The seventh round of the BMKR kart championships were held last weekend at the popular Sittingbourne karting venue.

With just three rounds of the championships left to go, the drivers were keen to keep their momentum moving forward in the push for the season end. At times this was evident on track as several incidents blighted some otherwise excellent racing.

Bambinos.

Seven drivers raced on Saturday in the Bambino class, which is split between electric battery powered karts and the Comer 2 stroke versions. Kai Erginsoy came out on top in the former, 4.94s ahead of the other electric kart of Etienne Gardner after 8 laps, setting a fastest lap time of 1:03.34s.

In the Comer engined machines Jenson Drummond and Benjamin Slijivar swapped places halfway through the race, with Benjamin eventually winning by 1.4s and setting the fastest lap at 1:01.30s. Lenny Barton finished 3rd just over 1 second ahead of Freddie Williams in 4th, Ollie Spooner-Green was next up in 5th.

Honda Cadet 200.

The Honda Cadet 200 class started the finals off on Sunday, with the 7 entries putting on a very entertaining race. Project One’s Noah Claire topped qualifying and also the first Heat, before Riley Taylor snatched the Pre-Final from his grasp by just 0.05s, in a race which went right down to the wire.

Jack Cope crossed the line side by side with Claire, setting the same time, but was awarded 3rd place and the inside grid spot on row 2 for the Final, right behind pole man Taylor. Jack Wykes was starting 4th on the grid, Mason Becker 5th, William Spencer 6th and George Pickett 7th.

At the start of the Final held under warm & sunny skies, Taylor led away with Cope making the most of his inside grid spot by gluing himself to the leader’s bumper, leaving Claire out wide and having to settle for 3rd. Becker held 4th from Spencer, Wykes and Pickett.

Clark Motorsports Taylor set a fast pace and while Cope & Claire battled hard behind, Taylor opened up a leading gap. Claire eventually managed to clear a pugnacious Cope and then started to hunt down the leader.

Cope was clear in 3rd from Becker & Wykes dicing over 4th place, which was eventually settled in favour of Wykes as Becker was out of the race on lap 10. As the race progressed Taylor’s once comfortable lead came under threat as Claire was closing in with each lap and as they began the penultimate lap Claire pounced grabbing the lead.

Taylor wasn’t giving up in a hurry though and fought back, although just losing out by 0.09s at the finish after 12 laps, with the winner Claire setting the fastest lap on the 8th tour at 52.22s. Cope finished 3rd less than 2s behind, Wykes took 4th from Spencer and Pickett in 5th & 6th.

Senior Club Max.

In the Senior Club Max class three of the title protagonists topped the qualifying session with Ciaron Egdson proving fastest from Josh Pullen and Joe Gethen. Edgson took the Heat win after Gethen delayed Pullen early on, with the latter fighting back to 2nd.

In the Pre Final Gethen tried an over ambitious move on Edgson down at the bottom of the circuit, which delayed both and let Pullen through to take the win from Joshua Pattrick, a recovering Edgson with bent steering in 3rd, Felix Dymant in 4th, Mollie Griffiths in 5th, Finlay Underwood 6th, Jemima Woolley 7th and Sean Dabin in 8th.

These drivers filled the first four rows of the grid for the Final, with 15 karts taking part, the last of these now being Gethen after he was disqualified from the Pre Final after his clash with Edgson.

As the lights turned green the Pullen got away well and had Edgson tucked up right behind him, forcing Pattrick to slot in behind in 3rd after turn 1. Dymant, Underwood and Griffiths ran 4th, 5th & 6th after the first lap, with Dabin, Marcus Angel and Presley Walker usurping Woolley early on.

Edgson was soon putting Pullen under pressure and going into lap 3 made a move into turn 1, Pullen reacted by running deeper into the corner which gave him the cut back on the way down the back straight putting the two level, what happened next will differ in each driver’s opinions, although contact was made as Edgson rejoined after running wide, leaving Pullen off the track facing the wrong way and Edgson delayed enough to drop him down the order. Post race the clerk of course reviewed the incident and put the blame on Edgson as he was given a 5s penalty.

Pattrick was the driver who benefited the most from the contretemps ahead of him by now leading quite comfortably from Dymant and Griffiths who had slipped ahead of Underwood.

As the laps ticked down Pattrick controlled the pace, his GMS Motorsport kart handsomely leading his teammates Dymant and Griffiths, Edgson had now recovered and was soon pressing the GMS karts ahead and by half distance was up to 2nd place. Dabin had run as high as 5th ahead of Underwood before their positions were reversed, leaving the former slipping back.

After 13 laps Pattrick took the win, well deserved too after keeping his nose clean all race, his teammates Dymant and Griffiths were delighted with 2nd & 3rd after Edgson’s penalty dropped him back to 7th post race. Pullen had dropped to 9th before being rewarded with 4th after a great fight back, Gethen muscled his way past Underwood on the last lap to take 5th, making it an impressive 10 places gained in the Final.

Behind Underwood and the penalised Edgson in 6th & 7th, finished novice Woolley who put on a great debut in the class taking 8th, Dabin took 9th from Presley Walker in 10th. Gethen’s charge was rewarded with the fastest lap at 47.21s, set on lap 10.

Rotax Cadets.

With just 5 drivers entered in the Rotax Cadet class the action was never going to match that of the previous race. Dimitar Uzunov continued his impressive form by taking the wins in the Heat, Pre Final and main Final, Lewis Herberston had been gradually closing in on Uzunov’s pace during the day and eventually finished 0.9s behind after 12 laps of racing, also setting the fastest lap at 51.66s. Joseph Cox headed Ellis Honey and Rory Pizzey in 3rd, 4th and 5th.

Junior Club Max Rookie.

19 karts were entered for the popular Junior Club Max Rookie class on Sunday. Ayda Sexton’s recent form has been impeccable, so it was a little surprising to see her 0.34s off of George Cole’s fastest lap in qualifying. Novice Che Marriot-Dixon and William Aldis were notable for qualifying 2nd & 3rd during the morning session.

Cole then took the Heat win, comfortably from Marriott-Dixon and Daniel Butcher, with Sexton next up in 4th ahead of Aldis in 5th. Butcher went one better in the Pre-Final and managed to be within 0.5s of winner Cole, Marriott-Dixon taking 3rd and Sexton once again 4th.

Reuben Mamelok had made up 4 places to take 5th, this after making 9 places up in the Heat after both he and BM plate holder Freddie Wall had a nightmare qualifying session, with the latter not even turning a single lap.

Novice Kieron Hammond finished 6th ahead of Wall in 7th after Aldis (8th) had a 5s nose fairing penalty.

The start of the Final was quite chaotic with Butcher forced out wide at turn 1 and then a crash on the exit of the bottom hairpin involving Leon Knight brought out the red flag, which worryingly caught out a few drivers at the back who hadn’t seen it as they approached the rapidly slowing karts in front of them.

At the restart it was Cole’s turn to be forced wide as Marriott-Dixon nosed ahead on the exit of tun 1, Mamelok and Butcher then followed the Evolution kart of Marriott-Dixon past poleman Cole.

Marriot-Dixon led the field across the line at the end of the first lap before Mamelok forced the initiative at turn 1 now leading, Butcher also pounced as Marriott-Dixon understeered wide during Mamelok’s overtake and ran 2nd down to the bottom hairpin.

Chaos ensued at the two infield hairpins as Cole slid inside Marriott-Dixon before taking both of them and a closely following Sexton out wide, this left an opportunistic Hammond slipping past all three of them !

Mamelok and Butcher now had the chance to escape and indulged in their own fight for the overall win. The latter has been really progressing with his driving recently with the guidance of the C.H.D.D team and he was soon pressing Bluberry’s Mamelok, eventually finding a way past. Mamelok wasn’t giving in easily though and fought back as the pair swapped places. Butcher’s final robust push for the win was enough and he held onto take a great victory, Mamelok was happy with 2nd but post race was very unfortunate to be disqualified for a technical non-compliance.

A stubborn Hammond held onto to 3rd place until the 8th lap before giving way to the Marriott-Dixon/Cole train as they finished 2nd & 3rd overall. Sexton and Wall clashed on the 10th lap at the 2nd infield hairpin leaving them both out of the race.

Aldis took a fine 4th from Hammond who eventually finished in 5th. Alexander Campbell took 6th ahead of Jasmine Keepax in 7th, Fletcher Growns in 8th, Spike Ward 9th and Olkiver Turner in 10th. Cole’s 10th lap time of 47.54s stood to be the fastest of the race.

Rotax Inters.

The Rotax Inter class continues to grow and become more competitive at the circuit, with 14 drivers taking part this month. Akille Nane Giannone headed qualifying, the morning Heat and Pre-Final, leaving him odds on favourite to take the win in the main race.

Elijah Hazelwood sat next to Giannone on the front row, Eden Salvidge and Jenson Ayrton Floyde-Oram filled the 2nd row ahead of Nelson Taylor and Harrison Page on the third row. Matthew Lilley and George Whightman complete the 4th row.

Gainnone was slow away from the start as Hazelwood took full advantage leading into turn 1 and over the opening laps. Salvidge sat in 3rd ahead of Taylor and Floyde-Oram in 4th and 5th.

Page in 6th led Sebastian Bearman in 7th and Lilley in 8th. Things were soon warming up at the front as Giannone was losing his patience with leader Hazelwood, having passed him once only for the GMS driver to grab the place back. As they headed into the 6th lap Giannone had another try to pass at turn 1, diving to the inside but misjudging his braking – hitting Hazelwood hard enough to push them both out wide and slipping down the order.

This briefly gave the lead to Salvidge before Taylor usurped him on the next lap to lead. By lap 10 Giannone was back in the lead and continued on to take the win, although he was later penalised 5s for the incident with Hazelwood, this dropped him down to 10th in a very close field of karts. So Nelson Taylor inherited a well deserved win after keeping his nose clean and coming out on top in the race with Salvidge who finished 2nd.

Floyde-Oram took the final podium position from Page in 4th, Bearman in 5th and a very frustrated Hazelwood in 6th. Lilley finished 7th, Cordell Sinclair 8th, Harry Wright 9th and Gainnone who recorded the fastest lap (49.16s) in 10th.

Senior Club Max 177.

The penultimate Final was for the Senior 177 class with 13 drivers entered for this month. Ben Avery topped a very close qualifying session from Tyler Cox, Adam Clark and Oliver Hutchings. The Heat win went to Avery after Cox retired and Hutchings came through to 2nd.

Hutchings was back to his winning ways in the Pre-Final, taking victory over Dan Wright in his weight saving kart devoid of stickers for this month. Avery took 3rd and would share the 2nd row of the Final grid with Clark. Michael Gibbons and Lewis Deacon made up the 3rd row from Reece Anscombe and Mark Goodwin on the 4th row.

Hutchings led the Final away and some loading down at the bottom hairpin enabled him to open up an immediate gap. Wright came out of the hairpin in 2nd from Clark in 3rd and Avery in 4th, Gibbons & Deacon in 5th and 6th. Clark sat behind Wright until the 6th lap when he moved ahead, immediately setting off after leader Hutchings.

The positions had stagnated behind although Cox had made his way up ahead of Deacon in 6th by the 9th lap. As the race entered its final phase Clark had closed in on Hutchings and although he looked to have the outright pace, couldn’t quite pull off a move to challenge for the win, Hutchings going on to take it by 0.17s.

Wright and Avery finished 3rd & 4th, within touching distance of the two in front. Gibbons had dropped away by the finish and had Cox close behind as they finished 5th & 6th. Deacon took 7th ahead of Dennis Trzeciak in 8th, Goodwin 9th and Gerry Poore in 10th. Clark set the fastest lap in his chase of Hutchings at 47.80s.

Junior Club Max.

The last race of the day saw the 9 Junior Club Max drivers hit the track. Jack Pullen headed the qualifying session ahead of Kajus Zygmanta and Aiden Large. The Heat win went to Large after a tardy start by Pullen saw him drop back to 5th before recovering well to finish 2nd from Zygmanta.

In almost a repeat of the Heat, Large won the Pre Final from his Roalf racing’s teammate Zygmanta with Pullen once again losing out at the start before recovering to 3rd.  Alfy Hemmingway would share the 2nd row of the Final grid with Pullen after taking 4th. On the 3rd row sat Alex Shepherd and Dexter Collins, Freddie Leppenwell and Max Osbourne were to share the 4th row and Ethan Page sat alone on the 5th row.

At the start of the Final Zygmanta got away well from his outside grid slot but couldn’t head Large over the opening lap, Shepherd had squeezed past Pullen’s Jenner kart at the bottom hairpin but the positions were soon reversed, with Pullen setting off after the Roalf racing twin pairing. Hemingway soon also passed Shepherd to run 4th as Collins ran 6th, Page 7th, Leppenwell 8th and Osbourne 9th.

As the race progressed Pullen towed his way up onto Zygmanta’s rear bumper and the two had a great fight over 2nd place with Pullen eventually coming out on top some 3.91s behind an emphatic winner Large. Hemingway and Shepherd were close behind the pair ahead in 4th & 5th. Page overtook Collins right at the end of the race to take 6th and behind 7th placed Collins were Leppenwell & Osbourne running close together in 8th and 9th. The race victor Large recorded the fastest lap at 47.19s.

The full race results and current championship positions can be found here – https://results.alphatiming.co.uk/bmkr

Round 8 of the BMKR championships will be held on October 19 – 20th.