The Bayford Meadows Kart Racing club held the 8^th round of their 2022 Championship last weekend at the Sittingbourne circuit located on the outskirts of the Eurolink Industrial estate.

Some glorious autumnal sunshine greeted the busy paddock on Sunday morning, as the 100 plus competitors opened the penultimate round with practice & qualifying, before their Heat, Pre Final and afternoon main Final.

Bambinos.

Eight Bambino drivers kicked off the first of the Finals just as the sunshine was replaced by encroaching cloud clover during the afternoon. Franklin Street won an ultra-close Pre Final, from Ellis Honey and Lewis Williams-Mabbs after the trio had battled hard but fair throughout the race. Beau Blundell took 4^th, Ted Deeprose 5^th, Joseph Cox 6^th after a spin, Freddie Williams finished 7^th and newcomer Leon Mercer 8^th.

As the starting lights went green Honey showed his intentions by taking the lead from pole sitter Street, Williams-Mabbs . Cox had made up for his spin in the Pre Final by joining the leading trio in 4^th, Deeprose held 5^th from Williams, Blundell and Mercer. As the race progressed Street kept the pressure on Honey with Williams-Mabbs joining in the fun by running 2^nd at one point. Honey’s tenure of the lead came to an end on lap 9 as Street surged ahead, finding a gap and then managing to fend off Honey’s attack at the following corner, which delayed the latter slightly allowing Cox to jump into 2^nd place.

Over the remaining couple of laps, Street drove perfectly, judging where his rivals were to perfection, Honey had recovered to mount a last minute attack, but it was to no avail as they crossed finish just 0.13s apart, with Cox was right with the pair taking a fine 3^rd after starting so far down, Williams-Mabbs finished 4^th, Deeprose 5^th, Williams held off Blundell in 6^th and 7^th, Mercer followed behind taking 8^th. Street’s exuberant race winning celebration earned him a reprimand post-race, however there were few that would deny him his fantastic win and also fastest lap.

Honda Cadet.

Seven karts comprised the grid for the Honda Cadet class with the Heat and Pre Final wins going to Teddie Cooper, a driver who has been quite formidable throughout the year. He led the Final away from the start and was never headed throughout the entire race.

Harry Russell provided the biggest challenge to Cooper and set the fastest lap in his efforts, although ultimately falling 1.5s short at the finish. Daniel Butcher closed in on his teammate Russell at the finish to take the last podium spot. Leon Knight had a better meeting this month by finishing 4^th, ahead of Johannes Friis in 5^th, Lewis Riley in 6^th and Ayda Sexton 7^th.

Senior Club Max 177.

The popular 177 Senior Club class gained an extra driver this month with Adam Clark moving across from the 162s, he made an immediate impact by qualifying 2^nd to the unstoppable Thomas Lawson during the morning’s session. In the Heat and then the Pre Final the top 5 positions were mirrored, with Lawson finishing ahead of newcomer Clark, Tyler Cox, Mike Ashby and Daniel Wright. This quintet completed the top 5 positions on the grid for the Final, behind them sat Billy Clarke, Aaron Deacon and James ‘Adam’ Pell , to complete the first four rows of the 17 kart grid.

Lawson made a perfect getaway from the start of the Final and was never headed over the next 14 laps. Both 2^nd and 3^rd places stayed the same over the race distance with Clarke holding station over Cox throughout. 4^th place went to Ashby although he had to work hard to pass Wright (5^th), who had made the most of a first lap incident which delayed several drivers, notably Clarke and Deacon. Both Matthew Hickson and Dennis Trzeciak benefitted from that incident to finish 6^th and 7^th. In 8^th place was Jason Bear, Martin Walker was 9^th and Deacon ended up 10^th. Clarke had finished 8^th on the road but was penalised 5s post-race dropping him down to 13^th in the results. It was no surprise to see the dominant Lawson take the fastest lap of the race.

Honda Rookies.

George Clarke lined up on the pole position for the Honda Rookie class after passing Heat winner Maria Ruberto in the Pre Final to take the win. Laurie McVeigh ended the pre Final strongly to slot into 3^rd on the grid, with the morning’s fastest qualifier Freddie Wall sitting alongside him. On the third row sat Noah Curtis and Sebastian Bearman, the 4^th consisted of Harrison Page and Ralphie Branscombe.

At the start of the main Final Clarke led the 15 brightly coloured karts away, Ruberto sat on his tail from the beginning, hoping to pressure the Project One driver into a mistake over the race distance. McVeigh and Wall ran in 3^rd and 4^th keeping the leaders in sight, as did Curtis and Ronnie Smart 5^th & 6th who had demoted Bearman early on. Branscombe and Page fought over 7^th with the latter Page securing the position on the 7^th lap. As the race neared its climax all eyes were on the leaders as Ruberto continued to press the leader Clarke, eventually the positions remained the same with just 0.12s separating Clarke and the Ambition kart of Ruberto at the finish. McVeigh and Wall finished nose to tail in 3^rd & 4^th, as did the all black kart of Curtis 5th and Smart’s Project One machine 6th, which took the race’s fastest lap on lap 10 of 13. Page, Bearman, Branscombe and Jack Cope completed the top 10 at the finish.

Junior Club Max.

A full grid of 25 karts was entered for the Junior Club Max class this month, which ensured that there would be plenty of action involved during the day. Liam Thomas laid down a marker in qualifying as he did last month, putting his GMS kart on pole for the morning’s Heat, which he went onto win. He then carried his impressive form over with another win in the Pre Final, to leave him in grid 1 for the main Final in the afternoon. Finlay Underwood impressed in the Pre Final as he came from 5^th to 2^nd which left him on the outside of the front row for the Final. Championship leader Freddie Ingram was next up on the inside of row 2, he had Stefan Kaczmarcyk showing well in 4^th next to him. Kent champion Lloyd Hare was 5^th on the grid and keen to gain points in his next championship challenge, next to Hare in 6^th was Oliver Hutchings, who had been struggling for front end grip all day. 7^th & 8^th were Luca Osman-Price and circuit returnee Chloe Chong. Reece Stevens and Bentley Lovegrove-Fowler completed the top 10.

From the start of the Final Thomas and Underwood ran side by side into the left handed turn 1, Thomas carried a bit too much speed into the corner, running wide which left the hapless Underwood out onto the concrete run off area and losing places fast. Hare was the main beneficiary of this as he jumped up into 2^nd place and onto the leader’s tail at the end of the first lap, Ingram held 3^rd and Kaczmarcyk 4^th, from the recovering Underwood in 5^th. Osman-Price, Hutchings and Chong were next up in 6^th, 7^th & 8^th, Presley Walker 9^th and Lovegrove-Fowler 10^th. The field started to sort itself out over the opening laps, as Hare made a failed attempt to pass Thomas, his kart briefly riding up over the back of the leaders kart. Kaczmarcyk slipped behind the charging Underwood who had Hutchings towing along with him, then the Evolution kart of Kaczmarcyk and Osman-Price were facing the wrong way on the infield, both dropping to the lower end of the field. Back at the front Thomas had opened a gap over Hare with his GMS kart, which he was never to lose as he stroked home to a first class Final win by 1.48s over 2^nd placed Hare. Ingram slipped up in his efforts to stay with the leaders, by misjudging his braking point for the rise at the end of the 5^th lap, he subsequently dropped behind Underwood and Hutchings, although he later managed to repass the Sana backed kart of Hutchings to finish 4^th. Underwood had in fact made up for lost ground at the first corner to catch Hare, finishing on his bumper at the end in 3^rd place. Behind Hutchings in 6^th place was Chong who had driven well on her comeback to the circuit. Zac Heslop climbed up from 13^th to finish 7^th by the finish, Jack Theobald took 8^th, Simon Parfett 9^th and Lovegrove-Fowler 10^th. Ingram took the fastest lap on the penultimate tour of the race and still leads the championship with one round to go.

Senior Club Max.

The Senior Club Max numbers were a little down for this month with 13 entries, this was down to 12 for the main Final as Oliver Bullion did not start. Riley Stephenson continued his stellar recent form by taking the Heat and Pre Final wins to line up P1 on the grid. Josh Pullen had done brilliantly to recover from a disastrous morning qualifying session, which left him down in 11^th, to take the other front row grid slot. Championship leader Jonathan Wilkes was P3 on the grid, with Ciaron Edgson going very well in P4. On the third row was Poppi Stephenson and Joe Wood, the 4^th row was occupied by Lewis Deacon who should have had Bullion alongside him.

Stephenson laid down his marker from the start as he leapt away from the pole to lead over the first lap, from Wilkes who was flying early on passing Pullen. Poppi Stephenson headed Edgson early on as the two began a race long duel over 4^th place. Wood had run 6^th until he was passed by Frederic Lecomte and Deacon. The positions remained the same for much of the race with Wilkes managing to close on the leader Stephenson until he felt his rear tyres go off, finishing just under half a second behind the winner Stephenson at the finish. Pullen was alone in 3^rd, not wuite being able to match the pace of the two in front. Edgson came out in front of the battle with Poppi Stephenson to take a fine 4^th, the latter was later penalised ffor ‘gaining an unfair advantage and ended up 10^th, a poor reward for some feisty driving on her behalf. Lecomte took 5^th then from a delighted Deacon in 6^th, Wood 7^th, Luke Winter 8^th and Oliver Johnson in 10^th. Riley Stephenson capped his perfect day off by taking the fastest lap of the race.

Mini Club Max.

Fletcher Jamieson dominated the Mini Club Max class, by taking wins in the Heat and Pre Final before romping to a 1.73s win in the main Final. Tighe Wratten finished 2^nd, shadowed by Antony Parfett for most of the race in 3^rd.

Ben Yiangou showed well to take 4^th, Jack Baker finished 5^th ahead of Callum Sims and Josh Pullen in 6^th & 7^th, both enjoying a race long duel for positions. Ollie Orteu took 8^th, Emily Cotty 9^th and Ryan Welsh 10^th. Flat out Fletch also took the fastest lap of the race.

Junior Subaru.

Just three karts made it out for the Junior Subaru Final, a standalone race after running with the Mini Max class for the qualifying races. Dextor Gregory continued his excellent form in the class to take a comfortable win and fastest lap over the battling pair of Jenson Taylor and Ryan Dell.

Full results can be found here – Alpha Timing – Results

The final round of the 2022 BMKR championship will be held on 20^th November.