The Dee Vine Estate Wines Karting Australia NSW Championships ended up with fine conditions for its finals after weather threatened to derail the event held in Port Macquarie.

Attracting nearly 300 competitors from each corner of Australia, the event received huge support from local businesses, media, the Port Macquarie Hastings Council and major sponsor, Dee Vine Estate.

After competitors battled on and off rain amid a low pressure system that struck the New South Wales mid-north to north coast this past week, the sun shone for the Championship finals, which delivered some new title holders and familiar faces at the top step of the podium.

Former Australian Champions, Jace Matthews and Max Walton led the winners in X30 and KA3 Senior respectively.

Regular state title winners in Jackson Souslin-Harlow (TaG Heavy), Kel Goesch (TaG Restricted Medium) and Thomas Williams (TaG Restricted Light) got the blue plates in their respective categories.

A national and domestic level front-runner in Jye Flynn added to Matthews’ title haul for the CXR team in KA3 Junior Light, while in TaG Light, TF Racing driver, Tyler Howard scored an emotional win for the team after several difficult weeks away from the racetrack for the team principals.

New winners greeted the top step of the podium, including Dominic Lorimer – who encountered one of the freak rain showers during the first final – Cadet 9 – which claimed most of the field. Logan Lalas became a first time state champion in KA3 Junior Heavy and Koda Singh won his first Cadet 12 title.

Isaac Demellweek – in his first KZ2 Gearbox event – won the final event of the day, while Liam Carr left it to the last minute to win the premier junior category, KA2 – his biggest win since he stepped into junior racing from Cadets.

Other notable results included Will Thompson walking away with a pair of podiums in his two categories during Nick Percat’s JND team’s first weekend under the red and white colours of its new BirelART relationship and Ayce Buckley – in his first weekend as a senior – scoring a podium in KA3.