British Karting Championship Rotax Round 1
The first round of the brand new British Karting championship took place at the world famous PFi circuit in Grantham last weekend (March 30/31) where over 150 drivers across the 4 Rotax classes were on track. These are some of the biggest and best fields in the championships history.
Mini Max
The smallest field of the event still saw 20 drivers taking to the circuit, with a bunch of new names to the class running towards the front. Having graduated from Honda cadets, Tristan Rennie set the early pace in qualifying, beating out Jez Williams by just 0.01s. Harley Haughton and Archie Kitching were on the 2nd row. The two heats saw a win each for Williams and Rennie with Haughton and Kitching holding station. The big mover was Sam Gornall who finsihed 5th and 6th in the heats, despite being disqualified from qualifying. Gornall managed to convert his pace into a win in Final 1 ahead of Kitching and Alexander Hughes as Rennie fell down to 10th. Kitching then sealed the win in Final 2, with 0.75 seconds in hand against Hughes and Williams, who had started outside the top 10. Rennie managed to recover to 7th, while Gornall plummeted down to 8th.
That now means that Kitching leads the standings on 127 points, 5 ahead of Hughes. Despite falling down in the 2nd final, Gornall is 3rd just 7 points back with Ryan Wills 4th on 118 and Haughton rounding out the top 5 on 116.
Junior Rotax
The 45 driver field in junior max was split into 2 qualifying sessions, which first saw Brodie Trayhorn set the pace with a 58.81, a fraction ahead of KR-Sport’s Ben Caisley and Ryan Taylor-Trueman in 3rd. That time looked good, until Will Elswood blew it out of the water in the 2nd session, going over half a second faster. Kai Hunter was 2nd with Taylan Babbs 3rd. The trio of Matthew Higgins, Tom Adams and Kieran Kay all managed to beat Trayhorn’s early pace. The drivers then completed 2 of 3 heats each, with Hunter besting Higgins and Elswood and Adams in the first heat. Elswood then hit back by taking the win in heat 2 ahead of Babbs and Higgins. Then Hunter returned to the top of heat 3, winning by almost 1.5 seconds ahead of Tom Adams and Ben Caisley. That gaurenteed Hunter pole for Final 1 ahead of Elswood and Matthew Higgins. Tom Adams and Babbs wouldn’t be far behind, but Caisley would be down in 10th, having received a penalty in heat 1, dropping him to 13th.
Hunter held a lights to flag victory, as behind Higgins moved up to 2nd before loosing out early on to Adams. Elswood then managed to claw his way back into 2nd before he was forced to retire just after half distance. That promoted Adams and Babbs to the podium spots, after Babbs had disposed of Higgins. Final 2 was yet another champions drive from Hunter, who stormed away from the battling Adams and Babbs. Higgins held 4th early on but dropped down the field before contact saw him fall to 18th with 5 laps to go, he eventually recovered to 15th. That allowed Harry Newman-Oakley to sneak into the podium paying positions, just fending off a charging Elswood who climbed from 30th to 4th at the flag. Those results mean Hunter takes a perfect 130 score from the weekend, 8 points ahead of Babbs in 2nd with Adams 3rd on 118. Newman-Oakley is equal 4th with Myles Barthorpe who had a consistant weekend inside the top 6.
Senior Max
The biggest field of the weekend saw 52 drivers battling it out in the Senior max class, with some serious talent present.
Again, the grids were split, with Kieran Gifford topping the timing screens in qulaifying 1, thanks to his 56.85s time, he had a decent margin over Tom Edmunds, Rhys Hunter and Oalkey Pryer who were split by just 0.06s in the end. As the 2nd session unfolded, it was clear Gifford’s pace would be tough to beat. Bradley Barrett came close with a 56.89, but couldn’t go any faster. Luke Wooder was 2nd fastest on a 56.91 while Patrick Rundqvist was the 3rd and final man into the 56s. James Lowther was a distant 4th on a 57.12.
Each driver then raced in 2 of 4 heats. Heat 1 was a slim win for James Johnson, who had started 7th and fought his way forward. Oakely Pryer came home 2nd while Teddy Clinton moved up 5 places to finish 3rd. This was helped by Luke Wooder dropping to 6th and Gifford dropping to 7th. It was bad news for Ben Burgess, who retired at half distance having started 6th. Heat 2 was a win for Ben Davies ahead of DHR team mate Barrett. Morgan Rose climbed 6 places to 3rd, demoting Hunter and Lowther to 4th and 5th. Gifforfd returned to the front for heat 3, taking a dominant win ahead of Edmunds and Johnson, Lowther held station in 4th, as did most of the field. Apart from Lewis Malin who charged up 15 places to finish 11th. The final heat was a win for Barrett, just edging out Wooder and Pryer who managed to get passed Hunter early on. Those results put Barrett in the driving seat ahead of Johnson and Pryer with Gifford down in 6th, Wooder 7th and Hunter 8th.
Before the finals was the Repechage, which saw Ben Burgess, Jason Lockwood and Jack Mayle scrape their way through to the final along with Rob Ellis and Jem Hepworth. Final 1 was a win for Johnson, who just fended off a charging Gifford and Lowther who took the podium paying spots. Barrett came home 4th on the road, but was handed a 5 second penalty, dropping him to 5th behind Pryer, who was a distant 5th at the time. Lewis Malin continued his charge to climb 17 places to finish 8th, as Lockwood climbed 14 places to finish 17th. It was disaster for Edmunds who failed to finish, as did Ben Burgess.
Final 2 was a closely fought race between Gifford and Barrett, with the KR Sport driver just edging out the DHR man in a drag race to the line. They were well clear of Lewis Malin who completed his run to 3rd at he flag, ahead of Pryer and Myles Apps. Burgess managed to find 22 places to finish 10th as did Edmunds who ended the day 12th, just ahead of Jake Douglas and Jason Lockwood in 14th. Johnson though had the opposite problem, dropping 21 places to finish 22nd at the flag.
Gifford now holds a 7 point lead on Barrett in the championship. Pryer is 3rd on 118 with Lowther just behind on 116. After his charges through the field, Malin is rewarded with 5th in the standings, having not set a time in qualifying.
Rotax 177
Despite being a bit older and heavier than the Senior max driver, the 177 brigade are some of the most experienced drivers in the British Championships. 39 drivers decended onto PFi, with Chris Wright setting the early pace in qualifying, just ahead of Levi King and Nathan Chafer, being the only lads into the 57s. As the 2nd session unfolded, it was clear they couldn’t quite get on terms with the earlier guys, as number 2 seed Chris Thomas could only pull a 58.03s lap out of the bag. That was still enough for 4th fastest overall though. Cole Edwards was 2nd fastest while reigning champion Louis Large was 3rd fastest.
Heat 1 was a win for Joe Bleackley after starting 5th, the Coles Racing pilot held off a challenge from King and O plate James Moorcroft, while Chris Wright was demoted to 4th. Thomas though plummeted to 19th, meaning he would have some work to do in heat 2. Heat 2 saw Chafer take the win by just over a second from James Beacroft and Chris Wright. Bleackley was running 4th before a penalty dropped him down to 6th behind Edwards and Large. It was worse for Thomas, who failed to finish heat 2, meaning he would have to fight for a spot in the finals. Chafer repeated his earlier heat, to win heat 3. This time doubling his margin to 2 seconds ahead of Beacroft and King this time. Edwards was a distant 4th. Chafer would therefore line up on pole for the finals with Beacroft alongside him. King and bleackley would share row 2 with Wright and Edwards on row 3. Large would start 7th, just alongside Alexander Luck.
In the Repechage, Thomas took a comanding win over Oliver Smith to qualify for the Finals, but would be starting the first just 6 spaces from the back. Chafer sealed the deal in final 1, with just under half a second over James Beacroft. Chris Wright was 3rd while James Moorcroft moved from outside the top 10 into 4th. E plate holder Michael Cheek had a strong run to 5th while Luck and Large were 6th and 7th. Thomas could only find 7 places to get into 22nd at the flag. Chafer held the early lead in final 2, but had constant pressure from Cheek, until lap 6 where the Eplate got passed, dumping Chaffer down to 6th. It would soon go from bad to worse, as Chafer would drop out of the race all together. That left new leaders Cheek, Beacroft and King to fight it out for the win. King eventually got passed with 3 to go, and then drove away from the chasing field. He took the win by just under 1.5 seconds from Beacroft and King, who fought to the flag. Moorcroft would have to settle for 4th while Large rounded out the top 5.
The standings see Beacroft lead on 124 points ahead of Moorcroft and Cheek in joint 2nd on 118. Wright is 1 point behind in 4th, while King rounds out the top 5 a further point behind. Defending champion Large sits 6th, 10 points off the leader.
The next time we will see the Rotax classes will be at Rowrah in May, but the British Championship is back at PFi on April 12th-14th for the first round of the IAME championship.
Image: British Karting Championship
