Nor'West News: January 29, 2019

12 Tuesday January 29 2019
Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi
NOR’WEST NEWS
SPORTS
Baker in US to
take up golf
scholarship
SUCCESS: Louis Sharp (inset) drove his kart to victory at the CIK Trophy of New Zealand.
St Joseph’s pupil has drive to
qualify for kart race in Italy
• By Gordon Findlater
LOUIS SHARP has taken a step
towards gaining a spot at the Rok
Cup International final in Italy
after winning his class at the
CIK Trophy of New Zealand in
Hamilton.
The 11-year-old St Joseph’s
School pupil didn’t show any
signs of rust as he drove to
victory in the Vortex Mini Rok
final after being out of his kart
for nearly two months.
The event was the first of four
in the ROK Cup NZ series. The
winner of the series will book
a seat in Italy. This year, two
drivers in the class will head to
the Rok Cup International final.
Louis will have a chance to
book an automatic spot if he
wins the KartSport New Zealand
national sprint championships in
April.
If a driver wins both the
national title and the series, the
second place finisher in the series
will qualify for a spot in Italy.
Louis dominated his class last
Saturday, qualifying fastest.
He then won both his heat one
and heat two races. Last Sunday
also started well with a win in
heat three.
However, Louis lost pace in
the pre-final race, meaning he
started the final from third spot
on the grid.
In the final, he made his way
to the front of the field with five
laps remaining and finished
1.56sec ahead of Ashton Phipps
in second.
Louis will now set his sights on
the second round of the W.P.K.A
Goldstar Series in New Plymouth
in March.
• By Gordon Findlater
BEN BAKER headed stateside
on January 13 to start a fouryear
golf scholarship at Nicholls
State University in Louisiana.
The 19-year-old finished his
time at Christchurch Boys’ High
School at the end of 2017.
Baker took a gap year, which
has paid off for him with the
opportunity to become part of
Nicholls State’s golf programme.
He was part of the
Christchurch Boys’ High School
team which won their maiden
New Zealand secondary schools
golf title in 2017.
Baker now becomes the third
member of that team to head
to the United States on a golf
scholarship, joining Tom Parker
(University of Oregon) and
Dominic Brettkelly (Western
Kentucky University).
At the national tournament
CBHS led by one shot after the
first round before the pair of
Parker and Baker went bogeyfree
in the second round to
widen the gap on the field and
lead CBHS to their first national
title.
OPPORTUNITY: Ben Baker
has taken his golfing talent
to Nicholls State University in
the US.
In 2018, Barker was part
of the Canterbury under-19
team which finished third at
last year’s national provincial
tournament. He was also part of
Russley’s men’s inter-club team
that defended their Woodward
Cup title.