After a month away from racing the BMKR club began 2022 with their Winter Cup event, a precursor to the their 2022 championship.

The event has the intention of being a warm up meeting for the teams and drivers, many of whom have changed classes and karts for this season’s racing. The entry of 77 karts had been affected slightly by the storms that were prevalent over the weekend and it was hoped that the day’s racing would escape the threat of further weather disruption.

A hefty breeze and dry circuit prevailed over the opening hours before increasingly heavy rain arrived for the finals later in the day. As always the Bambino class headed the eight different classes onto the Sittingbourne circuit on Sunday morning for their practice/qualifying.

Bambinos.

Only four of the diminutive racers rolled out onto the circuit for their 7 lap final, with Ralph Rider-Birch looking favourite to take the win after taking both the heat and pre -final victories. Franklin Street completed the front row with Freddie Williams and Ellis Honey on the 2^nd row. Ralph continued his winning ways heading the 7 laps from the front to take a 11.8s win. Freddie managed to overtake Franklin early on and pull clear to take the runner up slot. Ellis was a little way behind Franklin in 4^th at the finish. Ralph took the fastest lap on a track surface that was now beginning to become quite slippy.

Mini Club Max.

Antony Parfett starred in qualifying for the Mini Club Max class by taking pole position on his class debut. He couldn’t stay with the more experienced Josh Selvordorai in the heat and pre-final though as he lined up 2^nd on the grid. Jack Pullen was placed 3^rd on the grid in his GMS kart, Ollie Oretu’s colourful CHDD Evolution machine alongside Jack on the 2^nd row, also making his class debut.

The start was exciting as the top 3 ran line abreast into turn 1, all thankfully making it through okay, with Josh Selvadorai heading the very quick looking yellow RHP kart of Antony Parfett over the opening lap. Antony showed his intentions by passing Josh on the 2^nd lap, leaving the latter to fend off Jack Pullen. Ollie Oretu slipped back into the pack right from the start as another class rookie, Fletcher Jamieson moved into 4^th, novice Jack Baker held 5^th from Ryan Gwenzi in 6^th.

Back at the head of the field Parfett had the race under control, eventually taking a comfortable win some 11.77s clear of the fight over 2^nd place. Pullen had really pressured Selvadorai, even briefly moving ahead at one point, as Josh struggled with his kart’s set up. Eventually Jack settled for third behind Josh after 13 laps of hard racing came to an end.

A surprise 4^th went to Felix Stolkin, another novice who worked his way up from 8^th on the grid, passing Jamieson and Baker, who were having a good battle of their own. Baker came out on top over Jamieson to take a good 5^th and Ollie Oretu made up for his earlier mishap to recover to 7^th behind Jamieson. Ryan Welsh had a good race with Oretu and Gwenzi to finish 8^th ahead of the disappointed Gwenzi in 9^th. The delighted victor Parfett also took the fastest lap of the race on lap 4.

Junior Subaru.

Although there were only four entrants in the Junior Subaru class for this event, it was nice to see that they were given their own grid for the day. The four 4stroke drivers enjoyed their heat and pre-final as the two KRM drivers – Jace Goslett and Dexter Gregory had some good inter team rivalry, Ryan Dell and Jenson Taylor also had some good battles during the two qualifying races.

For the final Jace headed his Ken Ricks Motorsport teammate Dexter throughout to take a huge 27.48s maiden class win, celebrating in style as he crossed the finish line. Dexter was well clear in 2

^nd ahead of Ryan who came out on top of a battle with Jenson for 3^rd and 4^th places. The fastest lap was taken by victor Jace on lap 2.

Honda Cadets.

Three drivers stood out in the 8 kart Honda Cadet final, two of those – Harry Taylor and Albert Lapper being teammates at CHDD, along with Rio Licata the trio dominated the heat and pre-final races. For the main final in the afternoon things were a little more clear cut as Taylor pulled a gap over the duelling Licata and Lapper. Isaac Doble initially ran 4^th from Lewis Riley and Daniel Butcher in 5^th & 6^th.

After 12 Laps on a now very greasy surface, Taylor took the win by just over 4s from his teammate Albie Lapper, who eventually found a way past the determined Licata on the last lap. Riley also pulled off a last lap move in his Clarke kart to take 4^th ahead of Doble in 5^th. Ralphie Branscombe worked his way up from 8^th to 6^th, just pipping Butcher at the finish. Ambition’s racing Harry Russell finished 8^th behind Butcher in 7^th. Taylor topped off his great day by also bagging the fastest lap.

Honda Rookies.

The Honda Rookie final grid had a topsy turvy look to it after the rain arrived during the pre-final, which caught out several slick shod runners who had been at the front in the morning’s heat. This led to plenty of overtaking in the final now that everyone was on an equal footing with wet tyres. Project One’s Freddie Wall and Ronnie Smart led away the 9 kart final although this was soon to change as Smart found himself back to 9^th at the end of the first lap.

Making rapid progress up through the field was Nate Gange who was to lead after two laps in his CHDD kart, displacing Wall to 2^nd place. Lucas Knibbs had run 3^rd from the start until the Ambition kart of Nicolo Pozzi came charging through, up from an initial 9^th on the grid.

By half distance the drivers had sorted themselves out and Gange drove to a 6.19s win over Wall in 2^nd, Pozzi took the final podium slot from former Bambino driver – Maria Ruberto 4^th in her Ambition kart, she was another that lost out in the pre-final due to being on the wrong tyres when it rained. Knibbs eventually took 5^th from Smart in 6^th, Riley Taylor was also enjoying his Cadet debut in his Clark Motorsport kart finishing 7^th, from Max Osbourne in 8^th and Alfie Clark in 9^th. Winner Gange was credited with the fastest lap on the 8^th tour.

Junior Club Max.

Joshua Patrrick proved the fastest of the 14 drivers in qualifying and then went onto take the heat and pre-final wins. Finlay Underwood continued his progression in the class as he finished 2^nd in the pre-final, to line up alongside the GMS kart of Patrrick on the front row. On the 2^nd row Lloyd Hare starred on his class debut to take 3^rd, with Simon Parfett alongside another to be making his debut in the class. KRM/Roalf Racing driver Ryan Micaleff was next up with Archie Buttle next to him on the 3^rd row. The 4^th consisted of Riley Jones-Rodway and Liam Thomas.

Right from the start the final was a feisty affair, which was played out on a very tricky track surface, as the rain had by now intensified. Micaleff made an absolute peach of a start from 5th to lead at the end of lap 1, after briefly running three abreast with Patrrick and Hare, these two were now in 2^nd and 3^rd.

Underwood in his Clarke kart looked to be struggling and had slipped to 4^th initially before dropping further back, eventually to be pushed into a spin before the end of the race. At the front Patrrick was becoming impatient and eventually had a run on the inside into the infield 2^nd hairpin, the two rubbed pods heavily, on the exit of the corner, still side by side, Micaleff now had the inside into the next right handed hairpin.

As the two once again rubbed pods Micaleff couldn’t make the apex and ran wide, leaving Patrrick to lead Hare and Oliver Hutchings who had charged up from 9^th on the grid in his FMR kart. Freddies’ Ingram and Lloyd were fighting their way up too, with the recovering Micaleff now behind them in 6^th. Patrrick leading, was now having Hare pressing hard to pass him, Ingram’s Roalf racing kart found a way past Hutchings for 3^rd as did Micaleff who was on a real charge.

Lloyd slipped back eventually behind Mitchell Mulvey who also managed to usurp Hutchings in the closing stages. Patrrick went onto win by just over 3s over Hare whose challenge subsided after midrace, amazingly Micaleff raced back up to 3^rd with fastest lap before a dropped nose fairing penalty dropped him back to 7^th, scant reward after good recovery drive. Ingram it was then, who capped off an impressive drive up from 14^th on the grid to take the final podium slot in 3rd, Mulvey moved up 8 places to finish 4^th with Hutchings in 5th and Lloyd in 6^th. The top 10 was completed by Micaleff, Thomas, Parfett and Joshua Whiting.

Senior Club Max.

The eleven Senior Club Max drivers were by now met with some pretty awful weather conditions, with the afternoon’s storm really building, bringing horizontal rain in a strong wind. The GMS team fielded a strong driver line up for the Winter Cup, with Riley Stephenson, Josh Pullen finishing 1^st & 2^nd in the heat and pre-final, Poppi Stephenson adding to their efforts with a competitive 3^rd in the latter.

The younger of the Stephenson siblings drove a blinder over the first half of the lap in the final – Poppi snatching the lead from her sibling Riley and Josh Pullen. Harry Chamberlain ran 4^th early on from Joe Wood and James Otto who had worked his way up from near the back of the 11 kart grid. After 2 laps in front it seemed as though Poppi was feeling the heat from her brother, as she glanced over her shoulder on the start/finish straight, sure enough Riley made the move at the bottom hairpin when his sister ran wide missing her apex.

They ran a Stephenson one-two for a lap before Pullen moved ahead of Poppi on lap 5, this was not a good lap for Poppi as she spun away her position down to 6th towards the end of the lap. Riley Stephenson was in his own words “out for a Sunday drive” as he splashed his way home to win by 6.48s from Pullen in 2^nd.

Chamberlain brought his CHDD kart home in a good 3^rd, Otto impressed in 4^th as his kart was run out the back of a van with just his mum to help. Joe Wood wasn’t far behind in 5^th, with the fast closing Stephenson P close behind in 6^th. Zac Dear had a day to forget in 7^th after qualifying had promised so much for him, Ben Fekete was next up in 8^th, Bentley Sims 9^th and Ciaron Edgson who had been flying earlier in the day on his class debut, retired after clipping a spun driver, injuring his hand and then suffering a stuck throttle, but was classified 10^th. Novice Matthew Hickson had qualified an excellent 4^th but sadly did not make the start.

Senior Club Max 177.

The last race of the day fell to the Senior 177 class, who had to deal with the worst conditions of the day, although thankfully standing water wasn’t an issue at this point. The class has gradually grown into one that is highly competitive, with a 12 kart entry and the return of circuit champion Tom Lawson, who is a real benchmark for the others to aim for. The closest anyone got to the GMS kart of Lawson on the day was Mike Ashby, who was flying in the pre-final, jinking his ASM Racing kart from side to side around the circuit as he looked for a way by, although he ultimately failed to pass the cool Lawson.

It was then Lawson and Ashby that led the field away into turn 1 in the final. Through all the spray Lawson led from Ashby over the opening laps, Luke Bailey had briefly grabbed 3^rd before Michael Gibbons slotted in behind Ashby and the leader Lawson. Bailey lost another position to Alex Joyner and then Alex Moss before settling into 6^th place.

As the laps ticked down it was clear that Ashby couldn’t mount a challenge on the leader as Lawson was left to take another win by nearly 10s, cruising to the fastest lap as he did so. Gibbons, who enjoys driving in the wet, was soon onto Ashby’s bumper and passed him on the 4^th lap to take 2nd at the finish.

Ashby finished 3^rd looking a little perplexed at not being able to challenge for the overall win. Joyner wasn’t far behind in 4^th, Moss crossed the line in 5^th but had to give up the position due to a dropped nose fairing penalty to Bailey, whose combative drive was exciting to watch. James ’Adam’ Pell had a great drive with the aforementioned Bailey before conceding to take 6^th, Joe Hunt was 7^th, Daniel Wright 8^th, the penalised Moss 9^th and Tyler Cox 10^th.

The full results from the Winter Cup can be found here – Alpha Timing – Results

The next event at Bayford Meadows will be the first round of the 2022 championship, on March 20^th.