Bishop takes opening Iame Cadet British Champs Win
Image © Kartpix.net
After what feels like an age, the British Karting Championship has burst back into action at Rowrah for the opening round of the Iame paddock’s sesason. Thanks to various local restrictions, some big names were missing from the paddock, but the man on form, Nathan Tye was present and correct.
Qualifying showed that Tye wouldn’t have things his own way this time, as could ‘only’ manage 4th fastest on Saturday, around 4 tenths behind pole man Macauley Bishop. 2nd was Fusion’s Zac Drummond who was over 2 tenths behind the pole man with Tye’s ORM team mate Zachary Knight in 3rd. Hady Mimassi had a very strong qualifying, puting himself into 5th on the grid ahead of the likes of Lewis Wherrel, Ethan Jeff-Hall, Cathal Clark and Noah Wolfe.
The opening heat wouldn’t start well for Wolfe, as he was off the road before the lights went out. When the lights did go out, Bishop tried to drive away from the front, but was chases by the 3 drivers who started behind him. Mimassi lost out early on to Jeff-Hall, Archie Clark and Connor Duncan who all set off after the top 4 who were almost 3 seconds clear of the rest. As the race hit half distance, Tye re leaved Drummond of the lead. That started the fight.
With around 3 minutes on the clock they were swapping positions lap after lap, which allowed Duncan and Jeff-Hall to close up. Bishop and Knight took the lead at hairpin 2, but Drummond pushed Tye a touch wide at the top hairpin allowing Jeff-Hall through and allowed Knight and Bishop to clear off at the lead. Bishop would take the win over the ORM man with over 2 seconds back to Jeff-Hall in 3rd with Duncan and Drummond completing the top 5 as Tye came home 7th.
Heat 2 was a calmer affair. Bishop again got the drop on the field with Tye slotting into 2nd. The pair then spent the race working together to build a gap. As the race hit the closing stages, Bishop started to defend from Tye, but Tye kept trying to push him on, making it clear that he wasn’t about to attack the PMR driver for the win. Once Bishop got the message, the pair kept pushing and crossed the line 1.4 seconds clear of 3rd placed Jeff-Hall and 4th placed Knight. Mimassi’s day wouldn’t get any easier, as a first lap incident would see him turned around and down the order, ending the encounter in 15th.
Those results would give Bishop and Knight the front row for the final with Jeff-Hall and Tye on row 2 while Drummond and Duncan on the 3rd row. Mimassi would go off 10th.
Bishop was beaten off the line by Jeff-Hall, but quickly got the place back in the 2nd corner. That allowed the rest of the field to have a crack at Jeff-Hall’s 2nd place, ending the opening lap 4th behind Tye and Duncan who were already a second behind Bishop. Even further behind was Knight who was sent to the grass at the final corner. Having seen the gap at the front, Tye, Jeff-Hall and Duncan pushed on together to try and real him in. But try as they might, the gap kept extending.
It was soon a 3 kart pack chasing down the leaders as Drummond ran wide and span into the barriers. Luckily he was missed by the rest of the field and was able to continue. that helped Wherrell, who slotted into the space left by his team mate and bolted onto the back of Duncan.
With a hand full of laps to go, the 6 karts behind Duncan started fighting with each other, leaving Duncan alone to try and chase down Jeff-Hall and Tye. Mimassi took at turn at the front of the pack, that were squabbling over 6th before Archie Clark took a stint at the top. Wherrell managed to pick his way through the pack, and git himself clear in front as Knight managed to get himself through the pack and passed Mimassi for 6th.
Despite the best efforts of Tye and Jeff-Hall, they couldn’t chase down Bishop. They got the gap down to 7 tenths before Jeff-Hall sent it to the inside at the final corner to steal 2nd on the line from Tye. Duncan came home 4th with Wherrell 5th. Archie Clark won the fight for 6th ahead of Mimassi in a very solid 7th.
