Bayford Meadows kart circuit hosted the annual ABkc (Association of British kart clubs) ‘0’ plate event for the Honda Cadet class, for ages 9 – 13  last weekend.

Thirty nine of the country’s top Cadet drivers fought it out to see who carried the 0 number plate for the next year. With the 39 drivers split into three groups (A, B & C ) cold and damp weather greeted the competitors for their 6 minute qualifying sessions in the morning. The three fastest from each group were Oliver Bearman, Ruben Stanislaus and Zach Ripley.

Groups A + B met in the first pre final , Ruben Stanislaus (Rochester) led away but his lead only lasted for one lap before Oliver Bearman (Great Baddow) took control, over the remaining 8 laps, Stanislaus stayed in his slipstream to the chequered flag, behind the leading pair Ben Fayers (Horsham) took third from Sam Heading (Hurstpierpoint).

The second pre final was a very close affair, the B + C groups appearing very close, with the top four of Fayers, Oliver Marsh (Charing), Stanislaus and Archie Brown (Woolavington) covered by less than a second, Ripley (Walderslade) very close behind in 5th.

In the remaining pre final for groups A + C, Ripley led for the first lap before Bearman once again showed a clean pair of heels winning by 0.5 seconds from Dylan Cooper (Uckfield), Brown and Theo Micouris in 4th, Ripley had slipped to 5th.

After meeting and greeting British Superbike legend Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne and a draw of which contained some fabulous prizes, the drivers began the finals with a B final, four drivers from this would progress into the main race, these were Oliver Greenall, Kristian Brookes, Callum Tadman and Frank Elwell, for the remaining eleven drivers disappointment beckoned with their chance of winning the star prize over.

From the start of the 17 lap final, now held in dry and blustery conditions, Bearman stamped his authority on the race, driving beautifully and tucking himself down on the main straight to break the invisible tow to his fellow drivers.

Behind him there was plenty of action, the Project One duo of Fayers and Marsh working together to chase Bearman, Max Herbert who started 9th joined in after a fighting drive, until he slipped back to 5th towards the end. Sam Heading did manage to split the Project One pair, after starting 7th his kart came alive at the end and he secured a rewarding 3rd place behind the dominant Bearman and Fayers after passing Marsh on the last lap.

Marsh then had a heavy impact with the tyres on the exit of the chicane trying to make the place back up, he deserved more . Archie Brown took 4th from Herbert in 5th, Micouris took 6th and rounding out the top 10 trophy winners were Alfie Prince, Aston Millar, Dylan Cooper and Kristian Brookes (up from the B final).

The top three drivers were rewarded with drive around the twisty Swale track in a vintage Bentley, this before a very damp podium celebration ! For young Bearman, he now has a superb prize winning complete Mini Max kart package, to practice in before the next stage in what is looking to be a very promising career, although I’m sure his fellow competitors won’t make it easy for him!

Bayford Meadows summer championships round 3.

The Bambino class drivers were joined by Zack Byrne, son of Shane Byrne, four times British Superbike champion for this month’s three timed runs. Of the ten runners, Tighe Wrattan was the fastest in the first two runs, with Blake Ticehurst taking the final run.

The Honda Clubman final was a close affair with the top three of Alfie Brooks, Joshua Wellard and Corbin Newbury never more than a few kart lengths apart. Zach Walters and Jack Matthews closed up on the trio towards the end of the 12 laps, which gave us a good close finish, just over 1 second covering the five at the flag, as they finished in that order. Ryan Willis finished in 6^th, leading the next close group of karts.

Oliver Appleby took the Junior Rotax class final win by 3.7 seconds but only after having to fight his way up from a grid 3 slot. Liam Carter had held the lead from pole position for nearly half of the race, until the flying KPi run kart came through to pass him. Carter took second place from an excellent mid race race charge by Aaron Marius-Fearon, up from grid slot 7. Sean Berry was not far behind in 4^th with Henry Ayres 5^th and Joshua Young 6^th, Ben Gosling and Sam Attard rounded out the finishers in 7^th & 8^th.

Just 0.14 seconds covered 1^st & 2^nd in the Junior X30 final, Jenson Harvey pulled a tight move on second placed Bobby Grove on the left handed corner after the tight infield hairpins, a move I have seen him successfully achieve in the Junior Subaru class before. Grove didn’t give up there though and fought back with real verve, drawing alongside Harvey a couple of times over the last lap, just falling short of making a pass.

Louie Short had started from pole after good results in the pre finals; he only held the lead for one lap though before dropping to third. Anthony Amato and Luke Shopland finished close behind in 4^th and 5^th, Shopland recovering from a nasty looking crash in the first pre final, when a heavy sleet shower caught the drivers out whilst on slicks.

The Mini Max final was dominated by Thomas Rotherham, 7.1 seconds in front of Ben Cowley, Declan Lee had held 2^nd for 12 of the 14 laps until Cowley found away past to take second. Close behind Lee was Thomas Lawson in 4^th and Benjamin Boros the remaining finisher in 5^th.

The Senior Max race mirrored the Junior X30 final, when Spencer Younger held the lead until lap 8 of 14, only for Anton Stamp to put his GMS kart into the left handed apex before Younger’s Tony Kart version, forcing him to run wide to make the corner. Stamp then held on to take a narrow 0.24 seconds win over Younger. Jack Wall was a further 8 seconds back in 3^rd place, Nick Packham 4^th, Darren Bartlett and Buster Mepham finished 5^th and 6^th.