Buckmore Park hosted the 4th annual Henry Surtees challenge – an event held each year in honour of the late Henry Surtees, raising money and awareness for the subsequent charity, the Henry Surtees Foundation.

Over the years, the event has seen some of the best young motorsport talent from around the UK, come together to compete for a number of incredible prizes, all for a great cause.

With rain in the forecast, the Club 100 karts came prepared with each kart equipped with a set of wet weather tyres, which were a welcomed call for all drivers out in morning practice. With persistent rain all morning, the drivers quickly came to grips with how to muscle these 2-stroke karts around a soggy Buckmore Park. But all of this wet track time was quickly eradicated, come the lunch break, in which the rain stopped and the track surface began drying.

By the start of qualifying, dry patches had started to form around the track surface and as it dried further, the lap times began to tumble. This of course, made qualifying a lottery on which driver managed to their fastest time when the track was at its best. British GT racer, Alexander Sims made the most of the conditions setting himself on pole for the Pre-A final. Ben Barnicoat joined Sims on the front row.

With the grids set for the afternoons races, and the karts changed back to slick tyres, the days race action began with the Pre-B final. From the drop of the green flag Bobby Thompson led the field, but he was stalked by Max Coates who would hold station and follow him to the end, allowing both to qualify for the Pre-A Final. Behind them, the battles raged on.

Local racer, Tom Jackson made the most of the start claiming 3rd position early, but while holding off the chasing pack, he locked up at the damp first hairpin, sending him spinning off, stalling the engine and ruining his chance of a good result – he had it all to do in the B Final. With Toms mistake and the field continually tripping up on each other, reining Ginetta Junior champion, Seb Morris claimed 3rd position.

The Pre-A final followed. Contested between the fastest from qualifying. Sims led the field to the start but the first attempt saw a large pile up which claimed half of the field at turn 1. Once everyone had been restarted and the race start re-attempted, Sims couldn’t hold the lead and he fell to 4th position initially, but continued to fall back through the pack as he struggled with a kart which clearly lacked enthusiasm.

The top 3, Kyle Fowlie, Ben Barnicoat and Jack Aitken held station out front until the flag to secure the top 3 starting positions for the main A Final. Despite being in the the earlier, damper qualifying session, Kent based racer Laura Tillett found herself starting mid field for this race and continued to hold station throughout the 12 minute Pre-A final to keep herself in contention for the main A-Final.

With the pre finals out of the way, positions were set for the main finals, starting with the B-final. Andy O’neil took the lead on the first lap from Scott Martin, and both never looking back, gaping the rest of the pack.

Ed White clinched the final A-final transfer spot. Behind the top 3, it was a race for pride. Easykart Junior runner-up, Ginetta Junior racer and Bromley’s own, Esmee Hawkey found herself in a fierce battle for 5th position with Chris Middlehurst, and the recovering Tom Jackson.

Middlehurst briefly took 5th, but locked the brakes sending him in to a spin at the bottom of the circuit. Jackson and Hawkey both narrowly avoided the spinning kart, but this ended the race long battle, leaving both to finish an unchallenged 5th and 6th, just outside the A-final transfer positions.

All of the days action had set the stage for the A-final. With Fowlie and Barnicoat on the front row, the mind games began before the race had even started – just before they got to the start, both slowed to a crawl to bunch everyone up, and hopefully try and get the jump on the other, but this backfired when Fowlie stalled the direct drive engine, leaving him stationary in front of the pack. As the packed slowed to avoid him, a number of others also stalled, causing a brief track blockage even before the race had started.

Once the race had restarted, Fowlie and Barnicoat went wheel-to-wheel round turn 1 and 2 and continued to run side by side down to the first hairpin, but they were so distracted by each other, Jack Aitken managed to make it 3-wide in a move which saw him go straight from 3rd to 1st.

Aitken instantly gapped the pair to the tune of a second. Ben Barnicoat quickly found his way past Fowlie and set his sights on the distant Aitken, slowly chipping in to his lead with each lap they turned, but it was too little. With both drivers using their many years of karting experience, neither were making any mistakes as they continued to run a series of consistent laps. Oliver Rowland made his way up to 3rd as the lead pair pulled away, but he was under fire from Ross Gunn throughout the early stages.

Gunn eventually found his way past Rowland mid way through the final, but with Aitken and Barnicoatt out of sight, he could only focus on holding off the pressure from Rowland, who had managed to stay on his rear bumper.

The battles continued for each and every position, with another local racer, Darryl Evans securing an impressive top 10 finish after duelling with some far more experienced names.

Laura Tillett demonstrated her years of experience securing a well thought top 20 at the end of a challenging days racing.

Jack Aitken claimed the overall honours after his impressive 3-wide move for the lead on the opening lap of the A-final, Ben Barnicoat and Ross Gunn rounded out the podium.