Happy New Year from our family to yours.
We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, an awesome New Year, and most of all, a relaxing and enjoyable holiday break.

We would also like to take a moment to acknowledge the heartbreaking tragedy that occurred at the Mount, where several lives were lost and six people are still yet to be found. This has been an enormous loss for their families, as well as their schools and wider communities. We extend our heartfelt thanks to all the rescue crews, police, government agencies, and Mount locals for their tireless efforts, support, and compassion during this incredibly difficult time.

Our thoughts are especially with Roady Knowles, the son of Sue Knowles. I had the privilege of knowing Sue for over 20 years — an absolutely lovely lady with a heart of gold, always willing to help anyone in need. Roady was a fellow karter and member of both the BOP and Rotorua tracks before moving on to drifting. Roady, we are thinking of you and your family during this very sad time.

We would also like to congratulate our members who competed in the 2026 Harvest Marlborough Kartstars event.
Nico had a flying start, qualifying 1st, alongside:

• Van Merrett – 3rd
• Murphy Dobson – 5th
• Charlie Clarke – 6th

The racing across the weekend was fantastic to watch, with three heats, a pre-final, and a final. Travelling from the North Island and crossing the water to compete was no small effort, and the results were a great achievement:

Final Results:

• 🥇 1st – Nico Thomasen
• 🥈 2nd – Van Merrett
• 5th – Charlie Clarke
• 10th – Murphy Dobson

Well done lads — an outstanding effort. We can’t wait to see you all back at Kartstars in Manawatu, 6–8 March. Best of luck!

Our next big event is the NZRMC in Rotorua, taking place on 7–8 February. If you don’t have anything planned for Waitangi Weekend, pop over to the Mamaku’s, bring a chair, and enjoy some top-class racing. This will be a fantastic event and your chance to watch the next representatives of New Zealand who will compete at the ROTAX MAX Grand Finals in Portimão, Portugal, from 21–28 November 2026. Best of luck to all competitors.

We also kick off the year with our first club meeting on Sunday, 1 February 2026.
Jump onto Sporty, fill out your form, and come along for a great club day and a catch-up with everyone. The weather is looking good, and we’d love to see you there.

Key times:

• Gates open: 7:00am
• Registration confirmations: 8:30am
• Tuning runs: 9:30am

That’s about it from us for now. Enjoy a busy month of racing, and you’ll hear from us again in next month’s edition of the newsletter.

See you trackside. 🏁

KSBOP