8^th December – A somewhat depleted MSB team headed over to Tauranga for our final race meeting of the year, karting at the BOP Kart Club track near Te Puke.  Jason had another day of coming to grips with the Azzurro and the Te Puke track, which he hadn’t really raced on previously.  The results were a little disappointing on what we’re used to but the day was fun (despite the rain) and we made the significant step forward of achieving a license rating.  This allows us to draw grids from now on and no longer have to start from the back, roll on the next club day at Hamilton.

Daryl ran the day in the mechanics class and had some problems early. His kart was the teams old Mike Wilson on loan from Kendall Performance for the day, and it’s Te Puke curse continued for the first two heats of the day, not managing to go more than 100 metres past the start line.  Luck started to turn with a mid-place finish in the third heat and as the rain set in for the final the Daryl of old returned with an inspired drive from last to take the win in one of only two Yamaha’s amongst a field of Rotax’s. A job very well done!!

Thanks to Dad as always for his help with both karts on the day and to Leyton from Kendall Performance, and Baz from Bryant Road for the use of the courtesy van again.

1st December – The team headed off to the final meeting at the Hamilton Kart Club for the year unsure of what to expect.  The Xmas meeting is intended for fun, but very large fields in all classes meant the racing was fast and furious as well. This was to be the first real run for Jason in the new Azzurro chassis, and the team’s focus for the day was on getting a handle on this and developing and improving set-ups under race conditions. Whilst the overall result was unspectacular the kart performance was excellent. Still unable to get a license rating (that’s the 2^nd or 3^rd time we’ve been told ‘no ratings today’ at Hamilton) we’re starting off the back each race but managed to pass some karts through the day. The lap times showed the kart was competitive with the main group for the majority of the day, and in the longer feature race actually achieved the 2^nd fastest lap time for the class.

All this bodes very well for the future as both driver and team are still finding their way with the new chassis, but it is already outperforming the trusty old Mike. The consensus is that Jason needs to get more confident and drive the Azzurro a bit more aggressively, and hopefully with a license rating and the ability to draw grids, the real results will come. Thanks again to Leyton at Kendall Performance and John and Nicole at JK Race Engines for helping us get this combination to the track.

Our final meeting for the year should be this weekend at Te Puke, fingers crossed for better luck than our last trip there.

25th November - After the exciting times of yesterday the team were back on the road early to out the back of Tuakau, for a Gravel Hillclimb and the 1st ever time for Daryl and the Mazda on the Gravel together. Again the same as yesterday the first run was just seeing the road and getting use to everything, a slow time of 1m37sec was posted. 2nd run Daryl was getting more confident and slightly quicker posting 1m28sec. After adjusting the tyre pressures and another couple of small changes and checks up came the 3rd, time to let it loose again, Daryl did drive it with a bit more confidence but still ginger in a couple of vital places but posting a 1m23sec time. A huge improvement from the start of the day and the MSB Motorsport Team very happy with the way things are going. 4th run came around and Daryl wanted to just let loose and the road wasn't clearly swept like it had been earlier and made a couple of errors and costly time

24th November - The MSB Motorsport Team picked up the Mazda from the signwriters late Friday for an early start Saturday Morning. This was the Pukekohe Car Club Speed Weekend, Tarmac Hillclimb on Saturday and Gravel Hillclimb on Sunday.

After a late night getting ready Scott, Jason and Daryl got on the road for an early trip to Waiuku and the Tarmac Hillclimb. Mazda now fitted with new signage and newly made Sump Guard everything was looking good, and even better the weather was excellent. Daryl started off slow in the first run after being warned about a power pole from previous years. 1st Run was 40.77 seconds, 2nd run was a lot better and getting quicker and getting to grips with the car setting a time of 36.96 seconds. The 3rd was the "Money Run" and Daryl was going to put everything on the line, and did so dropping another second and down to 35.88 and 11th Overall out of 52. Great Effort with some very expensive and very powerful machinery out there and competing against, for example 800bhp Skyline GTR, 650bhp Evo and 400+hp Rally Cars vs the 1600cc Mazda, and she did well.

3^rd November – Anticipation was high as we headed to Auckland to take delivery of our new second-hand Azzurro R6 chassis from Leyton at Kendall Performance.  Daryl had spent some of the week tidying things up and Jase and Jess were bringing the Mike Wilson on its last ride for the exchange.  A quick engine change and we headed out to Avondale for a skid to see how the new kart would feel.

Unfortunately Jase had been under the weather most of the week and was still a long way from 100% but he battled on for one and a half runs in the new kart, and whilst looking like the walking dead on the outside he was grinning from ear to ear on the inside.

Well that was about up until the engine seized midway through his second stint.  Unfortunately this puts an obvious dent in plans for the rest of the year as the few meetings planned may now be cut short somewhat.  All ears are waiting to hear what the engine builder says once he strips things down and casts his expert eye over the damage.

Highlight of the day would have to be Daryl’s long anticipated return to a kart seat – even if he had to get a push start from Leyton.  It took a couple of runs to get him back up to speed but he showed he’s still got what it takes to be competitive at least.  Good to see him trying hard from the outset, managing to take a ride across the grass and up the hill after a bit of an oops early on.

As always huge thanks to Leyton at Kendall Performance for the new kart and all his help with the kart and on the day at Auckland.  Also thanks to Jess, Nigel and Todd for all their help at the track.

31^st October – Somewhere in the organized chaos of our race team we managed to miss an update on the kart’s last meeting.  To be honest that may have been because there wasn’t much to tell.  Owing to a lack of available kartsport stewards the meeting was downgraded from a club day to a fun day and the mylaps system and overall results don’t appear to have been published.  We had a good run, particularly in the first race where we were all shocked with our competitiveness in our first run with the big boys in the Senior Yamaha Heavy class.  Running in a solid 6^th out of 13+ starters (we’re still starting from ROF) we were battling hard for 5^th when a small mistake by the guy in front of us on the second to last corner created half a gap that closed as he spun and took us both off, ah well that’s racing.

Unfortunately the next couple of heats were hindered by steering issues stemming from this contact but we got things sorted for a good competitive mid-pack placing in the last race of the day.

All in all we seem to have finally got a handle on the Mike Wilson chassis and be achieving some real pace.  Seems strange but the decision has been made to sell the kart after receiving a too good to refuse offer from Leyton at Kendall Performance and a new(er) toy is in the pipeline.

18th October - The MSB Motorsport Team went to the Toyo Series Prizegiving in Hamilton to catch up with some fellow competitors and have a couple of drinks with maybe fingers crossed of getting a placing. The night went well and Daryl picked up an amazing 3rd in Class and 5th Overall in the Series. Such a great result after a couple of disaster rounds, a huge thanks to Bryant Road Panel & Motors, Lincoln St Firestone and Kendall Performance. Also huge thanks to all our support from the friends around Hazelwood Ave (Sam, Shane and Andrew). This can't have been achieved without our great team work, so cheers to all the boys.

7th October - The MSB Motorsport Team were off to the Last Round of the Toyo Series that Daryl was competing in at a Hillclimb at Pirongia. Hopes were high as Daryl had to make up for some average results in earlier rounds. Practice started well things were looking promising, after the first run we had clocked a 56 second run putting us inside the top 10 but wanting more Daryl was going to put everything on the line. After the 3rd run pushing the absolute limit and on the edge and felt quick Daryl clocked a low 55 second run and clinching 5th Overall and more importantly 2nd in Toyo Series Points for the day. Awesome effort and result for the ever improving MSB Motorsport Team. 

2nd October – Just for a change the team spent another busy weekend working on playing hard.  Saturday was spent out at the kart track running in the engine, thanks to JK’s Engines in Auckland for all their hard work.  Jase seemed to struggle at times with the concept of driving a race car slowly.  Sunday was a bit more fun, testing again but this time at full speed, the newly rebuilt engine seems to be a little honey, and although times were a little off our best the cold and green track conditions with few karts out wouldn’t have helped this.  Eventually whether put an early close to the day and the team now looks ahead to the next club day at Hamilton on the 13^th and 14^th of this month.

9th September - After a very hard couple of weeks fixing the car and getting it looking fantastic, it was time for Round 4 of the Toyo Series and Taupo Raceway was calling. Huge thanks had to go to the whole MSB Motorsport Team and especially Corby for the long hours spent on getting us back on the track and Bryant Rd Panel & Motors for the use of the facilities and ability to get the parts, and especially Uncle Barry. Also to Slim and Graham at Firestone Lincoln St for the last minute wheel alignment before scrutineering Friday night. So getting down to Taupo was a huge achievement on its own, but we still had a job to do. Day went well and engine was running good. Got faster as the day went on but we were extremely consistent but unfortunately points were given for your fastest single lap. But 16th Overall (8th Toyo Series points scorers) was a good result. Consolidated a top 5 position in the overall series with over 80 entrants. So bring on the final round in four weeks.

1st September - With the MSB Motorsport Mazda back after a tune up and more performance hopes were high in the team. Both Scott and Daryl had entered the Hiwi Road Event. Daryl was first up and all was going well with the engine on song and running nicely. But once we turned around at the other end the Intercooler Pipe blew off. Back at the Pits we repaired that and got it out for Scott's run. The day went well with some good results. Daryl finished 8th Overall and 3rd in the Series Points and Scott finished a very exciting 19th for his first ever time driving a Race Car. On the sad side Daryl ended up crashing the Mazda into a strainer post on a corner taking out the Drivers Side front hand corner of the car. Not a good way to finish the day, but will keep the team busy for the next couple of weeks.

29th August - Apologies for this update taking a while.  The team has been flat out over the last couple of weeks since the club champs for the kart.  In the end the day had some highs and lows for the team.  Recent testing paid off markedly with good speed in the kart and the driver going in the right direction, we ended the day with fastest lap in three of our five races.  Unfortunately little mistakes and getting caught up in incidents with slower drivers cost us any chance of the overall title.  3rd place for both the champs and the feature race were excellent results, particularly after so few meetings, but a feeling of 'What might have been' remains.

mistakes, rode a bank across the finish line so was definitely pushing it. But a great day all in all, and no damage which is always great.