One week before Super One and drivers flocked from far and wide to get some practice laps in before the National Championship comes to Buckmore Park.
The day was filled with twists and turns in more ways than one, and the drivers gave everyone great races to watch and a spectacle worth waiting for.
There was an early red flag in the Junior Max Repechage where, after a restart, Reece Barr (88) Andrew Wong (47), Sam Baker (26) and William Stacey (41) won places at the back of the grid for their final which saw Sandy Mitchell (19) take the chequered flag. Taking advantage of a slip up by Connor Hall (14) who had lead for the majority of the race, Mitchell moved into second.
He overtook Dave Wooder (0) on the penultimate lap before creating a sizeable gap for him to take the victory in style. Finishing second was Harrison Thomas (36) who climbed up to fourth from a low starting position and grabbed the opportunity of second place after a bit of bad luck for Hall and Wooder. Making up the podium was Cameron Roberts (30) with a well-deserved third place.
The Honda Cadet Final was a race which involved some head-scratching. Confusion led to the last lap board being shown erroneously to some karts before being withdrawn.
This led to most of the field returning to the pits after ten laps and the others racing on, the officials abandoned the race and decided to re-run it at the end of the day.
The re-run was stopped by a red flag with a lap to go and the result was wound back to the previous lap. This was a shame for Jenson Butterfield (11) who had just taken the lead after a spin by Harry Thompson (17).
The result was declared from the previous lap which gave the win to Harry Thompson (17) with Jenson Butterfield (11) reverting to second and Myles Apps third.
The Mini Max final was one of the clean finals at Buckmore. Pole sitter Jordan Cane (13) led the whole race apart from one lap early on and won comfortably in the end. Alex Quinn (12) started fifth, making up three places to take a well-earned second place.
Third place finisher Sam Pooley (26) got off to a great start moving into second, but slipped as far down as fifth during the race, but managed to climb back up to finish third and complete the podium. Thomas Turner (24) got the fastest lap of the race, recording a time of 40.65.
A great start by Adam Glear from sixth on the grid helped him take first position by lap three and gradually increase his lead over the rest of the pack for the remaining laps. A slow start from Jack Bartholomew (89) saw him swallowed up by the field, before regaining his podium finish by lap four, quickly followed by an overtake on Brett Ward (46) on the next lap.
He kept his second place and was followed into the pits by Joe Reilly (23) securing third by overtaking Ward as the race was drawing to a close.
The Honda Cadet Clubman and IAME finals were won by Zak O’Sullivan (55) and Katie McQuillan (37) in their respective classes. The first half of the Clubman race saw chops and changes at the front as O’Sullivan and Alexander Moody (99) swapped first place six times!
O’Sullivan held on to the top spot in the second half of the race, leaving Moody to settle for second. A solid third place went to Sam Heading who gained a place from the getaway and drove well to defend his position from Rhys Anthony (68) and Kristian Brookes (82).
This weekend the National Championships come to the iconic Kart Circuit and there is free entry for everyone, so why not get along and catch some excellent action.
Report by George Livett.
Pictures supplied by Paul Babbington Photography.