Zealand and Australia compete in six races accruing points for their finishing position.
Thornley, age 16, was representing the Canterbury chapter of Kidz Kartz and maintained a consistent strike rate over the six races collecting four placings and a win.
Second overall was Jordyn Bublitz of Waikato Kidz Kartz and third went to Zev Meredith of Franklin Kidz Kartz. Australian representative Jake Begeni was close to the top finishers also with a fourth position placing.
Thornley was thrilled with the result, and grateful for the hard work put in by the organisers of the event.
“It was really good to win the series. I only had one race win but lots of placings, so being consistent really helped me. It was great to meet all the other drivers, I had only met a couple at the New Zealand Cup before the trip.”
“I’d really like to thank Danny Blakemore and Andrew Bublitz on organising a great trip, we did lots of activities and visiting different places, it was lots of fun and I had a great trip.”
Organiser Danny Blakemore was thrilled with the way the trip went this year.
“Once again we saw a high standard of driving, the kids were excellent and handled even some of the trickier ponies well,” said Blakemore. “Having the Australians with us again strengthened the relationship we started building with them in this series in 2009. They had a great time and didn’t want to go home!”
“All of the kids were well behaved on the days off as well, we took them ten pin bowling and to the Escape Room in Hamilton. It’s really important for the kids to be able to meet new people and build friendships as it’s a huge part of learning to adapt in new situations and develop relationships and communication skills.”
Whilst driving is an important part of Kidz Kartz, Blakemore emphasizes that it’s not the only factor they focus on.
“We like to promote the fact that harness racing isn’t all about driving. Not everyone can progress on to be a driver so we like to highlight all of the various opportunities that the industry presents for employment.”
“I also want to emphasize that this is due to all of the hard work from our Kidz Kartz clubs as a collective effort, and I really want to thank everyone who volunteered to help us. We honestly could not continue to run events like this without them. So thank you.”
This year saw the final edition of what has been known as the “Lizzie Of Rosslands Series.” Next year it will be called the “Kerry and Helen Hoggard Memorial Rising Stars Drivers Series”.
The Hoggard family has been staunch supporters of the series and Kidz Kartz from the very start and Marilyn Hoggard felt now would be a good time to change the series name to remember the contribution that her late husband Kerry and daughter Helen made.
Kidz Kartz would also once again like to thank their other generous sponsors during the series: Dunstan Feeds, Breckon Farms, Kendayla Park, Chaff Chaps, Woodlands Stud, Taranaki Kidz Kartz, Tui Ribbons, PhotoForce Photography – with further thanks to Alexandra Park and the Alexandra Park starting crew, Cambridge Raceway and their starting crew, Aaron White and Magness Video ltd.
Well done to all of the competitors and volunteers for their hard work in making this series another successful event for the youth of the Australasian harness racing industry.
If you would like to find out more about Kidz Kartz please contact Natalie at Harness Racing New Zealand, natalie@hrnz.co.nz
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
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