Get ready! NZ Bucket Grand Prix is coming!

The New Zealand Miniature Road Racing Grand Prix is lining up to be a complete fire cracker of an event. And one not to be missed as the bucket racing event of the year! The competition is stacked with numerous personal best times and lap records being challenged by both Auckland and Wellington riders at their local circuits. The steep elevation changes, complex turns, big field and long races challenge even the most seasoned of racers. Bring enthusiasm, a reliable bike and port for port on the corner. See you there!

Need a licence upgrade for the Grand Prix?
Click here for the GP entry form. If you need a one event licence upgrade, fill out the entry form and send to Henk at zeeven@xtra.co.nz then bank the entry fee with your name and licence number as references into this bank account: 03-0296-0092628-25. Entry forms that require the upgrade must be processed as soon as possible or risk missing out! If you have a full championship licence or are entering the 'B Grade' Formula Tokoroa race you can enter on the day as normal.

Saturday:

•          8:00 Gates open
•          9:00 Sign on begins
•          10:00 Riders briefing
•          10:30 - F4 practice 1
•          10:45 - F5 practice 1
•          11:00 - FT practice 1
•          11:15 - SC practice 1
•          11:30 - F4 practice 2
•          11:45 - F5 practice 2
•          12:00 - FT practice 2
•          12:15 - SC practice 2
•          Lunch
•          1:30 - F4 race 1
•          1:45 - F5 race 1
•          2:00 - FT race 1
•          2:15 - SC race 1
•          2:45 - F4 race 2
•          3:00 - F5 race 2
•          3:15 - FT race 2
•          3:30 - SC race 2
•          3:45 - free practice

Sunday:

•          8:00 Gates Open
•          8:30 Sign on begins
•          9:00 Riders briefing
•          9:30 - SC qualifying 1
•          9:45 – F5 qualifying 1
•          10:00 - FT qualifying 1
•          10:15 – F4 qualifying 1
•          10:30 - SC qualifying 2
•          10:45 – F5 qualifying 2
•          11:00 - FT qualifying 2
•          11:15 – F4 qualifying 2
•          Lunch
•          12:30 - SC GP
•          1:00 – F5 GP
•          1:30 – FT race
•          2:00 – F4 GP
•          Prize giving

Auckland bucket 2 hour

The results of yesterday’s bucket 2 hour endurance race & also the 40 lapper B grade race & sidecar endurance race have been posted to Mylaps: ttps://speedhive.mylaps.com/Events/1483131

Congratulations to Paul Ellis & Dylan Byrne for the 2 hour win with 224 laps, Regan Griffiths and Nick Henry for 2nd place and Hayden Chick & Alex Butson for 3rd place.

It was a race with more carnage than usual. Nathanael Diprose & Dan Mettam had a 4 lap lead at ½ time but unfortunately were black flagged for excessive noise after another bike broke their exhaust pipe. At least Nathanael had the small consolation of Superpole with a 29.042, fastest race lap of 29.238 & an average of 29.9 after almost an hour on the track. Others were similarly unlucky after other race incidents.

Congratulations also to David Millington for winning the 40 lapper & Chris Lawrence & Achala Samarasekara for winning the sidecar endurance race.

Photos from Paul Bryne, thanks Paul. More here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.1931264600469136&type=3

Mt Wellington Bucket Racing - Round 4

The results of the 4th round of the 2017/18 season of the AMCC bucket racing from Sunday are here: https://speedhive.mylaps.com/Events/1477063

& also the championship standings:
https://speedhive.mylaps.com/Organizations/31443/Championships

Nice to see lap records broken in both F4 & F5 by Jason Hearn & Nathanael Diprose.

The new clockwise records are:
F4 – 28.769 Jason Hearn
F5 -29.812 Nathanael Diprose

Auckland Bucket Racing Notices

A few notices for you on the back of our annual Auckland Bucket Racing Committee planning meeting. Any questions, email through to the committee at f4buckets@gmail.com, or check the website www.amcc.org.nz. Firstly, we’re excited to soon kick off another season of racing, laughs and good times with you all. We’re particularly happy to see so many new faces in the pits so continue to encourage your mates to come have a go.

Licences and club membership
This year’s licences and memberships run out on 30 June 2017. Please, for the sanity of our sign on team, join a club and buy a licence. You need to be a member of a MNZ affiliated club to get a MNZ competition licence. Go here to https://goo.gl/DrM6XA for the AMCC club membership form then go to http://www.mnz.co.nz/licenses/national-licences and get your MNZ competition licence. Note, you only need a MNZ ‘club licence’ ($125) to compete in bucket racing, except for the once a year Grand Prix event which we can offer a one off event upgrade ($50) for.

New season
The 2016-17 season has now finished. The new season starts 1 July 2017 and runs until 30 June 2018. The first event at Mt Wellington is 6th August 2017. More information can be found at www.amcc.org.nz

Noisy bikes, track protection (Nylons/sliders) and lock wiring
At the last round there were a few new bikes and a few noticeably noiser than other bikes. We’ve lost access to a number of circuits around the country because of noise so it's always hot on our radar. We’ll be doing a review of noise and a scrutineering of your bikes at the beginning of the new season. You won’t be allowed to ride unless your bike is up to scratch. If in doubt about nylons, add more. Add it to anything that could touch the ground in a crash. Brake caliper bolts, oil drain bolts, oil filter housing bolts all need to be lock wired too and a 'sharks fin' must be fitted in front of the rear sprocket.

New A grade cut off time
Due to the increased pace at the front of A grade and the large field sizes, the lap time cut off between A and B grade will be reduced from 32 seconds to 31.5 seconds as of round 1. This means that if a B grade rider laps faster than 31.5 seconds they would be encouraged to move up to A grade & any laps faster than 31.5s would be excluded from any B grade race result. Any A grade rider regularly lapping slower than 33.5s (in the dry) will be encouraged to move to B grade. This change is simply to ensure rider safety by minimising how much lapping is done in each race.

AMCC AGM & Prize giving including the Auckland Bucket Racing series prizes
See you there: Saturday 22 July, Northern Car Club Rooms at 1110 Great South Road, Otahuhu. Starts at 6pm

Final round points showdown at Mt Wellington

The final round of the Auckland Bucket Racing series was as heated as ever as riders took a last round lunge for points.

Click here for Speedhive results
Click here for awesome photos from Paul Byrne, thanks Paul

Chilly overnight temperatures made for challenging winter conditions but you wouldn't think so given the heated pace out there! The final round of the championship always makes for great spectating as riders put in their last ditch effort in claiming higher spots. As always, consistency reigns supreme and both the F4 and F5 titles had already been decided by Nathanael Diprose who lead by 105 and 137 points respectively going into the final round. Congratulations to team Diprose for another year of stunning dominance and consistency. And thank you, because I think it says a lot about a team that despite proper recent illness and a decided championship that they still turn up and help run the meeting.

Additional thanks to Sam for the timing across the season, a stellar job done as always, and to Culley and Kamil who turn up every meeting to run the show!

With Nathanael out from illness, team Hassan turning up with their hyper buckets, and Jason riding brilliantly on his GPR there was a buzz in the pits as to who will take top spot. To throw another spanner in the works, Gary Cunningham (a dominant and seasoned F4 racer) had finally got his heavily dieted FXR going well and had shown great pace at Edgecumbe the previous weekend. The races would for sure be tight! In qualifying, it was no surprise that the Hassans took 1, 2 places at the front of F4 running blinding pace deep into the 29s. Shout out to Gary Cunningham for an incredibly strong ride in F4, leading the start of both races with lightning starts on his FXR. With a best time of 29.5s it really shows just how competitive a good rider can be on the heavy production chassis! Mike Spiller was also hanging it out up the front on his FXR and posted a 29.6 chasing Aaron in the prelim race.

In the points races it would be Jason Hearn who edged his way through the field and took the first win ahead of Gary Cunningham and Mike Spiller. The race was bloody tight with Aaron putting down a 30.2 lap from a standing start but soon after joining his brother Jaden with a DNF. Race 2 looked like it was going to be a repeat of race 1 with Aaron's FXR powered RS125 going pop before the flag dropped however Jaden pulled it together. Storming out front to a 6.8 second gap to Jason in 2nd place, Gary in 3rd. Jaden showing why he's a multiple New Zealand national champion.

We had a small field in F5 with Nathanael out and Rick succumbing to an unknown electric fault. I hadn't ridden my 50 for months so I put my head down and pushed to get as close to my PB as I could. With a pole and 3 wins, I took 50 points out of Rick and 3rd place in the championship. Stoked for my first Auckland Bucket series podium.

As always, B grade put on a show of tightly fought battles between John Steer, Scott Miller, Pete Leahy, Aderino Sugiarto and Nic Andrew. John took out the first race followed by Aderino in the second race when both John and Scott ran under the 32 second cut off time.

So that's a wrap for the season. The new season starts on the 6th of August so make sure both your club and MNZ licences are renewed, your bikes are well protected and your body is up for another year of racing. See you there.

The tight racing continues at round 6 - Mt Wellington buckets

Mixed conditions at round 6 of the Mt Wellington Bucket Racing series prove competitive.

Click here for Speedhive results
Click here for awesome photos from Paul Byrne, thanks Paul

A special mention of thanks to both Nathanael Diprose and David Diprose who ran the timing for the event. Nathanael even forfeit racing F5 to run the timing. Legends who don't get enough credit for the support they put into the sport. Thanks team!

The regular spitting rain might have thrown a wild card at the round's qualifying sessions but it didn't prove enough to hold up the storming competition in each class! Jason Hearn received his new GPR150 bike this weekend and wasted no time putting it on pole in A-grade whilst Nathanael sat out the second qualifying to concentrate on timing. Mike Spiller was right onto it putting his FXR into the 3rd spot to set up a cracker of a round's racing.

Nathanael is no slouch off the line and launched himself into first position to lead both points races start to finish and finish on the top step. Not to be outdone, Jason put his head down and closed the gap in both races crossing the line 2.4s and 1.7s behind and setting the fastest time of the weekend, a 28.9s lap. A-grade yet again steps up the competition level! Blair Lambarth, Henk Zeefen and Mike Spiller fiercely traded spots in both races for 3rd place. Henk took it out in the first race then Blair the next for what was great watching. The rest of the field was equally as entertaining with the 5 deep fight between Paul Ellis, Gary Cunningham, Wil Killip, Dylan Byrne and Ryan Fletcher heated to say the least!

With Nathanael out to do timing, Chris Cain, Rick Ford and Blair Lambarth were left to take slogs at each other in F5. Rick pushed Chris out in the first lap before coming back and with the help of Blair to hold up Rick, Chris took out 1st spot. The battle continued and Rick went down fighting to put Henk on the 3rd step. Instant replay for race 2 except Rick and Blair went to the line to decide 2nd place.

In B-grade Scott Miller, newcomer Aderino Sugiarto and Pete Leahy went toe to toe in both races. Despite Anderino dipping under the 32s lap mark (and therefore having a lap cut from him), it was Scott who powered his way to 2 race wins. 

Newcomer Nic Andrew found pace quickly in C-grade alongside Shayne Scanlen and Phil Brown. Nic also had 2 laps struck from the race after dipping under the 34s cut off in race 2. No doubt we'll see him in B-grade next meeting. Shayne comfortably took out 2nd place in race 1 and first in race 2 with solid consistent laps.

Next meeting is the North Island Series 15-16th April at Edgecumbe followed by Round 7 on 29-30th April at Mt Wellington.