MOTORSPORT - Summer Slam more about fun than hot competition

A club road trip by the Edgecumbe-based Eastern Bay of Plenty Kart Club has swelled the numbers attending this year's Summer Slam, leaving Whangarei Kart Club organisers hopeful of exceeding the numbers from last season's event.
Whangarei Club president Murray McLean said the club's annual feature race meeting continues to maintain its popularity with clubs around the upper North Island, drawing entries from far and wide this year.
"Some of those entries have come from a direct result of us travelling [to other club events] and winding them up about returning the favour but others come here every year because it's a fun event," he said.
EBOP Kart Club club captain Dane Harte said it was the second year the club had travelled here en masse.
"Originally it was about returning the favour because the Whangarei guys came down and run with us but now it's becoming more like an annual event for us," he said.
Harte and most of the 13 drivers and their families arrived yesterday in time to test at the Whangarei Club's McLean Rd track, with more testing due today.
Racing in nine classes starts tomorrow. Each class will hold seven races and one final over two days with prizes awarded for the top three points winners.
It is the club's eighth Summer Slam. The event replaced the previous mid-winter feature meeting that gradually became unpopular, the club's Dave Robbie said.
"It used to be in the middle of June but it was always cold and wet so we changed it into the first meeting of the year and it has worked out well with us regularly hitting 70 entries," he said.
Robbie was hopeful that a couple of late entries would see the entry list hit 70 with the confirmed number sitting at 68 late yesterday.
"I think it's because it's a fun meeting - we don't get serious with it, there are no trophies on the line and it's more about enjoyment," Robbie said.