Another year and another action packed day of racing on the Yates Pumpkin Racer track at The Great Pumpkin Carnival 2018.

With two classes, open and schools this year saw more great designs as people put in the hard work to design the best pumpkin racer around.

Before the racing kicked off, the pre race event involved Hamilton Mayor Andrew King, Matamata/Piako District Mayor Jan Barnes and Labour List MP Jamie Strange who had made it through the first round of the celebrity challenge by painting a pumpkin in their likeness.  These three pumpkin racers were decided to be the best as voted by the many onlookers in the crowd.

Jan Barnes pumpkin racer was the winner on the day, taking out the celebrity challenge for 2018.

Pumpkin racers have to meet a small number of rules to be eligible to race on the Yates pumpkin racer track.

#1.  Your pumpkin racer must be made with only one pumpkin (store bought is fine)

#2.  Two independent axles must be placed through the pumpkin

#3.  You may not attach your pumpkin onto a pre-fabricated chassis of any kind (skateboard, stroller, Tonka truck, etc.

#4.  No pushing or “helping” your pumpkin down the track, let gravity do its thing

Any pumpkin racer not meeting this criteria, can still race down the ramp but only as an exhibition race.

There were lots of thrills and spills on the day, with one pumpkin racer even blowing all of it’s wheels off as it hit the bottom of the ramp.

After the heats, it’s time to get down to the finals racing.

Pumpkin Racer winners for 2018

Open Class

1st Place – Luke Vowles
2nd Place – Blake Clements
3rd Place – Charlie Pugh

Schools Class

1st Place – Whitikahu School
2nd Place – Argyle Preschool
3rd Place – Lil pumpkins early learning – Kereru Room

The large crowd couldn’t get enough of the pumpkin racers, so the winners of the the open class took on the winner of the schools in one final race down the Yates Pumpkin Racer Ramp.

Whitikahu School took out this final race.

A big thank you to Yates NZ for sponsoring this ever growing event, we can’t wait to see what pumpkin racers we will see in 2019.