The first round of the 2020 Kent Kart Championship was held at Lydd International kart circuit in conjunction with round five of the club’s summer series, on Sunday.

Following on from a successful British championship event the previous weekend, the paddock was once again full as Kent’s leading drivers aimed to score well in this year’s covid limited three round series.

With visits to Bayford Meadows and Buckmore Park following on over the next two months. With the pandemic producing such a truncated racing season, the Kent title has wetted the driver’s appetites and it is great to see the three south eastern circuits becoming involved in making it an exciting series to be associated with.

Bambinos.

Kalian Russell proved to be the fastest of the Bambino drivers over the first two of the three timed runs, but then suffered an engine drama on the opening lap of the final run. This put Maria Ruberto at the top of the overall aggregate results, ahead of Stanley Kearley who was fastest in the third run, Jack Cope, Jack Blackman, Ella Dixon and the unfortunate Kalian.

Honda Cadet.

The ten kart Honda Cadet proved very competitive during the heats with William Murphy taking the first and Owen Neave the second victories. Neave’s CHDD Evolution kart led Oscar O’Sullivan’s Project One kart away from the standing start, Murphy’s Ambition motorsport tucked in behind to form a 12 wheel train over the opening laps.

Charlie Warren was next up, from Fletcher Jamieson after Jack Pullen had slipped back from his 5^th place starting slot. The pace at the front was fierce as the trio pulled clear of the rest, O’Sullivan taking a turn at leading before Murphy did the same.

His lead didn’t last long however as O’Sullivan soon found his way back to head the field. Over the closing laps the three were never more than half a second apart and the race ended with the #46 kart of O’Sullivan taking the win, barely 0.1s ahead of Neave, with Murphy right on his bumper in 3^rd. Warren was secure in 4^th, Jamieson equally secure in 5^th. 6^th went to Rio Licata on the road until a post-race penalty for a dropped nose, put him back to 8^th.

Ben Simpson came out 6th and he had Jack Price for close company in 7^th. Pullen and Archie Beard crossed the line together as they finished 9^th and 10^th. The fastest lap went to winner O’Sullivan on the 9^th of 12 laps.

Honda Novice.

Antony Parfett looked in excellent form around the fast Lydd circuit layout after taking both heat wins before the afternoon’s 12 lap final. Leading away from pole the RHP kart of Parfett soon gapped Josh Selvadorai in 2^nd place, who in turn had pulled clear of Oliver Majewski and Callum Sims in 3^rd and 4^th. Ryan Gwenzi and Riley Till were next up, soon to be hounded by an impressive Jonas Klimas who had driven up from grid 15.

As the race entered its final third Selvadorai had brought his JSR kart up onto the leader’s bumper and was soon looking for a way through. He eventually nipped ahead on lap 9 after setting the race’s fastest lap and then went onto win by 0.79s, celebrating in style as he did so.

Parfett was still comfortably clear of the Majewski/Sims battle over 3^{rd &} 4th places. Klimas eventually finished an impressive 5^th, ahead of Till and Gwenzi in 6^th & 7^th after a last lap switch around over positions. Leon Knight took 8^th on the final tour from Andrew Dixon in 9^th. The top 10 was completed by Snake racing’s Logan McAlister. 

Junior Rotax.

17 karts were entered in the Junior Rotax class and after the morning’s qualifying session Callum Romaine took pole position for the first heat in his Meyado backed kart. Things didn’t go so well after that as he tangled with Jayden Neal-Holder dropping both to the back of the field. It was Oliver Bullion who took heat 1 from Max Lee and Rory Burke. Heat 2 went to Lee this time from Bullion and Daniel Hughes.

The final looked to be a battle between the two Roalf supported karts of Bullion and Lee after their performances during the two heats. Over the first few laps of the short 12 lap final Lee led Bullion and Hughes in 3^rd. Burke was 4^th from Poppi Stephenson in 5^th and Brentley Sims in 6^th.

After 3 laps Bullion took control of the race as he moved ahead of Lee, who held onto 2^nd until a charging Burke usurped him in his Clarke kart demoting Lee to 3^rd. Stephenson managed to pass Hughes to take 4^th, driving well in her GMS run kart.

As the laps ticked down Bullion stayed in control of the race, crossing the finish line 1.09s ahead of Burke in 2^nd, up 3 places from his starting grid positon. Lee took a good 3^rd from Stephenson who managed to keep ahead of Hughes for 4^th and 5^th places.

Neal-Holder recovered from his first heat problems to take 6^th, Kieran Janali took 7^th from pole qualifier Romaine, who had made up 9 places from the back of the grid to finish 8^th. 9^th and 10^th went to Kipp Chorley and John Ward. The fastest lap went on the 11^th tour to Max Lee.

Mini Max.

Jack Badger was on fine form in the Mini Max class, as he won both of the heats from the fastest qualifier Mikey Porter, both races were very close though and a great final looked in prospect. Seb Morgan and Simon Parfett were not far away from the pace as they finished 3^rd and 4^th in both of the heats.

A crash involving several karts curtailed the first start of the final before they had even crossed the start line, with Morgan and Jack Minter-Young coming off the worse.

Eventually after a delay between races, while drivers and karts were seen too, we were back and ready to go. Once again it took the starter a few laps before he was satisfied the grid were in order before the final began. Badger and Porter continued their fight for overall honours from the start and it proved very entertaining to watch.

Morgan in 3^rd was suffering from awry handling with his kart and soon fell into the clutches of Parfett who set of after the leading pair once ahead.

After leading the initial 4 laps Badger was passed by Porter who then led for the mid race period, after that things got serious as the two swapped places over the remaining laps.

Eventually Badger came out on top of the duel with just 0.13s separating them as the chequered flag fell. Parfett had closed in on the two, hoping to pick up any pieces should the pair tangle, in 4^th behind him was Damian Baruss-Haggett, who got the better of the crippled Morgan in 5^th.

Josh Camp finished 6^th, Oliver Kerr 7^th, Holly Miall took 8^th from the last remaining runner Harry Kidd. Jack Minter-Young didn’t make the restart after his earlier start line crash and Tighe Wratten suffered a similar fate after the 2^nd heat. The JAXX run kart of Porter took the fastest lap of the race.

Senior Rotax.

After an ultimately disappointing British championship appearance last weekend, where he had to fight his way up from the back of the grid, Riley Stephenson bounced back in style by taking pole position and wins in the two heats prior to the Senior Rotax final.

Another who had suffered disappointment last week was Josh Pullen, he too redeemed himself by finishing runner up to his GMS teammate in both of the heats. Haworths racing’s James Tomsett was also bang on form with a 3rd and 5^th in the heats.

Jack Bartholomew took a 4^th and a 3^rd and was keen to break the GMS dominance ahead of him. Stephenson led Pullen away from the rolling start and had the experienced second row of Bartholomew and Elliot Rice chasing them.

Tomsett settled into an early 5^th as back in the midfield a mix up at the second chicane left Will Barnes and Jack Richards stranded in the bark, causing the Battenberg flag to be introduced.  Once the caution was withdrawn – Stephenson put the hammer down again to lead away.

Bartholomew found a chink in the GMS armour now though as he slipped ahead of Pullen into 2^nd, Rice did the same 3 laps later to move into 3^rd. Louis Barker making a return to Lydd was running an impressive 6^th until he hit a cone on the apex of the first chicane, causing himself to half spin and lose a chunk of time, also promoting Jonathan Dalton up from 7^th.

Back at the front ‘Barty’ closed in on Stephenson and looked to have a good run on the last lap, the leader however wasn’t having any of it and used his circuit knowledge to force Bartholomew go around the outside of the final corner, which was never really on.

They crossed the line just 0.1s apart, Rice had found some speed during the day to take 3^rd from Tomsett in 4^th. Pullen was 5^th and with the fastest lap, ahead of Dalton in 6^th. Alfie Brooks took 7^th from Sean Berry, Kieran Ives and Max Goodwin in 8^th, 9^th & 10^th.

Rotax 177.

Karl Mepham has always been the man to beat around Lydd in a 177 kart and on Sunday things were not any different, although Sam Gumbrell pushed ‘King Karl’ hard in the final, to finish just 0.43s behind.

Andy Locke took a good third just over 2s behind the leading pair, Joseph Perry finished 4^th, Mark Waters 5^th, Andy Parish 6^th, Nick Floyd 7^th and Ben Algar 8^th. Mepham also took the fastest lap by just one tenth from Gumbrell.

Senior Libre.

Guesting on the Kent championship bill was the 4 stroke FP4 Senior Libre series. The raucous sounding karts having 3 mixed grid heats and a final during the day. Alex Whiteley secured the first heat win before Stephen Ayres annexed the latter two.

Ayres was totally dominant in the final as he stretched out a lead that he was never to surrender as he took a 2.5s win in the final. Whiteley took the runner up spot from Jamie Taylor in 3^rd. Keith Robertson and Chris Kelly were 4^th and 5^th, Alan Jacques took 6^th, Ian Fisher and Elliot Colls completed the 8 kart field. Fastest lap went on lap 5 to victor Ayres.

Junior Subaru.

The final race of the day also belonged to 4 stroke karts, that of the Junior Subaru class. Ben Cooke has been in great form recently and he continued that with wins in both heats.

Finlay Underwood ran closest to Cooke in qualifying and continued that in the heats by finishing just a couple of tenths down in both races. Liam Thomas featured well in the heats by taking 3^rd in both.

The final was another battle between Cooke and Underwood, as behind several drivers disappeared by the wayside. Thomas ended up embedded in the tyres at the first chicane and Ryan Micallef had to pull out after just two laps.

Underwood raced Cooke hard even with a piece of bodywork that had become dislodged early in the race dangling precariously on his kart. As they started the penultimate lap the two made contact at the end of the back straight but continued undeterred.

Eventually Cooke grabbed the advantage and took a delighted win over Underwood after 12 thrilling laps. William Fallon won the fight for 3^rd from Hugo Willett in 4^th, Ciaron Edgson in 5^th, novice Jenson Taylor 6^th, Charlie Homewood-Burrows finished 7^th and Alexander Adams-Acton was classified 8^th after spinning into the bark at the last corner of the last lap.  Underwood took some consolation by securing the fastest lap.

The full results from the day featuring all classes can be found here – https://results.alphatiming.co.uk/likc/2020/5/

The next round of the Kent Kart Championships will be at Bayford Meadows on the 20^th September.

Round 6 of the Lydd International Kart Club Championship is on the 27^th September.