A bumper entry filled Bayford Meadows circuit’s paddock, for round 3 of the BMKR and Kent Kart championships last Sunday.
Settled dry and mild weather greeted the teams and competitors onrace day morning, for the practice and qualifying sessions.
Bambinos – Freeman tops the times
Ten Bambino drivers had three timed runs throughout the day after their morning practice session. Fastest over the trio of runs was Harry Freeman, his best lap of 1.01.32 set in the 2nd timed run, proved to be untouchable for the other young drivers. Noah Baglin was the closest to Harry with a time of 1.01.41 in the first run and then added the 2nd fastest times in runs 2 and 3. Henry Carterset the third fastest lap times in all three runs behind Harry and Noah. Sergio Wirz scored two 4th fastest runs and a 6th; Rio Licata also took a 4th, 5th and 7th. Alfie Mew and Jason Hookey featured behind the top 5, Alfie Freeman, Max Endacott and Kalian Russell completed the ten runners.
Honda Clubman Standard – Jackson inherits victory.
The Cadet Clubman class featured a healthy 19 karts for this round of the twin championships. From the outset it was the Ferrari replica Project One kart of Kristian Stefanov that headed the timesheets. This was a very impressive performance from young Kristian, as he surpassed his previous efforts in the class in an outstanding style. Having taken the morning’s Heat and Pre final wins, he lined up on pole position for the 12 lap final. Emily Jackson too had been in fantastic form taking 2nd in the Pre final leaving her lining up alongside the red kart of Kristian. Sebastian Morgan and Simon Parfett shared the 2nd row of the final grid, from Lewis Stannard and Antony Parfett on the 3rd.
From the start of the final Stefanov rocketed away as he had in the earlier races, leaving Jackson, Morgan, Simon Parfett and Stannard to battle over 2nd in his wake. Drama struck however before half race distance as the leader received a mechanical warning flag, which meant the leader had top it immediately. Young Kristian obliged as soon as he could, to find that his rear bumper had worked loose, ending his race, heart-breaking for him after such an outstanding display. Emily Jackson then took over the lead as she fought off the challenge from behind, which was coming from Morgan, he kept the pressure on and finished just 0.86s behind the absolutely delighted winner Jackson. John Ward impressively fought his way up 5 places to snatch 3rd from Stannard right at the end of the race. Simon Parfett, was alone in 5th at the finish, James Sherrington took 6th from Antony Parfett after the two had raced hard towards the end of the race. In 8th after an early battle with Jack Pullen was Jack Owen-Drawbridge, he found some good speed to pull clear, then setting off after those in front. Tom Ingram-Hill finished 9th from Pullen in 10th. Lewis Stannard took the fastest lap whilst battling over 3rd place.
Senior Club Max B final + 177s.
Due to the bumper 38 kart Senior/177 entry, a B final was needed to determine the final 24 kart final grid. Circuit returnee Steve Crow took the win after a 2 year hiatus, from Will Barnes, who was enjoying driving the latest CompKart from SAIT motorsport. Jonathan Harrison and Tom Richards completed the top 4 that progressed into the main A final. In the 177 class Karl Mepham was giving his new kart its debut and took the class win from Dennis Trzeciak, Andy’s Locke and Parrish, with Brin Kinch taking 5th.
Junior Subaru – Hand takes the victory after three way fight.
The 15 kart Junior Subaru entry was down to 13 drivers as both Benjamin Witham and Troy King did not start, the later after a nasty looking crash which thankfully he walked away from.Three drivers had been setting the pace during the day with Kieran Janali taking the heat win, after erstwhile leaders Joseph Knight and Charlie Hand had collided, severely delaying both of their races. Hand recovered in the Pre final to win from Janali and Knight. As the final began Hand looked determined to break away from both Janali and Knight, succeeding as the other two held each other up when fighting over 2nd place. Behind this threesome Callum Romaine and Rory Burke fought tooth and nail over 4th place, in a dice that would last the full 13 laps.
Robin Jandu initially held 6th until he was demoted by a down on power Max Lee, the latter eventually tumbling down the order with his engine problems. Back at the front Hand was using his recent car racing experience to maintain a comfortable lead, going onto take the race victory. Knight eventually found a way past the stubborn Janali into 2nd and then just managed to hold the SAIT driver off in his Knighty run Alonso kart. Behind Janali in 4th was Burke’s Clarke kart, getting the better of the dice with Romaine’s BB Motorsport machine. Positions 6th to 10th were Jack Cooper 6th, Robin Jandu 7th, Vincent Osbourne 8th, Aaron Deacon 9th and Rohan Naineni. The fastest lap on 50.98s went to 6th placed Cooper on lap 13.
Junior/Mini Club Max – Weaver outwits a battling Brooks and Black.
The Junior Club Max class was fiercely competitive on Sunday and featured some edge of the seat racing, which at times became almost unbearable to witness! James Black had put his JBMotorsport CompKart on pole for the morning Heat after qualifying, with Lydd winner Alfie Brooks placing his Roalf racing RS kart in 2nd. On the 2nd row was the GMS kart of Lewie Weaver, he had Privateer Declan Russell alongside him in 4th. Caitlin May and Oliver Bullion were next up on Row3, Row 4 featured Red Beswick and Chloe Clarke, ahead of the row 5 pairing of Poppi Stephenson and Frederick Lubin. Chloe Chong headed Rylee Brown in the Mini Club Max class.
Brooks beat Weaver and Black in the morning’s heat and then Brooks doubled his winning total by just pipping Black by 0.08 in a very tense and exciting Pre final, Weaver finished third and was looking very menacing. Pre final winner Brooks led away the 14 lap final from Weaver who had nipped past Black on the opening lap. Declan Russell was up to 4th from 7th on the grid, Beswick was 5th, from Bullion and Lubin in 6th and 7th. As we approached the end of the 2nd lap Brooks ran wide out the back of the circuit allowing Weaver to squeeze through into the lead, displaying rapid pace that he had lacked earlier due to a problematic engine. Russell then joined in the fun at the front as Brooks and Black held each other up, passing both into 2nd place. Weaver then started to build a lead as both Brooks and Black moved back ahead of the fast starting Russell on lap 7.GMS team mates Beswick and May were together in 5th and 6th with Bullion in 7th at this mid race stage. As the race progressed things were really heating up in the battle for 2nd, with Brooks keeping the faster Black stubbornly behind him.
Eventually Black found a way past, catching Brooks unaware and led him going into the last lap, Brooks though hadn’t given up hope of the runner up spot and instead of settling for points, went for a questionable move under braking into the infield hairpin, the gamble didn’t pay off and the incident finally boiled over leaving thes quabbling pair locked together on the outside of the corner. In the ensuing mayhem – both May and Beswick managed to jump past Russell for 2nd and 3rd behind the emphatic winner Weaver.Jack Aldis drove well to finish 6th behind Russell, Stephenson was 7th, Lubin 8th, Clarke 9th and Brendan Sathees 10th. Black eventually recovered to a despondent 14th and Brooks wa s disqualified post-race after the last lap incident was deemed to be preventable. Rylee Brown managed to head Chole Chong over the line to take the Mini Max honours. Fastest Junior lap went the way of Caitlin May during her charging drive up to 2nd place.
Honda Cadet Bearman blasts to victory
Thomas Bearman was fastest after the morning qualifying and finished 2nd to Joshua Graham in the Heat, before going on to win the Pre final. Graham didn’t have the happiest of Pre finals and would be starting the final from the penultimate slot of 11th, one place in front of Oscar O’Sullivan who also had a bad Pre final. Mikey Porter, Emily Jackson (who was also successfully running in the Clubman class) and Tighe Wratten lined up at the front of the Grand final grid with Bearman.
The pole man led away from the start and didn’t take long to establish a gap over the rest,C.H.D.D Evolution driver – Porter initially ran 2nd before Wratten relegated him to 3rd and then Ian Marginean further down to to 4th. Bearman at the front romped away to a 3.26s win as the chequered flag was waved at the end of the 11 minute 43s final. Porter enjoyed a good race with Wratten and Marginean, eventually usurping both to take 2nd place. Wratten took 3rd, Oscar O’Sullivan superbly drove up from last to 4th, bringing Graham with him to take 5th and stole the fastest lap as he did so. Marginean was 6th, William Murphy 7th, Owen Neave 8th, Jackson 9th and Josh Camp 10th.
Senior Club Max – Lawson shines
The last race of the day was the final for the Senior Club Max class. The terrific 38 kart entry were split into groups A,B & C to determine the 24 kart grid for the final, each driver receiving two races beforehand. Thomas Lawson’s lap of 46.14 proved to be too quick for anyone to match in qualifying, leaving him on pole for the first heat. He duly won this A vs B group heat beating Elliot Rice by 2.21s, with Declan Lee in 3rd. Lee took the next B vs C group heat win, James Tomsett’s SAIT Motorsport kart finished in 2nd and the Clarke kart of Josh Pullen in 3rd. The third Heat went the way of GMS driver Lawson once again, this time he beat Rice and Jack Bartholomew, Tomsett taking 4th.
The first two attempts to start the final were aborted, as the outside lane of the rolling start, led by Lee – crossed the start line ahead of pole man Lawson. On the third attempt Lawson managed to hold Lee off into turn 1, behind there was chaos as Riley Stephenson had been turned around on the run up to the start, sending the midfield into avoidance! Then at turn 1 Tomsett tried to go around the outside of Lee but clipped his wheels sending him towards the barriers, Pullen behind had nowhere to go and also spun into the pack. The start wasn’t aborted though even after the Stephenson incident and Lawson led at the end of the opening lap. Rice was 2nd and Silverstone Lamborghini race winning driver, Bartholomew was 3rd. Joseph Gethin and Lewis Deacon ran impressively in 4th and 5th with Lee eventually slotting into the pack in 6th. The front of the field remained pretty static for the rest of the race, with the only significant change being Lee managing to pass Deacon on lap 4. There was plenty of action and place changing going on behind the top 6 however; Jason Chong managed to come out on top of a battle featuring Max Goodwin and Jack Wall. After 14 laps Lawson’s GMS kart crossed the line first with the race’s fastest lap too, cementing his position at the top of the championship points table.
Rice could not do anything about the flying #34 kart but has now teamed up with 3rd place finisher Bartholomew, to see if they can fathom how to beat the young charger Lawson. Gethin capped a great day for the GMS team by taking 4th, his best result to date, Lee picked up some points with 5th, although the Project One driver would have wished for more after his earlier performances. Deacon was over the moon with 6th place and had every reason to be for the privateer Dad ‘n lad outfit, which supported a new brightly coloured yellow graphics kit for the weekend. Chong charged his way to 7th but unfortunately fell ill after the race, we all wish him well and hope that he can be back trackside before too long. Goodwin finished 8th, Pullen drove well to recover to 9th and Wall was 10th after a dropped fairing penalty was added to his race time.