Aquinas College Year 7 student Charlie Clarke is buzzing after another great karting season.
The 11-year-old won the 2025 New Zealand Rotax Max Challenge VMR class at the beginning of this month, wrapping up a series that attracted top karters from around the country.
The series ran across three tracks: Kartsport Bay of Plenty, Kartsport Rotorua, and finished at Kartsport Tokoroa on October 4-5.
Each round featured four races, and the series included bonus points for fastest laps and qualifying positions, which Charlie said made the championship “really exciting”.
Charlie Clark on the series podium with Matthew Shaw of Auckland, 2nd, and Ryan Healy of Palmerston North, 3rd. Photo / Joshua Devenie / Shutter Media Group
He won two of the three rounds while fellow Tauranga karter Nico Thomasen took the first win at Kartsport BOP.
Charlie’s mother, Bridget Clarke, said, in the final tally, her son’s results across the series – in a tightly-fought battle against North Island Champion Matthew Shaw from Auckland – secured him the top step of the podium and the grand prize, a Rotax kart engine.
Charlie said the final race was “really tight”. “I pushed at the start, which created a gap to Matthew [Shaw] and then sat behind Nico [Thomasen] for the first half of the race as I knew that if we battled it would let Matthew in third catch back up to us,” he said.
“Nico and I battled for a little bit in the middle of the race, and then I managed to pass him on the last lap for the win.
“In this race, I finished 0.194 seconds in front of Nico Thomasen and 1.553 seconds in front of Matthew Schaw.”
Charlie said their top speeds on that track were around 90km/hr on the straight during each lap.
Charlie with fellow Tauranga racers Van Merret and Nico Thomasen. Photo / Joshua Devenie / Shutter Media Group
His father, Darryl Clarke, said his son began karting at the age of 6 at the kart track in Edgecumbe.
“He puttered around, and you could literally run next to him – we love watching the videos we took around this time. It’s really funny now looking back,” Darryl said.
“His lap times around Edgecumbe at that stage would have been around 60 seconds per lap. Nowadays they would be around half that at 30 seconds.”
Darryl said that, as time went on, if Charlie finished inside the top 10 at a big race event, he would be wrapped. Then he would chase the top five and then be on the podium.
“Now he gets brassed off if he is not winning.”
Charlie Clarke was awarded the High Honours award at the Aquinas College Sports Awards Evening on Wednesday. Photo / supplied
Charlie attended the Aquinas College Sports Awards Evening on Wednesday to be awarded High Sporting Honours for his achievements this year in racing.
At Aquinas College, the High Honours award was reserved for students who achieved top‑three placing in a national competition or selection as a New Zealand representative in their field (sports, arts, academics, or culture).
Kartsport NZ race director Grahame Knight said it was amazing to see the Tauranga boys growing up racing together, netting results like this on the national stage.
“It shows what a great nursery our local tracks are here in the Bay of Plenty for young drivers.”