Super One TKM Series, Round 3
from Graham Smith, TSR Productions
With an entry list just shy of a hundred competitors, the third round of the TKM and Honda Cadet ABkC national championships moved to the north Oxfordshire circuit of Shenington. Quite a few local drivers took the opportunity to guest at the meeting. Rain threatened briefly on Sunday, but otherwise the weekend was fine and dry. Lap records were broken in all four classes - Luke Knott took a couple of tenths off the Honda Cadet record with a 50.78, whilst James Bartlett lowered the TKM Extreme to 43.79. With a 44.18s Miles Murphy lowered the Senior 4-stroke mark, and in Junior TKM Matt Davies took the record down to 44.05s. For the fourth round the circus moves to Scotland, on 3- 4 July.
Honda Cadet
Super One rookie and Welsh champion Robbie Gallier had earned himself pole position but he couldn’t maintain front running pace and fell to fifth in the first final. Once he had recovered from a poor start, Luke Knott worked with Dave Wooder to pull themselves clear, but were caught by Billy Monger and guest driver Callum Ilott, the battle for the win amongst all four. Wooder was shuffled to the back of the group, whilst Monger moved to second and just failed in his challenge for the win by a hairsbreadth. In the second final, Knott took up the leading position, despite a brief trade with Ilott. Towards the end, Ilott again sliced into the lead at the end of the penultimate lap, but as he defended, Monger took the opportunity for a switchback to come over the line first.
Above: Billy Monger
pic -
Chris Walker, www.kartpix.net
Final One: 1 Luke Knott; 2 Billy Monger; 3 Callum Ilott; 4 Dave Wooder; 5 Robbie Gallier; 6 Jack Evans
Final Two: 1 Billy Monger; 2 Dave Wooder; 3 Callum Ilott; 4 Luke Knott; 5 Jack Evans; 6 Robbie Gallier
Standings: 1 Billy Monger 735; 2 Dave Wood 726; 3 Luke Knott 717; 4 Robbie Gallier 692; 5 Jack Evans 672
Above: Luke Knott
pic -
Chris Walker, www.kartpix.net
TKM Senior 4-stroke
Adam Nichols enjoyed a lights to flag victory in the first final, tracked all the way by Michael West, who could find no openings. William Thomas roared into third, displacing Luke Graver, but the latter came back at him mid race and took the podium position, Graver just holding off Thomas and Joel Saunders. Nichols escaped at the front in final two, having backed the pack up at the last hairpin so the second running West came under pressure from Graver, and had to defend. West did go through momentarily, but then Graver broke clear to find Nichols too far ahead. Towards the end Chris Needham came up to pressurise Graver, whilst West fell to fourth.
Above: Adam Nichols leads the start of Final 2
pic -
Chris Walker, www.kartpix.net
Final One: 1 Adam Nichols; 2 Michael West; 3 Luke Graver; 4 William Thomas; 5 Joel Saunders; 6 Ben Deacon
Final Two: 1 Adam Nichols; 2 Luke Graver; 3 Chris Needham; 4 Michael West; 5 William Thomas; 6 Joel Saunders
Standings: 1 Michael West 725; 2 Adam Nichols 709; 3 Luke Graver 697; 4 Michael Rich 678; 5 William Thomas 663.
Junior TKM
Although Luke Cooper led initially from pole in the first final, he was soon demoted by Ash Robinson and James Peace with Danny Keirle tailing the lead group. Sophie Lanc leapt to second but Peace soon put her back to third, before the race was punctuated by an all course yellow situation. Robinson made a brilliant restart but Peace soon caught him, and as their fight intensified Peace drifted wide out of Café corner, Peace leaping to the front with Cooper soon following. Keirle managed to grab fourth from Lanc. In the second final, the first start was halted after a massive pile up out of the first hairpin. Lanc hit the spinning kart and had to visit hospital for a check up on bruised ribs, whilst guest driver Jake Walker turned upside down but was luckily relatively unscathed. He had run as high as fifth in the first final, and briefly led a heat, on his first race out of Cadets. At the restart, Peace came under unrelenting pressure from Jack Partridge, the latter coming up from a heat exclusion due to an ineligible bumper. Partridge took the lead with a lap to run, but Peace was just able to nip in front at the chicane for the win. Cooper was a lonely third whilst Robinson took Keirle on the line for fourth.
Above: James Peace
pic -
Chris Walker, www.kartpix.net
Final One: 1 James Peace; 2 Luke Cooper; 3 Ash Robinson; 4 Danny Keirle; 5 Sophie Lanc; 6 James Raven
Final Two: 1 James Peace; 2 Jack Partridge; 3 Luke Cooper; 4 Ash Robinson; 5 Danny Keirle; 6 Ryan Stronach.
Standings: 1 James Peace 708; 2 Luke Cooper 660; 3 Ash Robinson 633; 4 Will van Es 627; 5 James Raven 626
TKM Extreme
An incident at the first hairpin broke up the pack and allowed polesitter James Bartlett to go clear accompanied by Charlie Bruce-White and David Eadon. Although Bruce-White and Eadon swapped second a couple of times, Bartlett was just too quick for either to make an attack. Ryan Cole came past Joe Forsdyke for fourth, the latter dropping to eighth by the flag. By the end, Randall Lynn had come up to fourth. Bartlett had a good start in the second final, and eased out a three second gap over Eadon. All the excitement was in the battle for third, constantly swapping between Bruce-White, Lynn and Cole. At the end Lynn was dumped to tenth, and Cole to sixth, giving Bruce-White a clear run for third, guest Nick Kishor a fine fourth.
Above: James Bartlett
pic -
Chris Walker, www.kartpix.net
Final One: 1 James Bartlett; 2 Charlie Bruce-White; 3 David Eadon; 4 Randal Lynn; 5 Ryan Cole; 6 Jason Moore.
Final Two: 1 James Bartlett; 2 David Eadon; 3 Charlie Bruce-White; 4 Nicholas Kishor; 5 Ash Crossey; 6 Ryan Cole.
Standings: 1 David Eadon 709: 2 Joe Porter 678: 3 Charlie Bruce-White 656; 4 Phil Smith 639; 5 Ryan Cole 608.
Full results and information on www.s1series.co.uk
Above: Honda Cadet winner Billy Monger on the podium
pic -
Chris Walker, www.kartpix.net
