Neo Clarke snags home with for SPR in UKC
image © Karting Everything
The third round of the Ultimate Kart Championship saw drivers head to Three Sisters for the only national kart race of the season around the North Western circuit. In the junior max championship, one name has been at the top of the time sheets, that being Mattie Hingeley and Ultimate R. Will things stay the same at their home circuit? Well the weather wouldn’t make life easy for any of the drivers.
The opening heat of the weekend saw Hingeley take the win from the front row, having taken the lead at the start. He charged away from the field, building a 5 second gap at the flag. The fight for 2nd was much closer, as Luis Gardner beat Neo Clarke by 0.3 seconds, while Gabe Fairbrother and Trisian Rennie were split by a similar amount in 4th and 5th.
The second heat on Saturday would see the top drivers coming through from the back. Hingeley made mince meat of the competition, climbing from 9th to 2nd on the opening lap, behind Fairbrother. 2 laps later, Hingeley was leading and flying away from the field. Fairbrother would end a distant 2nd with Gardner running out of laps, ending in 3rd. 4th on the road was Kieran Kay, but a front fairing penalty dropped him to 7th, allowing Finlay Harrison and Harley Haughton to break into the top 5.
The final heat on Sunday is where things went wrong for Hingeley. Starting 11th he tried to make up ground early making it up to 7th on the opening lap. But this time his progress was stunted by Harrison and Haughton. He did manage to make his way through, setting off after Gardner, Clarke and Fairbrother who were leading. He managed to pass Fairbrother but couldn’t catch Clarke and Gardner who finished 1 and 2. After the race, Hingeley would be handed a bumper penalty, along with Rennie and Eddison Purcell.
The Pre Final would go from bad to worse for the whole Ultimate R team. A brief rain shower during the lunch break had soaked the circuit, but the sun was out. That gave the drivers a tough tyre choice, half of the field went with wets, while the other half went for slicks. When the lights went out it was clear that wets was the right choice. The slick shod runners skated around the soaked track, and a dry line didn’t appear. Garnder took the flag, over 4 seconds ahead of Kay with Haughton and Clarke also making the right tyre choice. By contrast, Hingeley, Fairbrother and Harrison all got it wrong, ending the pre final a lap down with it all to do in the final.
When the lights went out for the final, Gardner held the early lead with Haughton close behind him. Behind, Hingeley’s day would get even worse, as contact would see him drop to the back with Rennie, while Ben Folland’s day would also come to an early end. Gardner would end up in the wars too, falling down to 6th on the 2nd tour, handing Haughton the lead with Kay, Fairbrother and Clarke close behind.
The top 4 were nose to tail for most of the second half of the race, all using the slip stream to get overtakes done into the first corner, with Kay, Haughton and Clarke all taking turns at the front of the field. Behind though, Hingeley was on a come back drive. By half distance, he had managed to climb up to 7th place and with 3 laps to go, he was 5th and within a second of Haughton, who held the lead. That lead soon fell, when Clarke used the slip stream to get passed at turn 1, and then some strong defending meant the pack behind couldn’t do anything about him.
Therefore, Clarke would take the win over Fairborther who managed to pass Haughton on the final lap. Hingeley would come across the line 3rd, but another nose cone penalty would drop him back down to 7th. Haughton would complete the podium while Kay, Gardner and Purcell would all end up ahead of Hingeley. Hingeley would also loose the lead in the championship to Luis Gardner by a single point, setting up a showdown at the final round next month.
