The Lydd International kart circuit played host to the 3^rd round of the Kent Kart Championship on Sunday 14^th August, along with round 5 of the circuit’s IKR series.

On a sweltering day the keen competitors from the various classes, had two qualifying Heats before their main Final in the afternoon. Several red flags during these races proved that the temperatures were having an effect on the drivers as they battled the conditions.

Due to the various delays during the qualifying Heats, the Finals were reduced to 8 minutes in duration.

Bambinos.

The two drivers that topped the morning’s qualifying Heats were Freddie Williams and Finley Bedford, so they lined up on the front row for the first Final of the afternoon. Ellis Honey and Louis Williams-Mabbs, completed the second row with Franklin Street and Beau Blundell the third row.

Bedford and Williams led the six young chargers away over the opening lap as they disappeared out of sight, down the bottom end of the circuit. Bedford having won the second heat looked in control early on as Williams hit trouble and dropped to the back of the pack, so disappointing for him as he had put on a fine showing to take the first Heat win. Louis Williams-Mabbs had made a fast start and was up to second place, also showing great pace were Ellis Honey and Beau Blundell in 3^rd & 4^th.

As the race settled down, Honey closed in on Williams-Mabbs and eventually took 2^nd on lap 5; he now tucked his head down and tried to close in on the leader Bedford. Franklin Street was being badly hampered by his freshly returned engine, which left him off of the pace that he has been  used to.

As we approached the closing laps, Honey caught Bedford and didn’t waste much time in taking the lead. Blundell too had caught and passed Williams-Mabbs for 3^rd place as they closed in on the finish. Honey and Bedford crossed the finish line just 0.19s apart in 1^st & 2^nd after an exciting final lap. Blundell was delighted with 3^rd finishing ahead of Williams-Mabbs and Street in 4^th and 5^th.

A dejected Williams took 6^th, although I’m sure he will be happy with his pace and will look be looking forward to carrying that over into his next race. Runner up Bedford took the fastest lap on the final lap of the race.

Junior Rotax Final.

Just 3 Minutes 12 seconds was all it took for Lloyd Hare to take the victory in the Junior Rotax Final…..Of course there was more to it than that! Freddie Ingram had stated his intentions by taking both of the Heat wins in what were very competitive races.

William Murphy led the first one quite comfortably until his rear bumper worked loose and he had to retire. In the 2^nd Heat both Simon Parfett and Hare took turns in the lead before Ingram pulled it back. So Ingram started from the pole position and he was keen to make up for his last visit here when he was denied victory at the last corner of the Final.

Hare started alongside, currently on a winning streak and keen to add to it. Circuit regulars Parfett and Murphy were next up on row 2, Finlay Underwood and Jacob Hobbs on row 3, Mitchell Mulvey and Presley Walker completed row 4 of the 16 kart grid.

Ingram led away from Hare, Parfett, Murphy and Underwood over the opening lap, however these positions soon changed as Ingram could be seen pulling off line and slowing down with throttle problems, he was out of the race almost as soon as it had begun. Hare led the field over the next few laps until the red flag appeared after Ryan Gwenzi hit the tyre barrier very hard, coming out of the last corner.

He somehow managed to stay in his kart but was obviously in need of some assistance and the circuit medical team were soon on the scene to help. Thankfully Ryan was okay if a bit shook up, but the race was declared after just 5 laps.

The final race order being Hare, Parfett, Murphy, Underwood, Hobbs, Mulvey, Walker, Josh Pollitt, Viggo Swan and in 10^th Sonni Scott. The fastest lap went to Parfett on the 5^th lap.

Honda Cadet/Rookies.

Two drivers stood out in the Honda Cadet class as Teddie Cooper & Lewis Riley took a win a piece, in the Heats, although Cooper was noticeably slower in Heat 2 finishing down in 5^th place overall. For the Final Riley was on pole, with Rookie class Ralphie Branscombe alongside him.

Fellow Rookie Alfie Clark was 3rd on the grid, with Cadet driver Harry Russell lining up 4^th. Cooper & Rookie Ronnie Smart completed the 3^rd row, Row 4 was all Rookies with Jack Cope and Riley Taylor.

Riley shot off at the start of the Final and soon built a gap over the rest. Branscombe initially held 2^nd before Clark usurped him on the 2^nd lap, Cooper had found his lost pace after his Heat 1 crash and was charging up through from 5^th, to soon make the runner up position his own. He then hunted down Riley, who must have known he was on his way, indeed by lap 7 Cooper hit the front.

From then on Riley sat on his bumper hoping to find a way back ahead but it never came, as he finished a frustrating 0.33s behind the flying Cooper. Russell came out on top of a very entertaining race for third, Branscombe was 4^th on the road but penalised 5s for a jumped start, dropping him to 6^th. Clark took 4^th, from Smart in 5^th.

Freddie Wall won the battle for 7^th as he caught and passed Taylor, who was having his best outing so far finishing ahead of Matthew Lilley (9^th), Jack Cope (10^th) and Jack Nessling (11^th). Cooper set the fastest lap of the race on lap 11 of 12.

Rotax 177.

Thirteen karts were entered in the 177 Rotax class, with the Heat wins going to Billy Watts and Thomas Lawson, the latter gaining a good advantage for the Final as Watts was delayed in the 2^nd Heat avoiding a midfield accident, leaving him finishing 4^th.

Lawson made the most of this as he blasted away at the start of the Final, Tom Richards ran 2^nd initially as he managed to get ahead of Daniel Wright and Watts , this didn’t last long though as Watts was soon up into 2^nd as Richards was out . Wright held 3^rd from Matthew Hickson in 4^th, Shaun Thear ran 5^th from Darryl Maxwell, Michael Ashby and Luke Bailey in 6^th, 7^th and 8^th. At the half way stage Watts was making steady inroads into Lawson’s lead, Wright & Hickson held station in 3^rd and 4^th, Thear had Ashby crawling all over him in 5^th & 6^th.

Maxwell, Bailey and Dennis Trzeciak had a coming together which left the latter side-lined with a damaged kart. Bailey came out of it in 7^th, Frazer Campion now ran 8^th, Ollie Golding 9^th and Maxwell 10^th until he too retired from the race. As the race reached its climax Watts almost caught Lawson, failing by 0.67s at the finish with Lawson setting the fastest lap on the penultimate tour.

Wright was just over 3s behind in 3^rd, clear of any challenge from Hickson in 4^th. 5s further back the fight for 5^th raged for the majority of the race, as Ashby tried everything to pass the well driven kart of Thear in 4^th, just falling short after a tough 14 laps of hard racing in the extreme heat. Bailey survived a day to forget by finishing 7^th in his battered kart, just ahead of Campion in 8^th and Golding in 9^th, Maxwell was classified 10^th 2 laps down.

Mini Max/Junior Subaru.

With only two entries in the Mini Max class and five in the Junior Subarus, both classes ran together during the day. Antony Parfett proved comfortably fastest in the Mini Max class, winning all three races from Jack Brown.

The competition in the Subaru class was much closer and showed that the 4 stroke karts can still produce some great racing. Jenson Taylor topped the Heats, from William Fallon, which left the pair on the front row for their Final. Ryan Dell, Louie Guildford, sat behind them and Jayden Barton was on his own on the 3^rd row of the grid.

At the start of the Final Taylor launched away well but then found his route through the first chicane obstructed by Brown’s Mini Max spinning, Taylor was out on the spot after hitting the tyre barrier hard, which brought out the red flag. At the restart without the unlucky and sore Taylor starting, Dell took the fight to Fallon, while Guildford fought with his teammate Barton for the whole race.

Dell swapped places with Fallon in the lead battle and all eyes were on the pair on the last lap. An audible groan from the watching crowd could be heard as the pair tangled at the last corner on the last lap, both ending up in the bark. It was then a race for both to re-join the circuit before the KRM duo came past, both failed in their recovery efforts and it was Guildford who took a surprise  win, from Barton in 2^nd.

Fallon and Dell were classified 3^rd & 4^th, with Fallon taking the class fastest lap. Parfett scorched the Mini Max class fastest lap 7.

Senior Rotax.

It had been a long hot day’s racing and we all hoped that the last race of the day would be a clean one for the Senior Rotax class. Riley Stephenson has done a fair few laps around Lydd over the years, taking championships along the way, this was highlighted by his performance on Sunday.

After not feeling very well on Saturday during testing he certainly turned up on Sunday, dominating all three races, up against some very fast competition. Declan Russell came the closest to staying with Stephenson in the Final, falling short by 1.6s in the end.

Kieran Ives kept the top two in sight without being able to mount a challenge, taking 3^rd place. Joe Gethen was next up in 4^th matching the pace of the top 3 but not being able to improve his position. With three laps to go Poppi Stephenson looked to be heading for 5^th, until she fell behind firstly Harry Chamberlain and a lap later Jonathan Dalton eventually finishing 7^th.

Tom Patterson would have been somewhere in the mix but he retired early, so it was Ciaron Edgson who was next up in 8^th, clear of Will Barnes in 9^th and Doug Jenner in 10^th. Winner Stephenson also took the fastest lap on the 8^th lap of 14.

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