Iame British Karting Championship – Shenington

Round 2 for the Iame classes saw the series head to Shenington just a month after the opening round at PFi. This time, there were a few less drivers in some of the classes, but the quality was seriously on the rise.

Kimber vs Keirle, the rematch

Saturday was the battle of the K’s: Kimber, Keirle and King. The trio were at the top of the time sheets for almost the entire day. Qualifying showed how close these three were, as King and Kimber set identical times, a 42.35s. Keirle was just 0.04s behind in 3rd. That being said, the rest of the field was close, with the top 6 drivers covered by just a tenth. The first heat though, that went the way of Clayton Ravenscroft, who managed to best Kimber by just 0.05s on the line. The next two heats went the way of Danny Keirle on his Birel-Art kart. Firstly he bested Rory Hudson by 0.23s with Sean Butcher 3rd before a close battle with Kimber, with the gap ust over a tenth on the line. Lewis Malin rounded out the top 3. The final saw Kimber and Keirle battle while pulling away from the chasing pack, with Kimber eventually besting Keirle to take the win. After qualifying outside the top 10, Oliver Hodgson fought through the field to finish 3rd at the end. King couldn’t match Kimber and Keirle in the heats, starting the final 7th and finishing 8th.

Sunday saw Kimber pick up where he left off on Saturday, qualifying on pole with a 42.44s lap. 2nd though was the O plate holder, Thomas Turner on a 42.47 while Keirle was 3rd a tenth behind the pole sitter. Hodgson and Ravenscroft rounded out the top 5. Kimber managed to convert his pole position into a pair of victories, first chased by Turner, and then Keirle in heat 2. Keirle took victory in heat 3 followed by Ravenscroft and Turner. Kimber and Keirle would again hold the front row for the final, with Turner and Ravenscroft on row 2. It looked like Keirle would romp away, especially as Kimber dropped to 4th after a move from Turner and Ravenscroft. However, by lap 7 the two drivers were once again at the head of the field, but this time Ravenscroft stayed on terms with them. That allowed him to take the lead by the mid point as the leaders battled. But his lead was short lived as Keirle pushed passed a lap later, eventually holding on to take the win, despite Kimbers multiple attempts. Ravenscroft finished 2nd while Rory Hudson came home 4th.

Kimber has now closed to be just 2 points behind championship leader Ravenscroft, with Gus Lawrence just about holding on in 3rd, all be it 20 points behind the leader. Hudson is now in hot pursuit of 3rd, now just needing 4 points to get onto the podium. Having missed round 1, Keirle’s strong performance puts him 26th in the standings, with most drivers having completed both rounds.

McQueen and Gray take the fight to Dimitrov

41 Juniors headed to Shenington, with the top drivers in the championship all present. Qualifying saw Josh Rowledge took pole for Strawberry racing with a 43.05, just 0.02s ahead of Croc’s Caden McQueen in 2nd with Oliver Gray 3rd. Championship leader Georgi Dimitrov was 8th, just ahead of the KR duo of Oliver Bearman and Freddie Spindlow. Rowledge converted his pole into a pair of heat wins with the 3rd going to Gray. Gray also mustered a 3rd in his other heat, which beat McQueen’s 2nd and 3rd. Tom Edgar had an impressive run, finishing 2nd in heat 2, but 7th in heat 3 meant he would start the final in 4th. Dimitrov could only manage 4th and 6th, so he lined up 7th ahead of Bearman. Rowledge held the lead in the early stages, before McQueen managed to squeeze passed. Rowledge wasn’t done yet, regaining the lead, before Gray came through before loosing out to McQueen who took the win. Rowledge was 2nd on the road before being handed a 10 second penalty which dropped him to 18th. That allowed Alessandro Ceronetti to take the final podium place ahead of Dimitrov.

Sunday’s qualifying saw Rowledge again at the top of the sheets, this time with a bigger gap to 2nd place Bearman while Edgar was 3rd. This time, Dimitrov was down in 14th while Gray could only manage 18th. It was worse for McQueen who hit problems, so will start the heats from dead last. Heat 1 went the way of Ceronetti, who had a big margin over Bearman in 2nd with James Walker pulling his Coles kart up to 3rd. Rowledge bagged heat 2 ahead of Edgar and Archie Walker. Ceronetti doubled up on heat 3, with an even bigger gap over Gray who made 10 places. McQueen had a solid run to 11th and 10th , he will start the final 13th. Rowledge got the jump on Ceronetti at the start, allowing Bearman through to 2nd. Ceronetti fought back to the front, before contact saw him drop out of the race 8 laps from the flag. Bearman held the lead briefly before Rowledge got back to the front. The main story was the recovery of McQueen, who haulded himself up to 2nd with 3 laps to go, where he finished. Gray finished 3rd before Bearman was promoted to 4th after a penalty for Tom Edgar.

Those results mean that Dimitrov’s lead is down to just 1 point from McQueen, with Gray a further 14 points behind in 3rd. Bearman sits 4th, 20 points behind the leaders with Rowledge rounding out the top 5 after his impressive performance.

4 winners in 4 rounds

The Mini X30 class is by far the closest fought so far, despite being the smallest grid. Saturday’s qualifying saw Luke Watts top the time sheets with a 44.31, just 0.03 ahead of Alfie Rigby and Theo Micouris. Marcus Luzio was 4th, just 0.05s behind the pole sitter. Heat 1 was won on the road by Oliver Greenall, before he was handed a penalty, promoting Alfie Rigby to the front. 2nd was Micouris while Watts fell to 3rd, just ahead of Jessica Edgar. Greenall mirrored his performance in heat 1, this time missing out on the penalty to win the heat ahead of Jess Edgar and Micouris. Rigby fell down to 4th ahead of Luzio. Rigby started the final from pole, with Micouris alongside him, but the pair weren’t able to stop Greenall from taking the win by over a second from Watts and Harrison at the flag. Micouris fell to 5th while Rigby fell to 6th behind Bart Harrison and Oliver Algieri.

Sunday saw Jess Edgar set the pole time, going quicker that Watts had managed earlier, with a 44.12, Micouris also managed to best the previous pole time to sit 2nd on a 44.28. Luzio lined up 3rd alongside Rigby while Watts was down in 9th and Greenall not setting a time. Micouris won heat 1 just 0.07 ahead of Harrison and Rigby while Edgar fell to 4th. Greenall had a 3rd recovery drive, gaining 12 places to finish 5th. Micouris managed to seal heat 2 as well, 0.18 ahead of Edgar and Rigby with Harrison and Watts completing the top 5. Greenall finished heat 2 in 8th. Micouris lost the lead at the start to Rigby before loosing 2nd to Edgar. That move allowed Greenall and Harrison through. Greenall briefly got to the front, before Harrison made his move for the lead. Micouris managed to recover, as the leaders battled to take the lead by half distance. It was then a 3 way fight between Micouris, Greenall and Harrison to decide the win, with Harrison making his move on the final lap to win ahead of Greenall and Micouris, Daniel Bolton had a solid run to finish 4th with Algieri in 5th.

Greenall holds the lead in the championship on 237 points with Rigby 2nd on 236 and Harrison 3rd on 235. Its equally as close behind with Watts 4th and Bolton 5th on 233 and 230. Micouris, Algieri and Ed Pearson are close to breaking into the top 5, trailing Bolton by just 1 point.

Role reversal for Nakamura and Carr

Fusion and ORM are once again inseparable at Shenington, with their lead drivers again sharing the final wins. The top of the cadet field was close in qualifying, Maximus Hall set the pace with a 52.03 while Lewis Wherrell was 4th with a 52.05! Aiden Neate was 5th, still within a tenth of the leaders. Nakamura was 3rd while Carr was 8th, just ahead of Ella Stevens and Vinnie Phillips. Nakamura took a pair of victories in the heats, partly thanks to a penalty for Harley Keeble in heat 2. Despite this, a pair of 2nds saw Keeble still on the front row. Neate would line up for the final 3rd alongside Archie Clark. Carr had a disastrous first heat, finishing in 16th, despite his 4th in heat 2, he will still start the final in 14th. Nakamura converted his pole into victory in the final, with Neate moving into 2nd, dropping Keeble down to 3rd. Carr managed to move up a few places to finish 10th, while strong performances from Phillips and Sonny Smith, saw them gain 12 and 14 places respectively in the final.

Neate was the pace setter on Sunday, going 0.12s faster than anyone else, with a 51.46s lap. 2nd was Nakamura while Saturday’s pole sitter Hall was 3rd fastest. This time Carr was closer to the front with a time good enough for 4th. Nakamura repeated his performance from Saturday with a pair of wins, while Carr faired better with 3rd in heat 1 and a win in heat 3 allowed him to line up 2nd. Neate would line up 3rd with Harry Burgoyne Jnr 4th. Keeble would fill the 3rd row with an impressive Ella Stevens, who split Nakamure and Carr in heat 1. The final was a 3 way fight between Neate, Nakamura and Carr, with Neate holding the lead for most of the race, having jumped Nakamura at the start. With just 3 to go Carr threw his ORM kart passed  Neate to take the lead, as Nakamura fell behind Archie Clark and Stevens. Carr held on for the win, while Nakamura recovered to finish 2nd on the line. Neate took the final podium place, leaving Stevens to finish 4th by 0.08s.

Thanks to his better results, Nakamura leads the championship on 252 points, 16 ahead of Carr in 2nd. Vinnie Phillips is 3rd a further 5 points back, with Neate 4th on 227. 3 points further back is the ORM duo of Burgoyne Jnr and Keeble, equal 5th place.

The next round of the Iame championship takes place at the newley extended Larkhall circuit in Scotland on June 7th-9th.

Image: Shenington KRC