The BMKR 2023 club championship season kicked off on Sunday 16^th April at the Swale circuit located at the Eurolink industrial Park, Sittingbourne.

Some welcome warm weather arrived on race day for the nearly 100 competitors who filled the race paddock, many of whom were eager to start their championship effort with a strong start.

With the morning’s qualifying, Heats and early afternoon Pre Finals out of the way, the Senior Club Max class opened the first of the eight main afternoon headline races.

Senior Club Max.

14 karts headed out onto the circuit with the grid lining up with Jack Badger and Josh Pullen filling the front row of the grid. Badger looked in good shape having taken the Heat and Pre Final wins, his transition to the Senior class proving seamless.

Pullen was keen to come away with a good early season result sitting alongside the #17 kart of Badger. Joe Gethen and Ciaron Edgson were next up on the 2^nd row, both circuit regulars and supporting new karts for the year. Oliver Hutchings and Frederic Lecomte were 5^th and 6^th on the grid, ahead of Joe Wood and James Otto’s matching CKR karts on row 4. The top 10 were completed by Daniel Hughes and Ella Haines.

Poleman Badger immediately set the pace from the start, with Pullen next up ahead of Edgson’s blue LN kart and the CKR kart of Gethen. Hutchings’s green SANA kart ran 5^th as Lecomte had a poor start dropping down the order, handing 6^th to Otto initially before Wood eased ahead.

As the race settled down Badger held sway in the lead, seemingly in control over Pullen in 2^nd. Gethen found a way past Edgson and looked to be closing in on Pullen in front but as the race drew to a close the top 3 remained stagnant; in fact the top 6 were fixed from early in the race. Badger crossed the finish line past the digital chequered board to win by 1.57s, also taking the fastest lap at 46.65s.

Pullen in 2^nd was just over half a second in front of Gethen in 3^rd, with Edgson next up in 4^th. Hutchings had a lonely race in 5^th although Wood kept him honest in 6^th. Hughes took 7^th, Lecomte 8^th, Oliver Sutton 9^th with the all-girl battle over 10^th between Haines and Mollie Griffiths going the way of the former’s all white kart, as Haines passed the CKR kart on the penultimate lap.

Bambinos.

Sadly only three Bambino drivers were entered for the championship opener, happily though the Final was exciting as the two leaders ran close throughout. Alby-Jay Stubbs led Benjamin Sljivar for every lap although only won by 0.32s, showing just how close it had been.

Stubbs had been dominant all day, even spinning and winning earlier in the day; however Sljivar had been gaining momentum with each race as he gained confidence, which led to an exciting Final.

Freddie Williams couldn’t live with the pace of the two finishing a little way behind, but still receiving big cheers as he crossed the finish line in 3rd, let’s hope he finds some more performance from his kart for the next round. Sljivar improvements throughout the day netted him the fastest lap at a 1:02.26s.

Honda Cadet 160/200.

The split Honda grids were up next with the 200s starting ahead of the 160s for their standing starts. Ronnie Smart led the 200s away, a driver who has had an incredible beginning to his season and is visibly growing in confidence with every race.

With his new found maturity he led every lap in his Project One kart, beating Arthur Way by 1.03s at the finish. Way couldn’t stay with the leader but was well clear of a cracking three kart fight over third place. This eventually fell to Freddie Wall, who had held of several attempts by Jack Cope and Lewis Riley to take the remaining podium slot.

Ethan Okoro was next up in 6^th, coming out ahead of a race long battle with Riley Taylor in 7^th. Daniel Butcher dominated the 160 group all day in his CHDD kart, although he wasn’t finished for the day  as he was also out again in the Rotax Cadet class.

Alfie Clark finished runner up to Butcher, Ricky Junior Mackintosh finished a delighted 3^rd. Fastest laps went to Smart & Butcher in their respective classes. 

Senior 177 Club Max.

Race 20 on the schedule was for the 177 Rotax class. Another driver to recently hit good form is Adam Clark as he proved unbeatable all day, going on to comfortably win the Final by 3.7s and taking the fastest lap too. He was lucky though too survive a side on brush with fellow front row starter Tyler Cox, who momentarily lost momentum, letting several drivers past.

Matthew Hickson took 2^nd place in his ASM kart, from Daniel Wright in 3^rd, the delayed Cox in 4^th and returnee Michael Ashby in 5^th, who had made a demon start to head Cox, Wright and Aaron Deacon up into 3^rd from grid P6, before slipping back to 5^th at the end. Deacon finished in 6^th and was lucky to be racing at all after earlier suffering an engine failure with his new LN kart, thankfully Tyler Cox generously leant him his spare to allow Deacon to continue.

Newcomer Bradley Brockies finished 7^th, Jason Cole 8^th, Dennis Trzeciak 9^th and Ben Avery 10th.

Rotax Inter.

The Rotax Inter class really suffered with just two drivers listed for the 1^st round, however they were still given a full days racing and certainly made the most of it with some good clean close racing between the pair. Lucas Knibbs held the upper hand over Ayda Sexton before the Final with wins in the Heat & Pre Final.

For the main event Knibbs led away with Sexton pinned to his bumper, this continued for two thirds of the race until Sexton made her move. Previously Knibbs immediately repassed the black kart of his rival, however this time she made it stick, going onto take a hard earned victory over Knibb’s Project One kart. Ayda also recorded the race’s fastest lap at 50.12s.

Junior Club Max.

With both Liam Thomas and Finlay Underwood absent from the meeting, it was the chance for somebody else to step up to the top step in the Junior Club Max class. Fletcher Jamieson started the day off well by taking both the Heat win, only then to make a poor start in the Pre Final which Callum Sims grasped in both hands to take the win, tellingly though he had picked up a nose drop penalty which kept him off the front row for the Final.

Both Jack Baker and Alfy Hemmingway lined up in front of Sims, 2^nd & 3^rd on the grid. Jack Theobald and George Barker were next up on the third row ahead of William Murphy and Ryan Welsh.

From the moment the red lights went out Jamieson hit the front, this time nailing his start and leading. Behind him there was a commotion at the bottom of the circuit, which left the leader well clear of the pack after just two corners! Sims appeared through the chaos in 2^nd, Baker third only then to spin at turn 1 in front of the pack, thankfully everyone avoiding him.

Theobald squeezed past Hemmingway to run 3^rd for several laps before the positions were reversed. At half distance Jamieson had a comfortable lead over Sims, who was well clear of the 3^rd place battle which Hemmingway lost to Felix Stolkin, who had risen up from 12^th on the grid! Welsh was the next one to put pressure on Hemmingway and eventually after some fraught racing, the two made contact and ended up tangled up together by the side of the track.

Through it all Baker somehow came through to fourth after having run dead last due to his early spin. Jamieson impressed by taking the victory, keeping his impressive early karting career firmly on track. Sims cemented his early season form with a fine 2^nd place ahead of Stolkin who must have enjoyed passing so many people just as much as Baker did in 4^th!

Theobald stayed out of trouble to take 5^th ahead of Joshua Whiting in 6^th.Jack Pullen and Murphy both had a bruising days racing in 7^th & 8^th, Luke Broadbent and Jacob Hobbs completed the top 10. “Flat out Fletch” took the fastest lap on the 8^th tour, with a 46.82s lap.

Rotax Cadet.

Matthew Lilley has been the driver to beat in the opening quarter of the year in the Rotax Cadet class, he came up against Harrison Page who has moved across from the Honda Rookie category for the first round of the championship.

Page proved very quick and despite all of Lilley’s efforts went onto to draw first blood in the series with a 1.41s win in his CHDD kart. The top 2 result disguises the fact that Daniel Butcher made an instant impact in the class and even led in the Final early on in the race, before settling into 2^nd until late race heated pressure from Lilley, led him to drop to 3^rd overall.

Henry King was next up in 4^th, having started from the back due to a nasty looking clash with Franklin Street in the Pre Final and subsequent penalty. Street’s kart was a mess and he was also suffering from a blooded nose and sore wrist, but that didn’t deter him from turning out for the Final, unfortunately for him, it was too much and his valiant effort came to an end early on with retirement.

Ted Deeprose and Ellis Honey battled over 5^th with the former getting the nod. Dimitar Uzinov finished 7^th and Rory Pizzey 8^th. A fastest lap of 53.01 went to winner Page.

Junior Club Max Rookie/Junior Libre Club Max.

The Junior Rookie class is becoming increasingly popular with the junior drivers that have moved up into the class, less so with the Mini Max drivers, as there were only two entered for this event.

Connor Tubby excelled in the heat and Pre Finals by taking wins in both, therefore starting on pole. Kajus Zygmanta sat alongside the pole sitter, Mini Max graduate Harry Russell was next in 3^rd with Freddie Leppenwell sharing the 2^nd row. Ollie Oretu and Dexter Gregory were next up on row 3 ahead of Layton Wheeler and Jack Robinson on row 4.

Reece Stevens & Toby Street completed the top 10 of 18 overall starters including MM drivers Dexter Collins and Ryan Mason-Lewis.

The first half of the opening lap was very fraught as Zygmanta tried a move on the outside of the run down to the first infield hairpin, Tubby was having none of it holding his line which forced Zygmanta onto the grass, thankfully recovering to the circuit without delay.

Leppenwell headed Russell in 3^rd and Wheeler headed Oretu in 5^th & 6^TH. The leader Tubby was pushing his Clark Motorsport kart hard as he held a gap over the Roalf racing kart of Zygmanta, he then continued to hold his lead over the full 11 laps to take a maiden victory by 0.48s over rival Zygmanta.

Russell managed to find a way past Leppenwell to secure a well-deserved 3^rd place as he acclimatised to the extra junior power, taking fastest lap as he did so at 47.39s. Leppenwell fell behind Oretu but gained the place back after the finish as the latter picked up a nose drop penalty, dropping him to 8^th overall and moving Robinson up to 5^th behind Leppenwell in 4^th. Gregory finished 6^th, Phillip Tatum 7^th, Max Osbourne 9^th behind Oretu and Wheeler finished 10^th. Collins took the Mini Max class win from Mason-Lewis.

Full results from the day can be found here – https://results.alphatiming.co.uk/bmkr/e/121455

Round two of the championship will be held on May 21^st.