The sixth and final round of the Kent Cup which alternates between Bayford Meadows in Sittingbourne and Chatham’s Buckmore Park, came to its conclusion at the latter circuit on Sunday.

A gorgeous sunny early autumnal day greeted the packed paddock, who were this month joined by the MSA Bambino drivers, these youngsters aged from 6 years and upwards coming from across the UK, they shared the Kent circuit at four periods during the day, racing against the clock to find the winner and it was Taylor Orridge who emerged the fastest of the 22 competitors.

The first Kent Cup final of the day was for the slightly older Honda Cadet drivers. Harrison Blake had already wrapped up the championship and was absent from the event, but the battle for the runner up position and progression in the Buckmore Park summer championships made it a competitive affair.

A gaggle of karts broke clear at the front with Ben Fayers and GP plate holder Kieron Jermey swapping places before Fayers sealed the win, behind these two Oliver Marsh and James Wharrier fought over third place, with the former taking the final podium spot.

In the battle for second place in the Kent Cup, Sam Heading finished ahead of Owen Tolley on the road, but Tolley from Ash, held the upper hand in the points race from Hurstpierpoint’s Heading.

Both of these drivers were hindered during the day and were driving with one hand held behind their backs due to problems, which added a lot of pressure onto their young shoulders.

The second final was for the Mini Max competitors. A fierce fight at the front between Jamie Rogers, Patrick Kibble, Ronnie Foster and Oliver Appleby, went the way of the Bromley driver Rogers, his brightly coloured kart eventually held sway over Kibble and new Kent Cup champion Foster, who held off the charge of Appleby in the title race.

Final 3 was for the Senior drivers who were split into three classes. The majority of those were in the Senior Max class and Kit Brough took an unusually comfortable win after 3 hectic qualifying races.

The main reason for this was because fellow front row starter Elliot Rice had been delayed during the first lap dropping back to 8^th place, he did manage to claw his way back up to the runner up slot but couldn’t threaten the beaming Brough, who literally stroked his kart across the finish line. Lewis Brown took third from the new Kent Cup champion Jonathan Wilkes from Sittingbourne in 4^th, who finished one place and one point ahead of championship runner up Shaun Hollingsworth.

For Hollingsworth it was an agonising way to lose the championship by just one solitary point. In the 177 class the dominant Mark Figes continued his winning ways, he too wrapping up the title, Chris Bridle won the X30 class, enjoying himself mixing it with the senior drivers after his recent transition from the Junior Subaru class.

The Honda Clubman and IAME classes were next up. The Pre-final had seen some great dicing at the front; Herne Bay’s Callum Gunning had other ideas in the final however. He found something that the others couldn’t and simply left them squabbling in his Hondas’ wake, something that isn’t seen very often in this class, he just simply got his head down, hit his apexes and nailed every lap.

The race for the other podium positions was quite frantic; this probably helping Gunning to extend his lead, Alex Moody, Ronnie Mansfield and Sebastian Bloch entertained everyone and crossed the finish line glued to each other, so much so that they almost came unstuck when contact caused Moody and Mansfield to swerve past the chequered flag.

Oliver Greenall wasn’t far behind at the finish and he had the IAME winner Daniel Bolton behind him in 6^th. Sebastian Bloch took the honours in the Kent Cup standings from Moody and Greenall, with final victor Gunning in 4^th.

After that action at the finish line, the Junior Subaru pack hit the track. At the front Jenson Harvey led Max Goodwin, Nathan Jeffery and Larbi Belkhit in a tense but entertaining race, Goodwin found a way past Harvey at one point until Harvey quickly snatched it back a couple of laps later, he then gave a masterclass in clean defensive driving to take the win.

In a very close third was earlier heat victor Jeffery, from Belkhit, Kartik Sawhey and Josh Young in 6^th. The Kent Cup championship went the way of Goodwin from Harvey with Jeffery in third. A mention must go out to the unfortunate Dillan Hendry-Lewis, who was involved in a painful arm breaking accident in one of the qualifying races, we hope he recovers soon.

The last race and final of the day was for the Junior Max drivers. Two competitors stood out in this race, Charlie Bennett and Tyler Sullivan. Their rivalry on track is well known and showed it’s head in the Pre-final when Sullivan pulled a stern yet fair move on Bennett at the second hairpin at the end of the race, to take the pole position for the final.

Maybe Bennett had learnt from this as after nabbing a great start he soon found Sullivan back nibbling at his rear bumper and taking the top spot from him. These two swapped positions again and again, until the Bromley lad Bennett settled back and shadowed the Canvey Island racer, waiting to pounce as his rival previously did on the last lap.

This came just a few corners from home and Sullivan had no answer ending up second to the delighted Bennett . Myles Apps had closed right up to this duo at the finish and almost had a part to play in the races’ outcome, 4^th was Charlie Lamb followed by Luke Wooder and Emily Rogers. Charlie Bennett took the championship honours from a subdued Liam Carter and Harry Gent.

The prize giving witnessed Buckmore Park saying goodbye to their long serving circuit chairman of 25 years – Chris Pullman, everyone wishes him well for the future.