UK Super One MSA/TKM Series, Round 6
Tweetfrom Graham Smith, superoneseries.com
For the penultimate round of the series on 1-2 September, it moved to the short hill top Clay Pigeon track in Dorset, known for its tricky downhill start and propensity for being up in the clouds. In fact the drizzle made the track conditions very slippy half way through the second finals. So far no-one has claimed to have sealed a title, so all goes down to the wire at the Shenington last round later in the month.
Above: Alex Gill grabbed a 1st and a 3rd in the two KF3 finals
pic - kartpix.net
Comer Cadet
Ethan Hawkey showed his pace in timed qualifying by a hundredth of a second over a tying Josh Smith and Oliver York, whilst Enaam Ahmed was only sixth. So it was Smith from York, and Ahmed from Lewis Thompson in the heats, putting Smith on pole from York in the first final, held in the dry. York soon assumed the lead man over Smith and Thompson, who succumbed to Ahmed’s climb up the order. Several karts were quite delayed in the first corner incidents as Ross Martin took to the grass, Cameron Roberts amongst those delayed. At the half way stage, Smith took over at the front, Ahmed following and challenging hard but losing second to York on the last lap with Hugo Bently Ellis, Zak Fulk and Alex Quinn all in the train. Thompson had fallen to a distant seventh with Martin recovering to eighth.
Above: Alex Quinn, Comer Cadets
pic - kartpix.net
Smith was incredibly unlucky to fall off at the first corner of the second final with Ahmed springing into the lead, rebuffing a brief interchange with York one third in as Alex Quinn, Fulk, and Brandon Hague all pushed hard, York having fallen behind. Hague had stormed through from grid 19. In the frantic last lap shuffle, Quinn snatched the lead over Fulk, York and Hague whilst Ahmed slowed to fifth with a broken chain. But Fulk received a 3 place penalty to put him behind Ahmed.
Final 1: 1 Josh Smith (Zip); 2 Oliver York (Zip); 3 Enaam Ahmed (Zip); 4 Hugo Bently-Ellis (Zip); 5 Zak Fulk (Zip); 6 Alex Quinn (Zip).
Final 2: 1 Quinn; 2 York; 3 Brandon Hague (Shark); 4 Ahmed; 5 Fulk; 6 Ethan Hawkey (Wright)
Above: Josh Smith, Cadets
pic - kartpix.net
Junior TKM
Top seeded driver Jack Partridge was on top in timed qualifying from the rookies Matthew Round-Garrido and Alex Forward, Partridge winning the first heat from Matt Davies whilst Jake Campbell-Mills had a 10s penalty but went onto win the second, Partridge only sixth. Stephen Letts came from the second row of the first final to lad the first few laps over Partridge, trading it twice before Davies briefly and then Daniel Baybutt took over at the front. But Partridge put on a superb move out of the horse-shoe on the last lap to cross the line first by whisker with Round-Garrido a steady third.
Above: Daniel Baybutt
pic - kartpix.net
Although he dropped a little back at the start, Baybutt established a lead over Partridge and Davies from lap eight and held it to the flag. Round-Garrido and Letts had come off at the start. Davies had challenged Partridge too hard, riding up the back of his kart, and letting Campbell-Mills into second to push hard on Baybutt. In a huge battle for fifth, Dino Lee held the train off for a while but slumped to tenth, Jordan Irvine coming out on top of that battle. Partridge is in the driving seat for the title, but Campbell-Mills and Baybutt could also win.
Final 1: 1 Jack Partridge (Jade); 2 Daniel Baybutt (Jade); 3 Matthew Round-Garrido (Tonykart); 4 Matt Davies (ARC); 5 Jake Campbell-Mills (Tonykart); 6 Alex Forward (Wright).
Final 2: 1 Baybutt; 2 Campbell-Mills; 3 Partridge; 4 Davies; 5 Jordan Irvine (Tonykart); 6 Cameron Clarke (Tal-Ko)
Above: Jack Partridge
pic - kartpix.net
TKM Extreme
Phil Smith is currently unbeatable in the senior TKM class, and he duly executed a clean sweep of wins so the main battles were for runner-up. Smith soon took over from Joe Porter at the beginning and duly finished with a lead of over 10s. Daniel Burton led most of the way in second, and most importantly when the chequer fell. Lee Harrison and Michael Green stormed up from mid grid to third and fourth over Simon Vercoe as Ash Crossey fell back to seventh. A lights to flag victory in the second final looked easy for Smith, being the last totally dry race of the day. A massive battle ensued behind with Porter hammering up from his grid 11 start to second by mid-race, throwing off a strong challenge from Crossey who was hung out to dry going down into the fast right hand Billys Blind, falling to fifth. Joshua Waring and Ryan Stronach were the beneficiaries. Luke Graver had made it to fifth but suffered a 1 lap penalty.
Final 1: 1 Phil Smith (Tonykart); 2 Daniel Burton (Tonykart); 3 Lee Harrison (ARC); 4 Michael Green (Tal-Ko); 5 Simon Vercoe (Tal-Ko); 6 Ash Crossey (Tonykart).
Final 2: 1 Smith; 2 Joe Porter (Tonykart); 3 Joshua Waring (ARC); 4 Ryan Stronach (Tonykart); 5 Crossey; 6 James Ogden (Jade)
Above: Two wins for Phil Smith
pic - kartpix.net
KF2 MSA British Kart Championship
After a heat clash with team-mate Ricky Collard, Ben Barnicoat only took a couple of laps to reach the front from the back in a thin eight kart grid. Barnicoat had been in charge at timed qualifying time whilst Mark Litchfield was only fifth and the young RSF backed driver duly took the first heat, Litchfield the other. Litchfield could do nothing about his young rival in the first final and had to settle for second with Alex Hamilton, Ricky Collard and Jack Barlow in a train further behind.
Above: Jack Barlow
pic - kartpix.net
All the drivers were caught out on slicks as the rain started in the second final, making conditions extremely treacherous. After having the first spin on several, along with Jamie Rush, Barnicoat caught Litchfield and took him with a gentle rub, Litchfield then lunged back and they both came off falling almost to the back. This left Barlow in charge although Litchfield thrust his way back through to second whilst Barnicoat was struggling with broken steering and had a number of more spins, the last one terminal. But Litchfield was then given a one lap penalty elevating Rush and Zubair Hoque et al. Collard had reached second mid race only to spin down the order himself.
Final 1: 1 Ben Barnicoat (ART); 2 Mark Litchfield (Zanardi); 3 Alex Hamilton (Intrepid); 4 Ricky Collard (ART); 5 Jack Barlow (Intrepid); 6 Jamie Rush (Formula K).
Final 2: 1 Barlow; 2 Rush; 3 Zubair Hoque (Alonso); 4 Hamilton; 5 Collard; 6 Sam Webster (ART)
Above: Ben Barnicoat
pic - kartpix.net
Formula KGP
In an incredibly close time trial, Denis Gorman tied with Luca Hirst, with Jake Hughes, Tom Healy, Sam Randon and Bobby Game only hundredths behind. Game was trying an Alonso instead of his usual Birel. Rossano Bhandal and Kieran McCullough sat out the session, seemingly to save on tyre wear. McCullough continued his strategy in the first heat, Bhandal had an exclusion and James Gornall broke down early on leaving Hughes to win. McCullough came out in the second heat and won from the back, whilst Scott Allen and Bhandal were excluded. Hughes led most of the first final until Healy worked his way up to the front picking off Hirst and Gorman on the way with Gornall slicing through from the back to follow. But Healy was underweight so Gornall took the win, McCullough up to fifth.
Above: final 2 winner Rossano Bhandal
pic - kartpix.net
As the rain fell for the second final, the first few drivers had chosen slicks but were given the chance to change and start from the back, so that elevated Bhandall to the second row to sideswipe Allen at the start and thereafter never put a foot wrong with a great set up. Gornall gave up the lead after a lap or so but held onto second. McCullough failed to start, whilst Robert Shield did well for a distant third over Matthew Booth and Hughes whilst John Pike was excluded.
Final 1: 1 James Gornall (Intrepid); 2 Jake Hughes (Birel); 3 Denis Gorman (Maranello); 4 Luca Hirst (Zanardi); 5 Kieran McCullough (Birel); 6 John Pike (Maranello).
Final 2: 1 Rossano Bhandall (Alonso); 2 Gornall; 3 Robert Shield (Tonykart); 4 Matthew Booth (Birel); 5 Hughes; 6 Fraser Wallance (Maranello)
Above: Final 1 winner James Gornall
pic - kartpix.net
KF3 MSA Junior British Kart Championship
George Russell, Alex Gill and Nathan Aston established that order in timed qualifying and these three would vie for honours throughout the weekend. Russell took first blood over Gill in both heats. Gill soon established a lead at the start of the first final, Russell falling as far as fifth before clambering back to challenge Gill for the win, with Aston, Jehan Daruvala and Samuel Oram-Jones not far behind. Martin Kodric had been in second for the first half of the race until Aston came back through, Kodric falling to ninth. In the second final Aston caught and passed Gill, putting him down to a rather distant third and allowing Russell into second. Delays at the first corner set back some of the others, Oram-Jones failed to finish and Josh Price was given a 2 place penalty from eighth whilst Billy Monger held off Jamie Caroline for fourth after vaulting into that position at the start. Gill and Russell are only a few points apart when dropped scores are taken into account going into the last round.
Final 1: 1 Alex Gill (Wright/IAME); 2 George Russell (Intrepid/TM); 3 Nathan Aston (Intrepid/TM); 4 Jehan Daruvala (Alonso/Vortex); 5 Samuel Oram-Jones ( Intrepid/TM); 6 Billy Monger (Alonso).
Final 2: 1 Aston; 2 Russell; 3 Gill; 4 Monger; 5 Jamie Caroline (Intrepid); 6 Martin Kodric (Alonso).
Above: Nathan Aston
pic - kartpix.net
