Edgar’s Hyundai Super One MSA/TKM British Championship Series Round 2: Whilton Mill 12/13 May 2012
By Karting1 ~ May 16th, 2012. Filed under: Announcements.
Ben Barnicoat and Martin Kodric starred in the two MSA British Championship classes whilst other favourites faltered. Some huge battles, and huge disappointments entertained in the other classes on what was thankfully a dry weekend with plenty sunshine on Sunday. The Super Cadet class was dropped due to insufficient entries. Track action was recorded for both Mobil One ‘The Grid’, following the three Indian ‘One in a Billion’ drivers, and for Sedmabrzina TV covering Croatian Martin Kodric.
Ben Barnicoat celebrates his first KF2 win in UK – pic by Kartpix.net
Comer Cadet
Enaam Ahmed took top spot in timed qualifying from William Pettit, with mixed fortunes for Dean MacDonald, 6th in his session, and Zak Fulk, 8th in his. Cameron Roberts won both his heats, whilst Fulk took the other one, putting them on the front row for Final 1. Jonny Edgar from the title sponsors family and the youngest in the class made grid 6 in his second ever national event. Albert Carter was excluded from the third heat for driving standards putting him into the repechage where he achieved 2nd behind Teddy Wilson. As Roberts, Ahmed and Sam Faulkner led the pack away in Final 1, Hugo Bentley Ellis was tipped into a big slide onto the grass, followed in by three others. Fulk demoted Faulkner on lap 2 and set off after the lead duo followed and passed by Josh Smith from grid 12. Oliver York stopped when he inadvertently knocked off his ignition. Sean Rudge had made great progress, relieving Ross Martin of 4th but later falling foul of the battle with an off. Ahmed made his move on the lead, but it was short lived as he got pushed out onto the grass a lap later, Roberts back in charge. His efforts were not rewarded as he too was run wide, losing touch with new leader Josh Smith, narrowly winning from Fulk. For the second final Roberts was quick to relieve Smith of the initial lead, the latter having to leapfrog Martin to get back in touch. Martin faded away to 8th for an eventual 6th. Smith was hung out to dry round the uphill Christmas Corner, falling to 4th as Ahmed took up the lead over a fighting Fulk and Roberts. Roberts was once more eased onto the grass, losing touch and leaving Ahmed blocking madly on the last lap. Fulk took a run out of the last corner and just pipped him on the line, on times a dead heat. “I just planned to stay behind all the way until the last lap, and as Enaam went tight I went wide then undercut him to the line,” said the winner. York reached a very creditable fifth from the back.
Junior TKM
A close timed qualifying had 23 our of the 29 drivers blanketed by under a second, and headed by Sam Randon, Jake Campbell-Mills, Matt Davies and Jack Partridge. It was Partridge who took the first heat, Randon the second but Campbell-Mills consistency with two seconds earned him pole for the first final and it was he who led Davies, Ryan Gray, Partridge and Jordan Irvine – who had fallen back in a heat when his spark plug cap came off. Partridge battled to the front of the group, throwing off a strong challenge by Randon, but then Randon came back at him having re-passed Campbell-Mills and this time it briefly stuck. Partridge recovered the lead, but was hung out to third, and became embroiled in a dice with Randon letting Irvine escape to the win, Partridge second. Partridge vaulted past Irvine for the second Final lead, until halfway through when Randon overwhelmed him and he fell to fourth. Rapidly taking back Stephen Letts, Partridge found Daniel Baybutt and new leader Randon too far ahead and he had to settle for third. “I needed to do Jack in a corner where he would suffer and not come back at me, so I ran him wide and after that is was plain sailing,” explained Randon.
TKM Extreme
Phil Smith had the edge on Simon Vercoe and Daniel Burton in timed qualifying, and went onto win both heats with Will van Es sharing the Final 1 front row, defending champion Joe Porter and then Simon Vercoe on the second row. But Vercoe and Ryan Cole collided at the start, putting them out of contention, Cole later penalised. Smith eked out a cushion on Porter with van Es and Josh Waring strung out behind. Waring fell back behind Ash Crossey but then at scrutineering Smith’s engine was found to be under the limit on head volume and he was excluded from the meeting, gifting Porter the win. So it was altogether a much tighter fight in the second final, Porter, van Es and Daniel Burton all vying and trading the lead. Porter fell away to fifth, and later to finish seventh. Ash Crossey leapfrogged van Es and Burton for the lead, and managed to hold to until the flag. “I just got a bit of a break with four laps to go and managed to break the tow,” he explained. He was greatly aided by Burton and van Es swapping second repeatedly but coming out in favour of Burton. “I wanted to work with Dan to push us forward but he wasn’t up for it but I’ll take a third place any day,” said van Es.
Formula KGP
Tom Healy and Denis Gorman competed with each other for top dog all weekend, although it ended in tears. Pipped in timed qualifying, Gorman only managed fifth in the first heat – won by Jonathan Davis over John Pike – whilst Healy non-finished, but Gorman just beat Healy in the second heat. Scott Allen and Robert Shield collided in that second heat. So it was Gorman on pole from Davis in the first final, as they led off in that order, with Luca Hirst nipping past Bobby Game for third, soon followed by Healy on his recovery drive to the front. After a brief battle with Hirst, who faded to eighth, Healy sliced under Davis at the Christmas Corner and rapidly narrowed the gap to Gorman, finally slipping underneath on the way into the Boot complex. Gorman stayed close but no gap was offered. Davis was a lonely third whilst Jake Hughes came out on top of the battle for fourth whilst Shield stopped on the track. Allen snatched seventh from James Gornall on the last lap but then suffered another penalty. In the second final, Healy escaped at the start with a big lead over Gorman who had fought hard to keep second over Davis through the first turns. Davis settled into a dice with Hughes, joined by Pike until he pulled over with engine issues. Gorman gradually closed down on Healy, and caught up with a lap to spare but Healy was defending hard. Gorman tried to go round the outside of the Boot hairpin, but no quarter was given and they tangled on the way out, Gorman running onto the grass and stalling his engine, Healy managing to stutter forwards for second as Davis flew past for the win. “The wheels touched and the karts rode up,” said Healy as Gorman stalked off. Davis added: “I saw them come together, it was a very tough race, very long,” said a delighted Davis.
KF2 MSA British Kart Championship
The question was, who would come out on top, the vastly experienced multi British champion Mark Litchfield or the young pretender, current Junior British champion Ben Barnicoat at half the age? Barnicoat took first blood in the timed qualifying but Litchfield won the first heat after Barnicoat pulled over on the first lap when his chain broke. Some said this was fortuitous as his tyres would be fresher for the finals, but he had the pace anyway. Barnicoat went well clear in the second heat, Litchfield clearly intent on tyre conservation and settling for a distant third behind Zubair Hoque. Chopping off Hoque’s challenge at the start of the first final, Litchfield opened up a lead chased by Ricky Collard but Barnicoat was storming through the small pack of nine karts. He took Collard at the uphill Christmas corner, then wasted little time in closing down on Litchfield. Through at the Boot complex, Litchfield seemed to have no answer to Barnicoat’s 2s win, Collard and Jack Barlow behind. For the second final, Barnicoat leapt off for what would become a substantial 7s win, never touched. Litchfield had to pass Collard but then tangled slightly and fell back to third behind Barlow with Collard nearly last. Litchfield’s challenge to make up the gap ended in retirement with engine woes, leaving Hoque to snatch second from Barlow oat the end. “I think to be honest we’ve had strong pace all weekend, the ART chassis has worked brilliantly and the GFR engine is just great,” said Barnicoat.
KF3 MSA Junior British Kart Championship
This was expected to be a duel between first round double winner George Russell and Martin Kodric but it all fell apart for the British driver. And that was the order from timed qualifying with Kodric pipping Russell over James Kellett, Alex Gill, the younger Billy Monger and Luke Start behind whilst Harrison Newey was underweight. But Stark was excluded for driving standards in both heats, the second in company with Nathan Aston, and Stark did well to reach eighth at the end of the day. It was Gill who took the first heat from Kodric, Russell non-finishing, and in the second Russell beat Kodric and Gill. Although no sinecure, Kodric was never headed in the first final, with first Gill and the top Indian Jehan Daruvala chasing. The latter had great pace considering his lack of experience at this level and certainly impressed this time. No less than ten karts came off on the opening lap, leaving Russell to emerge in fourth and pick off the two ahead to catch Kodric. Russell tried hard to find a gap round the last complex but Kodric was keeping the door firmly closed. And then Russell was excluded for a driving standards issue, putting him last once more for the second final. This time Russell made it up to mid pack quite quickly then seemed to have a problem being passed by both Tarin Reddy and Arjun Maini before picking up the pace again to finish seventh. Meanwhile at the front Kodric was in charge, although Gill gave him a firm challenge mid-race, then faded nearly 3s back, but not into the clutches of James Kellett. Josh Price had taken Daruvala early on, but Daruvala retook third on seeing Kellett approaching fast, only to crash out soon after Kellett had leapfrogged both of them. He said his brakes had failed. Sammy Oram-Jones had a good run up to fifth from his grid 13 start, all the while coping with a partially broken steering. “It’s really great racing in England against such good drivers,” said a happy Kodric.
Results
Comer Cadet
Final 1
1 Josh Smith (Zip) 19 laps in 16m47.48s (47.14mph); 2 Zak Fulk (Zip) +00.08s; 3 Cameron Roberts (Zip); 4 Enaam Ahmed (Zip); 5 Ross Martin (Wright); 6 Dean MacDonald (Zip). Fastest lap Smith and Fulk 0.52.49s.
Final 2
1 Fulk 18 laps in 15m59.82s (46.88mph); 2 Ahmed +00.00s; 3 Roberts; 4 Smith; 5 Oliver York (Zip); 6 Martin. Fastest lap York 0.52.57s.
Junior TKM
Final 1
1 Jordan Irvine (Tonykart) 21 laps in 16m32.78s (46.43mph); 2 Jack Partridge (Jade) +00.77s; 3 Sam Randon (Tonykart); 4 Jake Campbell-Mills (Tonykart); 5 Daniel Baybutt (Jade); 6 Ryan Gray (Tonykart). Fastest lap Randon 0.46.08s.
Final 2
1 Randon 21 laps in 16m26.68s (53.21mph); 2 Baybutt +01.36s; 3 Partridge; 4 Irvine; 5 Stephen Letts (Tal-Ko); 6 Arran Mills (Jade). Fastest lap Randon 0.46.35s.
TKM Extreme
Final 1
1 Joe Porter (Tonykart) 21 laps in 16m22.13s (53.45mph); 2 Will Van Es (Intrepid) +01.14s; 3 Ash Crossey (Tonykart); 4 Joshua Waring (ARC); 5 Scott Fowler (Intrepid); 6 Daniel Burton (Tonykart). Fastest lap Crossey 0.46.42s.
Final 2
1 Crossey 21 laps in 16m26.21s (53.23mph); 2 Burton +00.46s; 3 Van Es; 4 Fowler; Luke Graver (Tonykart); 6 Waring. Fastest lap Van Es 0.46.42s.
KGP
Final 1
1 Tom Healy (Birel) 22 laps in 16m21.39s (56.04mph); 2 Denis Gorman (Maranello) +00.38s; 3 Jonathan Davis (Intrepid); 4 Jake Hughes (Birel); 5 Chris McCarthy (Zanardi); 6 Bobby Game (Birel). Fastest lap Healy 0.44.08s.
Final 2
1 Davis 22 laps in 16m26.35s (55.76mph); 2 Healy +00.56s; 3 Hughes; 4 Scott Allen (Jade); 5 Game; 6 Fraser Wallace (Maranello). Fastest lap Gorman 0.44.17s.
KF2
Final 1
1 Ben Barnicoat (ART) 22 laps in 16m05.23s (56.98mph); 2 Mark Litchfield (Birel) +01.51s; 3 Ricky Collard (ART); 4 Jack Barlow (Intrepid); 5 Zubair Hoque (Alonso); 6 Alex Hamilton (Intrepid). Fastest lap Barnicoat 0.43.23s.
Final 2
1 Barnicoat 22 laps in 16m01.85s (57.18mph); 2 Hoque +07.25s; 3 Barlow; 4 Hamilton; 5 Collard; 6 Sam Webster (ART). Fastest lap Barnicoat 0.43.23s.
KF3
Final 1
1 Martin Kodric (Alonso) 22 laps in 16m23.41s (55.92mph); 2 Alex Gill (Wright) +01.88s; 3 Jehan Daruvala (Alonso); 4 Charlie Barlow (Wright); 5 Josh Price (Intrepid); 6 James Kellett (Birel). Fastest lap Kodric 0.44.16s.
Final 2
1 Kodric 22 laps in 16m23.20s (55.94mph); 2 Gill +02.70s; 3 Kellett; 4 Price; 5 Samuel Oram-Jones (Intrepid); 6 Darius Karbaley (Alonso). Fastest lap Russell 0.44.22s.
Gallery. Pics by Kartpix.net
The king is back to regain his crown
