Blossom title caps 5 years racing | Hawkes Bay Sport | Surfing, Rugby, Soccer, Football, Cricket in Hawkes Bay

Here at SportToday we felt a little guilty about ringing Shaun Reay at 7am today.

Reay, 20, deserved a sleep in after racing in six 10-lap races, a 12-lap one and an 18-lap one during the Hawke's Bay Karting Club's annual Blossom Festival meeting at ZM Raceway near Hastings during the weekend.

We needn't have worried. Reay was back behind the wheel at 4am - the wheel of his car driving to Hamilton to complete a three-week block course as part of his apprenticeship with Patton Engineering.

"Not a problem," replied Reay as he accepted our apology while pulling over on the outskirts of Hamilton. The only Hawke's Bay title winner from the weekend was obviously still on a high after taking out the senior 100cc Yamaha Heavy class.

"It was pretty good to get my first Blossom title after five years of racing," Reay told SportToday.

He pipped his more experienced Bay clubmate Zach Zaloum for the title. Zaloum had finished fourth and Reay fifth at the Hawke's Bay-hosted nationals back in April.

"Zach and I are always pretty close and it's always clean racing," said Reay who collected three first placings and two seconds in his heats before winning the pre-final and final in his 10-driver class.

He hopes to continue this form when he tackles the Auckland-hosted North Island championships at Labour Weekend and to improve on this year's fifth placing when he tackles next year's nationals in Invercargill.

Many Hawke's Bay drivers found the going tough at the weekend and this was a reflection of the high quality of visiting drivers in the field of 93 starters.

Natasha Porteous was second in the Club Sport 120 class where fellow Bay driver Steve Halpin was fourth. Johnathan Pearson and Nick Heywood were third and fourth respectively in the open class.

Hawke's Bay's national junior restricted class champion Maddison Wise was third in his class and Jakob Flynn was the best of the Bay's cadet class drivers with a fifth placing.