The penultimate round of the Kent Cup made its final appearance at Bayford Meadows on Sunday.
Rain was forecast and for once the weather people were right, with heavy rain affecting the early races before petering out and then returning for the finals in the afternoon.
The first final of the afternoon was for the Honda Cadet drivers. Harrison Blake has always been a favourite to win at this circuit and he didn’t disappoint by pulling away in the lead from the start. He took with him Owen Tolley and the pair managed to pull a gap over the rest of the field, lap after lap working together to establish a lead.
Tolley was very patient when following the more experienced Bake and this paid off when he made his move on the last of the 12 laps, Harrison had no answer to Owen’s challenge and had to settle for second to the jubilant Owen Tolley. Behind this duo Oliver Owen drove well to finish in front of Sam Heading, James Wharrier and Rubens Stanislaus.
Ronnie Foster won last weekend at Buckmore Park and looked fast in the qualifying races for the Mini Max final, however the weather spoilt Foster’s run as the increasingly damp surface gave us a fabulously entertaining race.
Oliver Appleby, Benjamin Boras and Freddy Simpson-Stacey joined Foster in a ferocious but clean dice for the lead, with Simpson-Stacey coming out on top to take a very popular win. Foster took second from Appleby and Boras, Thomas Rotherham and Josh King rounded out the top 6.
The Junior Subaru class was up next and this race gave us a dominant winner in Jenson Harvey, his kart’s set up proving perfect in the greasy conditions to allow him to win by nearly 6 seconds. Nathan Jeffery and Max Goodwin broke clear of the pack to take the final podium positions, with Warwick Daden crossing the line at the top of the snarling Subaru powered pack, Joshua Young and Chris Bridle were glued to Daden’s rear bumper at the finish line.
The Senior Rotax Max final was decided early on when Jonathan Wilkes stamped his authority over the 13 kart field, Shaun Hollingsworth gave vain chase but just could not match Wilkes’s early pace. Similarly Paul Stanley couldn’t live with the leaders early speed by finishing third 6.5 seconds back, he was clear of Spencer Younger, Tom Skinner and Nick Packman in 6th.
16 karts set off in the increasing rain for the Junior Max final, these teenagers were headed all race by Charlie Bennett, who seemed to find grip on the sinuous Swale circuit that the others couldn’t. Liam Carter in second place ended up 11 seconds behind Bennett, his position was hard fought as he had Sean Berry, Harry Gent, Jenson Harvey and Michael Kemsley to fend off, as they finished in this order at the Chequered flag entertaining the damp crowd throughout their 12 lap final.
The Honda Clubman final needed a B final due to the popularity of the class, which was introduced to bring entrants in at an affordable level to competitive karting. Young Sebastian Bloch enjoys celebrating and did so in style when he took the victory with both arms off of his steering wheel, Frank Elwell had impressed all day and finished a very close second less than half a second behind Bloch. 4 seconds back in third was a very happy Matt Hyde, who managed to hold off Alex Moody, Anthony Amato and Ryan Willis.
As the event came to a close the sun shone, reminding us that the summer championship will continue at Bayford Meadows on the 23rd August, the Kent Cup finale is at Buckmore Park on 20th September.