Round two of the 2022 BMKR championship was held under sunny skies on Easter Sunday 17^th April, at the Sittingbourne circuit located within the Eurolink Industrial estate.

A full paddock and spectators lining the edge of the track was welcome to see after the restrictions that were in place last year. After the usual format of qualifying, Heats and Pre finals, it was the Bambinos that kicked off the afternoon’s Finals.

Bambinos.

Although there were only 7 starters in the Bambino class the racing was of the highest level and it really was difficult to predict who would come out on top in the Final. Beau Blundell topped the times in the qualifying session, then Regan Mew won the first race of the day, followed by Ellis Honey winning the Pre final and taking pole position for the Final.

Franklin Street had pushed Ellis hard on the Pre final and took advantage of a couple of small mistakes by Ellis to lead during that race. Regan Mew wasn’t far behind either as the trio crossed the finish line someway ahead of Beau Blundell who recorded the fastest lap.

The Final was a different story however as Ellis managed to pull a lead over Franklin and Regan to take a resounding 10s victory. Franklin & Regan were not far apart at the finish and both looked to have enjoyed their race in taking 2^nd & 3^rd places.

Just 1.5s behind in 4^th was Ralph Rider-Birch, then came Beau Blundell, Freddie Williams and Ted Deeprose in 5^th – 7^th. There’s no doubt that a new crash helmet and suit helped Ellis to also record the fastest lap of the race!

Mini Club Max & Junior Subaru.

The combined Mini Club Max & Junior Subaru classes were on next and also provided us with a few question marks after the qualifying races, as to who was favourite to win. In the Mini’s Fletcher Jamieson proved fastest in qualifying after some expert advice had served him well. Then Tighe Wratten took the heat win in his TWR livered kart, followed by last week’s Lydd winner Antony Parfett who took the important Pre final win.

 In the Final Parfett led the 13 kart Mini grid away but could not hold off the flying Jamieson over the opening lap, as it was the number 99 kart that led over the line. Wratten had also found a way past Parfett to run 2^nd early on, although he couldn’t quite live with the pace set by Jamieson. As the race wore on the Minis were lapping the slower 4 stroke Junior Subaru karts and eventually this went against Wratten, as first Parfett managed to find a way past him and then Jack Pullen seized his opportunity when the lading Subaru drivers tangled on lap 10.

Jamieson took his maiden win in the class after a strong performance that will no doubt set him up well for the rest of the season. Parfett, Pullen and Wratten crossed the line as one in 2^nd, 3^rd & 4^th and they had Ben Yiangou close behind them in 5^th at the finish. Ryan Welsh took 6^th, Felix Stolkin 7^th, Bradley Keaton 8^th, Jack Baker was delayed after a first lap pile up in 9^th and Jack Brown finished 10^th. Fastest lap went to the number 11 GMS kart of Pullen.

In the Junior Subaru class the two KRM teammates circulated together initially with Dextor Gregory leading Jace Goslett until they began swapping places, both taking turns in leading, unfortunately for both they eventually became entangled on the run down to the bottom hairpin, leaving Goslett out on the spot while a crestfallen Gregory managed to make it back to the pits to retire.

This left a delighted Jensen Taylor in the lead and he went on to take a much deserved victory after so much disappointment the previous weekend at Lydd. Presley Walker finished 2^nd for the KRM team ahead of Ryan Dell and Kane Rixson in 3^rd and 4^th. Goslett did manage to take the fastest lap before his demise.

Honda Cadet.

The 10 kart Cadet class was dominated by one driver on Sunday, although he did have to work hard for his wins. Albie Lapper’s improvement has been on an upward curve this year, as he has been achieving some solid results on his travels around the country. On Sunday he proved that he had arrived with a close Heat win over the Ambition kart of Harry Russell and Johannes Friis and then beating his CHDD teammate Alfie Mew with Russell 3^rd in the Pre final.

He then continued his top form to take the win in the Final with his teammate Mew once again expertly acting as his rear gunner. The much anticipated Harry Russell challenge to the pair, evaporated with retirement on lap 5. Leon Knight ran 3^rd for a while as Teddie Cooper recovered from an early clash with Lewis Riley, although by lap 9 Cooper was back up to 3^rd. Nate Gange was also in the thick of the battle over 3^rd and eventually pipped Cooper for the position on the last lap, making it a CHDD 1-2-3 at the finish. Behind Cooper in 4^th was Knight 5^th, followed by Friis 6^th and then Ayda Sexton in 7^th.

Riley took 8^th after tangling with Daniel Butcher who was classified 9^th ahead of Russell in 10^th. Lapper completed his perfect day with the fastest lap on the 13^th tour.

Honda Rookies.

The Honda Rookie class continued the day’s trend for exciting races as the morning’s Heat and later Pre final proved. Debuting her knew updated Ambition racing colours on her kart for this weekend was Maria Ruberto, along with some continued expert tuition, she topped both of the qualifying races to start from the pole for the Final. Teammate Sebastian Bearman lined up alongside her on the front row, he was keen to make up for last week’s disappointment at Lydd.

Winner from that meeting Alfie Fox was next up on row 2, now supporting Roalf racing backing on his kart. Ralphie Branscombe was 4^th on the grid and in with a real shout of winning. Max Osbourne and Freddie Wall completed row 3 and row 4 consisted of Jack Cope and Alfie Clark.

Ruberto led the 12 kart field away and held onto the lead for 4 laps, before Bearman, Fox and Branscombe usurped her on lap 5. The positions remained the same over the next few laps until Branscombe’s silver Sharps backed kart moved up into 2^nd place.

Last week the leader Bearman and Branscombe collided with each other so all eyes were on them over the closing laps. Fox was there keen to mop up if anything did happen in 3^rd, he had Ruberto and now Osbourne running close behind. The final laps passed without incident between the leaders although Banscombe drew up alongside Bearman as they crossed the finish line side by side, both celebrating with just 0.07s between them.

Fox was in touching distance in 3^rd, behind him Osbourne just managed to find a way past Ruberto over the last lap to finish 4^th, in what was a blanket finish for the top 5 karts. Cope had held 6th for most of the race until Clark moved ahead towards the end as they finished 6^th and 7^th. Freddie Wall was a little disappointed with 8^th one place in front of fellow Project One driver Ronnie Smart in 9^th and Harrison Page in 10^th. Ruberto did take the fastest lap on lap 9 and will be keen to keep up her rapid pace going into May’s round 3.

Senior Club Max.

The grid for the Senior Club Max Final consisted of 20 karts for this month’s event. The Heat and Pre final wins went to Sam Chappell and Josh Pullen, with Kieran Ives, Jonathan Wilkes and Max Lee featuring strongly in both races. Pullen starting from pole in his GMS Motorsport kart was quick away at the start for the Final, as Ives made the most of his inside row 2 grid slot to glue himself to the leader’s rear bumper to edge Wilkes out of 2^nd place. Privateer Lewis Deacon made a great start to initially run 4^th as Chappell was out early on, before Joe Wood’s GMS machine moved ahead of him on the 2^nd lap.

Alex Holgate, Stephen Bouffe and Ciaron Edgson were next up over the early laps in 6^th, 7^th & 8^th. As the race settled down the top positions looked settled as Ives looked content to sit behind leader Pullen, with Wilkes watching on in 3^rd.

However on lap 9 of 14, Ives made his move on Pullen to take the lead and over the next few laps looked to have the race in the bag. Pullen took several laps to compose himself before making a concerted effort over the last lap to take the lead back and as they turned onto the back straight he looked like having a go at passing, only to just fail as Ives had his move covered, going on to make it two wins in two weekends for the ASM driver.

Pullen was happy with 2^nd having tried all he could to make the pass and pick up some good championship points. Wilkes was right with the pair all race bringing his Project One kart home in 3^rd place 3s ahead of Wood who put in a solid drive in 4^th.

Even though Deacon’s yellow & black kart couldn’t live with Wood’s pace, he was still delighted to take 5^th place in such competitive company. Holgate finished 6^th in front of a charging Poppi Stephenson who made up an impressive 12 places in the Final after starting from the back. Lee took 8^th ahead of Ben Boras in 9^th and Luke Winter in 10^th. The fastest lap fell to third place finisher Wilkes.

Senior Club Max 177.

Looking at the results from the Senior Club 177 class, it would be quite safe to say that Billy Watts didn’t have the fastest kart on the day, with Jonathan Harrison topping qualifying and Richard Friend taking the fastest lap in all three of the races, but the KRM driver knows how to win races as he proved on Sunday.

He led from pole and although both Friend and Harrison sat right on his tail, they could not find a way to pass, leaving Watts to the win in the Final by just over half a second. Behind 2^nd & 3^rd Friend and Harrison finished Tyler Cox, who had dropped back at the start before climbing his way back up into contention.

Oliver Moss had held 4^th for 7 laps before Cox moved ahead, he finished 5^th. Daniel Wright also had similar type of race to come back to 6^th ahead of a lonely James ‘Adam’ Pell in 7^th. Allan Cook made up 4 grid positions to take 8^th, Gerry Poore finished 9^th and Daniel Wyatt rounded out the top 10.

Junior Club Max.

A multi kart crash on the straight approaching the bottom hairpin, brought out the red flag at the start of the Junior Club Max Final, so the race was then rescheduled as the last race of the day. When it did restart it only lasted for two laps which were not for the feint hearted! The race was red flagged by the clerk of the course and abandoned, with no points being scored for any driver.

Championship points were however rewarded for the combined Heat and Pre final results. The top scorers were Mitchell Mulvey who came away with 46 points, Freddie Ingram scored 42, Simon Parfett 40, Luca Osman-Price 35, Jack Theobald 34, Bentley Lovegrove-Fowler & Joshua Whiting 32, Oliver Hutchings 31 and Stefan Kaczmarcyk on 30.

Hopefully the next round of the championship will see a big improvement in driving standards within the Junior class.

Full results from the event can be found here – Alpha Timing – Results

May’s 3^rd round will be held on Sunday May 15^th.