Bayford Meadows Kart Club Round 10

The final round of one of the top Clubman series at Bayford Meadows, featuring some classes we don’t normally see through the rest of the UK.

Bambino

13 Bambinos arrived at Bayford Meadows for the final round of their championship, and it looked as though it was going to be Oscar O’Sulivan’s title. Having missed round 6 he wouldn’t be dropping any points, where as his closest challenger Harry Freeman would drop 105! That meant Freeman had everything to do over the 3 timed runs. Run 1 went the way of O’Sulivan, just 0.23s clear of 2nd place Fletcher Jamieson who had a slim advantage over Freeman in 3rd.

Run 2 saw Freeman beat O’Sulivan by just under 7 tenths, but that alone wouldn’t be enough to give Freeman the title. Freeman would need O’Sulivan to hit problems in run 3 to stand a chance of the title. Those problems never materialised, with Jamieson taking the 3rd heat by 0.620 from O’Sulivan and Freeman, who were tied on a 1:12.85. The top 3 were the only drivers to break the 1:13 barrier all weekend. That gave O’Sulivan the title, with Freeman a distant 2nd and Jamieson in 3rd.

Honda Clubman Standard

With a total of 100 points available over the weekend, there were still 4 drivers in with a chance of the title. Leader Ryan Echberg held a 32 point advantage over Harry Chamberlain while Jessica White was only 3 points further back in 3rd. Zain Khan was 54 points off the leader but still had an outside shot of the title.

Qualifying showed that it wouldn’t be easy for the challengers as Echberg bagged pole by 0.11s. Second was Owen Neave with the closest title rival being Chamberlain in 5th. Khan was in 8th while White was down in 14th with alot of work to do. Echberg converted his pole to a win in the heat, Neave held on for 2nd while Chamberlain made moves up to 3rd to attempt to keep his title hopes alive.

The Pre-Final had a similar winner, Echberg dominanting in 1st, Chamberlain 3rd with Henry Ng-zeederberg popping up into 2nd. Khan was again down in 7th while White had recovered to 9th. That now meant it was a 2 horse race in the final, Chamberlain needing to win with Echberg down in 14th. Echberg wouldn’t provide Chamberlain a chance, taking a lights to flag victory to seal the championship. Chamberlain again finished 3rd with Ng-zeederberg holding his 2nd place.

Honda Clubman Elite

Just like the standard championship, there was one driver who was clear of most of the chasing pack, that being Jamie Perilly. He came into the final round 50 points clear of second place Leon Frost. Come qualifying Jamie could only get himself into 4th, just 0.400s behind pole man Jack Williamson. Frost was down in 8th a further 0.4s behind. Jack managed to convert his pole position into the heat win, coming home 3 seconds clear of 2nd place Vinny Lloyd. Perilly climbed up to 3rd while Frost moved up to 6th.

Perilly managed to seal the victory in the Pre-final, with a decent margin over Lloyd and Williamson who rounded out the rostrum. Frost got up to 5th, with Nathan Marques in front of him. By this point, any chance Frost had of clinching the title had evaporated, which meant the final would be a race for pride. That race went the way of Williamson, who was chased home by Perilly. Lloyd rounded out the podium in a very distant 3rd. Frost fell down the order to 7th at the flag.

Junior Subaru

It was looking like it could be a perfect weekend for Lewis Weaver. He was over 6 tenths faster than Charlie Hand in qualifying, who had a tenth advantage over Leon Clark. Clark had a shot at taking the title away from James Tomsett if he had a strong run this weekend. Tomsett was down in 5th with Harvey Roffe between his rival. Weaver converted pole into a dominant heat win, over 5.5s clear of Clark in 2nd. Hand was 3rd while Tomsett couldn’t move up from 5th.

The Pre-final was a slightly less dominant showing for Weaver. His advantage was just 2.29s from Roffe who got passed Clark quickly before having a solid battle with Hand for 2nd place, eventually coming out the victor. Again, Tomsett was 5th on the road. That meant heading into the final, Clark would need to out score Tomsett by 8 points to seal the title. With double points on offer Clark would need to win with Tomsett 4th or lower to stand a chance.

Clark did pretty much all he could do, by getting passed Weaver, but being unable to get passed a charging Roffe who sealed the final win of the season. Tomsett waited until the final to push on, climbing up to 3rd, meaning he would take the championship by just 5 points at the flag. Weaver would finish 5th, enough to cement 3rd in the championship for him.

Senior Club Max

Just 10 karts turned out for the Club max race, and with championship winner Joe Hunt was absent, this would be a fight over 2nd place. And it was extremely close between Stephen Bouffe and Michael Ashby. Ashby and Bouffe would trade places over the whole weekend. Qualifying would go to Bouffe. The heat went to Ashby as did the pre-final with the final going the way of Bouffe. What was more notable was that the top seeds in the championship, were nowhere near the fight for the win.

The performance of the weekend would have to go the way of Thomas Lawson, in just his 3rd BMKR weekend this season, taking a perfect score. Pole position by just under a second, heat win by 6.6 seconds, Pre-Final by 4.3 seconds and the final by a staggering 11 seconds. Not only is Thomas quick, but he also has a sense of humour. When entering he was asked what engine he was using and he put ‘Nope, doing it the hard way’. Got to love a joker.

Junior Club Max

Like for much of the season, it looked like the club max race would be another episode of the Riley Stephenson show. Stephenson had the most full scores and been the most consistent through the season. He looked to consolidate this with a 3rd full score. Qualifying saw him almost 8 tenths clear of the next driver, that driver being Declan Lee, 3rd was James Black. Lee and Black were Stephenson’s championship rivals. The heat saw Stephenson drive away from the chasing pack, with Lee and Black swapping places after Josh Pullen stormed through to 3rd before retiring.

The Pre-final saw Stephenson take another comfortable win from Black and then Lee. The story of the day would be the final. Stephenson held the lead at the start, but soon lost out to Lee, who got passed and managed to drive away at the front. The shocker would come from Will Egby. After starting 11th out of 15 drivers, Will climbed his way through the field, to take 2nd by lap 8, eventually chasing Lee home at the flag. Black finished 3rd while Stephenson finished off the podium in 4th. That was still enough for him to seal the Club max title by 8 points.