Tom Holden wins in rain affected final
The third round of the Cadet Kart Championship saw the paddock head to Fulbeck in Lincolnshire. A field of 27 CKC 105 drivers took to the track for another action packed weekend of racing. This time though, the weather would have a hand in proceedings.
The weekend started with qualifying on the Saturday to set the grid for the next day’s heat. Topping the 8 minute session was Jared Fox-Whiteley. His time of 51.716 was just 0.030 seconds faster than Ben Adrian could manage. Championship leader Riley Wright would start on the second row alongside Freddie Moore.
Sunday would bring mixed conditions, with the sky unsure what it wanted to do. Heading into the first heat would be run under the sunshine, with Riley Wright making his way to the front, holding off a challenge from Ben Adrian and Tom Holden. However, both would pick up 10 second penalties dropping them to 9th & 10th. That promoted Leon Barlow and Pole sitter Fox-Whiteley to the top 3. The pole man had a tight battle with Freddie Moore and Haris Roberts.
Heat 2 would see Wright start from pole and drive away from the field, showing the pace that had put him at the head of the championship. Barlow would again come home 2nd, but Adrian would charge back up to 3rd after his earlier penalty, while Holden finished 5th just behind Roberts. All of that was at the expense of Fox-Whiteley, who dropped to 6th.
During the final heat, the rain started to fall. With just a hand full of laps and the entire field on slick tyres. Despite the tricky conditions, the drivers kept battling before the organisers threw the red flags as the rain got heavier. When the reds came out, Wright was out in front by over 2 seconds. This time, Holden would slip through to 2nd with Adrian holding position in 3rd. Moore and Barlow completed the top 5, while Roberts dropped down to 13th in the slippery conditions.
That left Wright on the front row for the final with Barlow, Fox-Whiteley and Moore on the 2nd row with Adrian and Holden on row 3. But as the time came for the final, the conditions changed again. It had rained heavily during the previous races, but the track was now drying up. That lead 6 drivers: The top 4 as well as Dara McInerney and Isaac Parkinson punting for slicks.
The first attempt at getting the final going saw the slick shod runners getting a great start, but heading into the hairpin, contact would see Tommy Payne involved in an incident, causing the red flags to come out as the medics checked him over. This caused a short delay, but it was enough for the rain to return.
As the lights went out the second time, the rain was starting to fall to the horror of the slick shod runners. It ended up with most of them pulling into the pits in the opening laps, with only Dara McInerney left out there on slicks for the duration of the race.
That left Ben Adrian out in front by almost 2 seconds with Haris Roberts and Melissa Adrian trying to hold off Tom Holden behind. In the tricky conditions, overtaking was tough, but Holden managed to slip past Melissa Adrian for 3rd before setting his sights on the top 2.
Roberts and Holden spent a few laps trying to real in the leader, but it wasn’t long before Holden found space, and relinquished 2nd from Roberts. That set up a final lap battle between the 2. As they headed into the 2nd chicane, Holden held the inside, as Adrian tried to defend, but in the slippery conditions he span out.
That handed the win to Holden, with Roberts making it up to 2nd. Adrian spun his kart around, bringing it home in 3rd. Despite the spin, the top 3 were separated by less than a second on the line. Melissa Adrian came home 4th with Larry Price completing the top 5.
Despite the DNF, Wright still holds a 14 point lead over Jared Fox-Whiteley with dropped scores accounted for, but Tom Holden now moves within 20 points of the lead thanks to his final win. Leon Barlow holds 4th, 7 points further back, with Robers and Adrian tied on points in 5th.
