The first round of the prestigious Kent Cup which alternates between Bayford Meadows and Buckmore Park, took place at the Sittingbourne kart track on Sunday, along with the first round of the circuit’s summer championships.
This technical track requires an ideal set-up to achieve the best results and local teams based at the circuit have the edge in dialling their machines to perfection, to suit the twisty layout.
The Honda cadet class kicked off the afternoon’s finals and was won by Project One driver Harrison Blake, his margin of victory was just over 1.5 seconds from a battle consisting of NR Zip Kart’s Alfie Glenie and P1’s Tom Lebbon.
Behind this pair were Team Evolution drivers Kristian Brookes and Sam Heading, who somehow managed to tangle at the last corner swapping positions as they did so, Sam looked bemused and was a trifle upset as they crossed the line virtually side by side, Ambition’s Owen Tolley rounded out the top six. The IAME class ran with the Hondas with CJ Morgan winning the sparsely supported field.
The Mini Max final was won at a canter by Oliver Appleby (KPi karts) by over 5 seconds, he had been dominant all day and this was no exception, in his wake was a good scrap of which last week’s Buckmore Park winner, Ronnie Foster came through to take the second podium position after a messy last lap involving himself Patrick Kibble, Freddy Simpson-Stacey and Conor Garlick, left them finishing in that order, Bobby Grover rounded off the top six.
The Junior Subaru class provided a colourful sight as the 21 kart grid present some of the best looking karts on show. During the pre-finals we were treated to some superb racing all through the pack, with the colourful snake meandering its way around the sinuous demands of Bayford’s twists and turns, although one or two scary looking incidents, caused spectator’s hearts to flutter and the red flag to appear!
Two pairs of karts broke free at the front of the final; Max Goodwin leading with Jensen Harvey in close company, behind these two Chris Bridle had Dillan Lewis breathing down his exhaust. As they started the last lap Harvey had a look down the inside of Goodwin at the fast entry into turn one, it really was only a nibble that Goodwin covered well, the pair behind didn’t fare so good with their positions swapping after contact, Bridle clearly unhappy with what had happened in losing that podium spot.
So Goodwin held on to take the win, from Harvey with third and fourth remaining the same over the last lap. John Victory and Troy Beswick finished fifth and sixth. A special mention must go to Edward Bridle who battled his way up through the field from 18th to finish 8th at the flag.
The Senior Rotax class was dominated by Jonathon Wilkes, totally unbeatable on the day and earning a great start to the championship for him and the Project One team. Paul Stanley was equally comfortable in second place, with a good dice for third between Spencer Younger and Luke Beeson behind him. Shaun Hollingsworth finished fifth with Nick Packman in sixth. One man who could have challenged Wilkes was second placed qualifier Tom Skinner, but he skated off on cold tyres at the first corner of pre-final one and then spent the rest of the day being involved in other incidents, culminating in a retirement in the final after contact with another driver.
Junior Rotax repeated the senior final with a Project One driver dominating, this time by an even larger margin. Charlie Bennett had looked very quick at the previous weekend’s Buckmore Park event and he carried it over to neighbouring circuit here at Bayford Meadows.
A start line shunt which involved Emily Rogers and Rhys Anthony separately, delayed a few drivers and initially Liam Carter was the one setting off after Bennett. Eventually though last year’s Mini Max champ Tyler Sullivan came through to fight over second place with Luke Wooder who was debuting in the class, this was a real ding dong battle in which Chatham’s Wooder won, let’s hope that we see these two contest the full championship over the rest season in similar style. Carter slipped to fourth with Harry Gent and Aiden Quigley rounding out the top six.
The Honda Clubman’s rounded off what had been a great days racing on a bitterly cold and dull day. The battle for second place certainly helped to warm everyone up as the young stars fought tooth and nail right to the flag.
Out in front for the whole race by himself was Oliver Greenall, he won by just over a whopping 4.5 seconds from the titanic battle that raged between Alex Moody and Sebastian Bloch, the latter grabbed the position on the last lap and Moody was beside himself at the flag, throwing his head back in dramatic fashion in disbelief, while young Sebastian celebrated in style, virtually the whole length of the straight! Mika Renzullo, Riley Stephenson and Jack Davis completed the top 6 positions.
Round two will see the competitors travel to Buckmore Park in four weeks’ time, hopefully some warmer weather will greet all involved and add to what should be a great days racing.
Images courtesy of Paul Babington