ROYCE IS HOPING TO BE THE HOME TRACK HERO

Darwin driver Royce Nott in action during last year's National Championships in Perth. Pic: AF Images

At 20 years of age Noonamah’s Royce Nott has been racing karts for more than half of his life.

Next weekend he is aiming to do something no Territorian has done before – win an Australian karting championship. With the event being contested on his home circuit Nott believes that 2012 will be his best shot at it, but first he is focusing on this weekend’s Northern Territory Championship at the same venue.

“With back to back championships on my home track it’s probably my best shot at winning that I’ll ever get, hopefully the millions of laps I’ve done around this place will pay off,” said Nott.

“I won the Rookies category ten years ago at the state championship, but since then my best has been seconds and thirds. I’m hoping that I can turn those podiums into victories across the next two weekends.”

While aiming for the top, Nott is very aware that the challenge that lies ahead of him is far from an easy one. He’s competing in two of the most competitive classes in Australian karting – Clubman Heavy and Leopard Light.

“In the Clubman Heavy field the drivers have won something like a combination of 35 national championships between them, so you could say there’s a fair bit of experience in there,” said Nott.

“In the Leopard Light class I’d expect some of the fastest drivers to be Sydney driver Pierce Lehane and Melbourne’s James Sera, who has won three national titles during his career.”

With a combined 478 entries having been received across the two championships, Nott believes the event will open the eyes of the Darwin community.

“I think these two events will show the Darwin people that karting is a big sport across Australia, while it’s currently not that big in Darwin I hope that by having these two events up here it will open people’s eyes about the sport,” said Nott.

Practice for the Northern Territory Championships began today, and will continue tomorrow. Qualifying and the heat races will be contested on Saturday ahead of the Finals on Sunday.