Brown-Nutley and Gilbert at the top of Senior Max Kickoff honours
The BNL Kick off meeting took place last weekend (Feb 24th), with quite a few Brits making the trip over the water.
The 34 kart field was split in half for qualifying, with Ilian Bruynseels setting the early pace with a 53.830. His closed challenger was Mick Nolten who was 0.135s beind with Nick Cuppens a further 0.348 to take the top 3 spots in group 1. Group 2 looked like they were going to go quicker, but Kai Hunter just missed out on pole with a 53.831, just 1 thousandth of a second off. Jordan Brown-Nutley set a 54.068 with Patrick Rundqvist on a 54.072 rounding out the top 3 in group 2. That meant Bruynseels and Hunter would hold row 1, Notlen and Brown-Nutley on row 2 with Rundquist and Kierean Gifford on row 3. Row 4 had a lot of promise with Rhys Hunter and Lewis Gilbert starting inside the top 10.
Bruynseels held the lead into the first corner while behind, Rundquist tried to go around the outside of the pack, managing to dive up to 4th ahead of Brown-Nutley. Nolten managed to get passed Hunter for 2nd on the opening lap. Brown-Nutley was on a charge, managing to dive down the inside of Rundquist on the final corner, and then set about getting passed Brown-Nutley. While Nutley was battling forward, Nolten hit the front for the first time. Further down the order Mathilda Olsson was making moves through the field, having started 14th she was now in 8th.
At the front Bruynseels was falling down the order, first loosing out to Brown-Nutley at turn 6 before Rhys Hunter out dragged him going down the straight. Brown-Nutley had the bit between his teeth, throwing his Tony Kart down the inside of leader Nolten at Turn 10 to take the lead. Brown-Nutley now set about building a gap from the chasing pack. Behind there was trouble for the top 6, as 7th placed Lewis Gilbert started pumping in the fastest laps, trying to get back in contention for the win. What helped him, was the constant fighting by the guys in front. Hunter lost out, dropping from 3rd to 5th, which allowed Gilbert to launch his KR Sport machine down the inside for 5th.
With just a few laps to go, Brown-Nutley was well clear of the chasing pack, who had started fighting hard. Bruynseels threw it up the inside of Nolten, which put him wide and on the kerbs. That allowed Gilbert and Gifford through, Nolten ended up 5th with Rundqvist and Olsson hard to separate on the line. Rhys Hunter just beat his brother Kai in 8th and 9th.
As Final 2 started, Brown-Nutley slotted into the lead ahead of Gilbert, Bruynseels had a tough start, getting dropped down to 4th thanks to Gilbert & Gifford. Mathilda Olsson made a good start to get up to 6th and tried to get passed Nolten for 5th. Brown and Gilbert started working together, pulling a gap from Gifford behind. As Gifford focused on the guys in front, he was left open to Bruynseels at turn 2, who fired down the inside of the Brit. Behind, the pack was squabbling, going 3 wide at T7 as some quick drivers try to make up positions. The battles left Rundqvist goes wide at T10 clipping a cone and dropping down the order to 17th. The same battle caught out Olsson dropping her to 16th.
A few laps later, Gifford returned favour on Bruynseels producing a carbon copy move to take back 3rd, which allows Nolten to close and pass both of them to lead the chasers. But the leading 2 now had a near 1 second gap. The gap between the leading pair at times was less than a tenth, but Brown-Nutley soaked up the pressure and drove a near faultless race. Behind though, the chasing pack started working together to try and get on terms with the leading Brits.
As the race entered the final 2 laps, Gilbert started trying to make a move on Browwn-Nutley, but the Strawberry man was wise to the young Scott’s chances. The battling allowed Nolten to get onto the rear bumper of Gilbert as the final lap started. Nutley had a small gap coming onto the back straight, which allowed him to get clear and take the win ahead of Gilbert and Notlen. Bruynseels came home 4th with Gifford rounding out the top 5.
That now means that Brown-Nutley takes the event win and will be heading to Le Mans in August for the International final. Gilbert classified 2nd with Bruynseels 3rd.
