Hodgson steals the show in Senior X30

Possibly the most competitve field of them all, with some of the biggest names in the sport gracing the paddock. One name not present was 9 time Kartmasters winner Ben Barnicoat, who has won the Senior X30 title for the last 3 years. He swapped PF International for Silverstone and a Formula 3 car.

Rising to the top of qualiyfing was one of the more famous names on the grid, that being 2017 CIK World Champion Danny Keirle, the only driver to lap PFi in less than 57 seconds. Blake Angliss was 2nd leading defending champion’s Mick Barrett Racing’s charge with young gun Caden McQueen just a few hundreths off in 3rd. David Sutton was a further 0.04 behind for Avago. Rounding out the top 5 was Connor Jupp’s Fusion machine. 2 names to watch were Jordan Brown-Nutley and Oliver Hodgson (on his first meeting away from the PFi Team) who were going off 9th and 10th.

The opening heat seemed to set the scene for the rest of the day. Keirle got to the front and then charged away from the rest of the field, coming home 1.7 seconds clear of McQueen who, in turn had quarter of a second in front of Sutton. Hodgson would climb up to 5th at the flag behind Platten with Brown-Nutley chasing him home in 6th. Angliss would have a tough first heat, finishing down in 21st, leaving a lot to do to rescue a good grid position for the pre-final.

Heat 2 would give the paddock some hope, as Keirle would start from pole but would end up loosing the lead to Harry Platten aboard the Xenon kart, snagging the win by 0.19 seconds over the former Champion. Hodgson had an even better run to 3rd in heat 2 ahead of Caden McQueen with Brown-Nutley also coming home inside the top 5. Jupp would again fall down the order, this time coming home 9th while Angliss’ day wouldn’t get any better ending the 2nd heat in 17th.

Keirle and Platten held the front row for the pre-final with McQueen and Hodgson holding the 2nd row with Brown-Nutley and Sutton waiting in the wings on row 3. Off the start, Keirle and McQueen shot into the lead, the pair sticking nose to tail and quickly set about getting away from everyone else. Their attempts to clear off were helped by Brown-Nutley, Hodgson and Lawrence were fighting in the final laps. By the flag, Keirle and McQueen were split by just over a tenth, with Hodgson over 3.5 seconds behind in 3rd in a drag race to the line with Brown-Nutley. That would set up a proper show down for the final.

McQueen stole the lead around the outside of Keirle at the start, and hoped to keep the 2017 world champion behind him for as long as possible. Lawrence and Hodgson swapped places on the start and were close behind for the top 4. It didn’t take long for Keirle to take the lead away from McQueen at Bobby Game corner, but this time, McQueen was on his tail. Lawrence and Hodgson were setting about eachother for 3rd, with Hodgson sending it into the inside of the 1st hairpin, getting the move and allowing Jupp through along with Morgan.

The front 2 were nose to tail down the main straight, trying to pull a gap over the chasing pack, lead by Hodgson who knows PFi like the back of his hand. The leading pair didn’t quite have the pace to pull away, as the tro of Hodgson, Jupp and Morgan were slowly pulling them in. McQueen clearly had enough of following, and made the move on the former world champion for the lead. Despite the change, the guys behind were still catching them up.

McQueen looked like he just had the pace to stick with Keirle, but he didn’t have the pace to hold him behind for long, and as the race entered it’s closing stages, Keirle retook the lead at turn 1. This time, Hodgson was just a couple of kart lengths behind with another 3 drivers in his tow. McQueen wasn’t about to have a repeat of heat 1, and took the lead back with just 4 minutes left on the clock.

Now the pair started fighting. Keirle lunged to the inside of the 2nd hairpin, but McQueen was having none of it, taking the lead through the Mike Wilson Chicane to lead a 9 kart train that was seperated by just 9 tenths. McQueen then made a small mistake coming off the bridge, dropping him to 5th and giving Keirle the lead with Hodgson under the rear bumper of the Birel Art driver.

Hodgson wasted no time in going for the lead, he sent it to the inside of the 2nd hairpin, taking the place and allowing Jupp to try for 2nd. Jupp and Keirle made contact leaving Keirle backwards in the middle of the track and Hodgson with a 6 tenth lead over McQueen who was chasing him down. With 2 laps to go, McQueen was right under the bumper of the Compkart driver. Hodgson went defensive, closing the top 4 back up. With 1 lap to go it was Hodgson, McQueen, Brown-Nutley and Jupp for the lead.

McQueen had a look into turn 1, jumping up on the kerb and just holding the kart in a straight line. McQueen then made his move around the outside of the 2nd hairpin, but couldn’t get around the outside. He tried to line him up into Bobby Game corner, but Hodgson was having none of it. The pair were side by side through the final through corners, with McQueen left out on the kerb. Jupp managed to squeeze passed McQueen and was in a drag race to the line with Hodgson. By 0.02 seconds, Hodgson would take the win over Jupp with Brown Nutley just 0.07 off the winner at the line. McQueen would end up in 5th, finishing 0.5s off the winner behind Gus Lawrence.

Senior X30 Kartmasters GP Top 10

1 – Oliver Hodgson – Privateer
2 – Connor Jupp – Fusion Motorsport
3 – Jordan Brown-Nutley – Strawberry Racing
4 – Gus Lawrence – PF International Karting
5 – Caden McQueen – Mad Croc Promotions
6 – Harry Platten – Privateer
7 – Derek Morgan
8 – Cole Kilner – Mick Barrett Racing
9 – Joseph Taylor – Argenti Motorsport
10 – David Sutton – Avago Karting