Ticehurst wins shortened Honda Cadet Final
image © Karting Everything
The 3rd round of the Ultimate Kart Championship would see a smaller grid of 13 Honda cadets take to the track to blast through the half way point of the championship. The good news was all of the title contenders were present at Three Sisters, meaning the fight for the top honours would still be a hard fought one.
Saturday’s opening heat would see a close battle for the win, but Blake Ticehurst would come out on top over Connor Duncan with Henry Joslyn completing the top 3. A little bit further back was Alfie Thompson with championship leader Ewan Charman completing the top 5. Round 2 winner Gustavs Usakovs ended in 6th.
Ticehurst would double up in the 2nd heat, this time having a much closer finish, with team mate Joslyn pushing him over the line in 2nd place. An impressive run Ticehurst started down in 11th, getting up to the front by half distance. Usakovs would fall from pole to 3rd while Charman completed the top 4. Duncan’s race would end early, leaving him some work to do in the final.
The final heat was another win for Ticehurst. Starting from the 2nd row, he grabbed the lead early on and set about building a gap over the rest of the field. Connor Duncan managed to make his way through the field to 2nd with Joslyn picking up 3rd, just ahead of Liam Hartley who climbed 6 places to 4th with Usakovs just behind him.
A downpour during the lunch break gave drivers some tricky track conditions, but all decided to contest the pre final on wets. This time, Ticehurst and team mate Joslyn would push away at the front, with the latter leading the charge. The pair ran a smart race, working together to build a 2.6 second gap Thompson in 3rd. He would share the 2nd row for the final with Charman, while Duncan and Usakovs would go off row 3.
Once again, the two Ambition team mates tried to break away at the front. But this time, they were met with a challenge from the rest of the field. Thompson and Duncan stayed close to the leaders, as the quartet tried to push away from Usakovs in 5th. Once again, the top guys were using the slip stream to good effect, allowing Joslyn and Thompson to take turns at the front.
It also allowed Usakovs and Leon Hastie to get themselves into the leading fight. By half distance, the pair were running 2nd and 3rd. Hastie was soon passed by Duncan and Joslyn, but Usakovs kept applying the pressure in front. The front 4 were insuperable, but with around a minute left on the clock, contact saw Usakovs sent into the barrier hard on the main straight. That brought out the red flags so medics could check him out. The race was declared a result, with Ticehurst taking the win over Usakovs in 2nd and Duncan completing the podium. Joslyn and Hastie would complete the top 5 while Charman would end the weekend in 7th.
That now gives Ticehurst the championship lead by just 4 points over Charman with Usakovs a single point back, level with Duncan. That shapes up a mamouth 4 driver battle for the championship heading to GYG, with Joslyn in 5th, 10 points further back ready to pick up the pieces if the top guys have problems.
