The Star: October 12, 2023

20 The Star Thursday October 12 2023
SPORTS NEWS
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Sharp’s championship win ‘a bit surreal’
• By Daniel Alvey
CHRISTCHURCH teenager
Louis Sharp has achieved a key
win in his journey to the top of
motorsport.
The 16-year-old Rodin Carlin
driver secured the 2023 ROCKiT
F4 British championship at
the weekend, in the final race of
the year.
Heading into the last round
PHOTO:
JAKOB EBREY
PHOTOGRAPHY
at Brands Hatch near London,
Sharp held a slim one-point
margin over championship rival
William Macintyre (Hitech
Pulse-Eight).
“There was a few nerves
heading into the weekend,
especially with how close it
was, but I knew we were
going to be fast after testing
there earlier in the year,”
Sharp told Mike Hosking
Breakfast.
Sharp started the weekend
well, securing pole position for
race one, which he converted in
a lights-to-flag victory, opening
up the championship to a
13-point margin.
That was closed down to 10
after Macintyre got some points
back in Sunday morning’s
reverse grid race, finishing
seventh and with Sharp 11 th
after starting 16 th and 19 th
respectively.
Sharp started from pole in
the final race, Macintyre in
third. Sharp was beaten off
the line by Deagen Fairclough
who remained in the lead, with
Sharp following in second and
Macintyre staying in third,
securing Sharp the title.
“It still hasn’t really sunk in,
to be honest, it still feels a bit
surreal,” Sharp said.
Rodin Carlin also scored the
team’s cup with points from
Sharp, Dion Gowda, Josh Irfan,
and Noah Lisle who won 15 of
the 30 races.
Born in the United Kingdom,
Sharp spent most of his
childhood in Christchurch,
attending St Joseph’s School
and St Bede’s College, before
moving back to the UK last year
with dad Jason to pursue his F1
dream.
Sharp is yet to confirm plans
for 2024, but he will be looking
for a step up.
“Everything we do next year is
highly dependent on budget.
“There’s a lot of different
championships you can race
in, but it’s just about what
works best for you and what
works best for the money you’ve
got.”
Sharp is looking to retain
his relationship with Rodin
Carlin, which has teams in FIA
Formula 3 and Formula 2, the
next progression from F4.
Shirley keep it in the family
• By Diane Keenan
IT’S A FAMILY affair for
Shirley’s premier women’s tennis
team who face the daunting task
on Saturday of playing Elmwood,
a team stacked with big name
players.
It will be the first test for
players in both the men’s and
women’s grade after rain washed
out the first round of the competition
last weekend. All games
are at Wilding Park.
Shirley are a newcomer to
the premier women’s grade this
season. The team includes sisters
Nicole and Casey Fitchett and
Allie and Rebekah McConnell,
who are also all cousins and have
played through the grades for
Shirley since they first picked up
rackets as pre-schoolers. Now all
in their late 20s-early 30s, they
are playing premier tennis for
the first time this season after
convincingly winning the division
1 grade last year.
“We have been playing tennis
together for so long in junior,
women’s and mixed grade teams
and last season it came together
for us really well in division one
when we were playing our best
tennis,” said Shirley’s captain
Allie McConnell.
“We were all keen to step up
and give premiers a go, given
that there is no time like now.
We are all of an age that we are
really enjoying our tennis.”
Promising junior Nishitha
Maarka, who has represented
New Zealand and previously
played premier tennis for Cashmere,
joins the team as a strong
Nicole
Fitchett
Allie
McConnell
Casey
Fitchett
Rebekah
McConnell
No 1, along with Dasha Sanina
who has come through the ranks
at Shirley.
McConnell said the team will
“do its best” against Elmwood
which is this season fielding a
line-up of highly ranked players,
including Abby Mason, Tessa
McCann and Lousie Oxnevad.
In the other women’s matchups
Bishopdale plays Cashmere
while last year’s champions Te
Kura Hagley takes on Waimairi.
In the men’s competition
defending champion Cashmere
will play Elmwood in a replay of
last year’s final.
Cashmere, convincing winners
of the final played indoors last
season, will field a full-strength
team from its pool of players
including all three Meredith
brothers, James, Matt and Tim,
along with Harry Weeds, Liam
Barrett and Lucas Evans.
Elmwood will also put out a
strong team on Saturday, says
captain Elliot Darling, who will
play with brother Lawrence, Mid
Canterbury coach Jack Tiller and
Benji McGillivray, who returns
full-time to the team this season.
Former Davis Cup player and
manager Alistair Hunt or James
Spence will play the doubles.
Missing from the Elmwood
lineup are brothers Tom and
Eddie Batt. Tom is overseas,
while Eddie has moved to
Auckland and is in a team with
another former Elmwood and
Canterbury representative player
Brendan Furness.
Darling said teams will have to
perform well every week under
the new competition format,
given there are now only four
round-robin games to earn a
place in the pre-Christmas semifinals
.
Edgeware coach Nick Jenkins,
who is at the helm of the combined
Edgeware Waimairi team,
supports the new competition
format, which he says gives
all teams a chance of making
the semi-finals. He believes
the Edgeware Waimairi team
has more depth this season.
TEAM: In the men’s competition, Cashmere also makes it
a family affair with the Meredith brothers, James (above),
Matt and Tim.
PHOTO: CASHMERE TENNIS CLUB
It includes university student
Sam Baird, new recruit Charlie
Bradbury and Jack Muirson.
Alvin Na who played in the
International Tennis Federation
junior tournament last weekend,
will also play for the team as
required.
Bishopdale, who Jenkins says
will be tough, includes Will Schneideman
and Grayson Cullen.
In other matches Te Kura will
take on Burnside Park, another
team stacked with top players
including Remi Feneon, Finn
Emslie-Robson, Jordan Edwards,
Liam Adams and Jamie Poole.
Te Kura coach Hugo Nurse
Strang said the club has listed
Juan Matias Gonzalez from
Chile as its top player. Gonzalez,
a friend of Nurse Strang’s,
played in the Christchurch
competition pre-Covid and is
expected to join the team mid-
November.
Others in the team include
Pat Nolan, who will play at one
on Saturday along with the very
reliable Ben Smith.