UK Karting - MBKC 3S Club Championship Race Report

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MBKC - 3S Club Championship

MBKC - 3S Club Championship
Round 1 - Three Sisters - 9th January 2005

Round one of the 2005 championship proved to be somewhat of a journey into the unknown. In order to bring the 2005 championship back to a 12 race series, but not wishing to impact on the December activities, MBKC decided to hold two meetings in January. The final competitor numbers were slightly disappointing at around the 130 mark, but, of course, the date may have been a little early for some competitors and others, despite reminders, may have still not received their new licences, so, all things considered, maybe the figures were not really too bad, although certain classes tended to suffer more than others, notably 125 open gearbox and Rotax 177.

The drivers who did compete however provided a cracking day of entertainment and, despite forecasts to the contrary, following a weekend of high winds and rain, we were all incredibly lucky that the threatened afternoon deluge held off until moments after the final race of the day.

The afternoons first final involved the cadets and, although last years champion Daniel Murphy has now moved on to Minimax, his old sparring partner Chris Warburton had plenty of competition, not least in the shape of Billy Albone who had made the long trip from Surrey. Indeed, it was this pair, together with the consistent Max McGuire who had been battling it out all day and again in the final it was this trio who quickly headed away into the lead. The front two of Warburton and Albone were having a rare old tussle, the lead changing hands on several occasions, with McGuire too having a look at the situation from time to time, though generally content to play a watching brief and hope to feed off any scraps offered by the front two. In the final lap, Albone had regained the lead and, going into lunar bend for the final time, looked to have it sewn up, but Warburton, right at the death came up virtually alongside, Albone just holding on with the official gap showing 0.002secs. McGuire finished a close run third, what a start!

A small field of S60 cadets running on a split grid saw Bradley Ord make the best start, but he was soon overtaken by Cameron Lewis with debutant novice driver Jacob Hunstone coming through into second spot after a mistake by Ord. It stayed this way for some time before engine problems forced Lewis to retire, leaving Hunstone with a massive lead that he held on to comfortably to take a superb victory on his debut. Jordan Keelan came through late on to grab second spot woth Ord holding on for third.

The second final of the afternoon was the Senior TKM event which saw the afternoons only red flag following a collision between novice drivers David Holt and Chris Prescott, although fortunately neither was serious injured and racing was able to continue quickly. Prior to the stoppage, last years Junior TKM champion James Duxbury had made light work of the transition to the senior class, cantering into a huge lead ahead of this years gold cup winner, Ryan Furner. The restart saw the same outcome, with Duxbury clearly holding a massive advantage over the rest of the field. Furner still held on comfortably to second spot, but was by now some six seconds adrift of Duxbury. A good battle ensued in the later stages between John Halliwell and current champion Andy Wilson, with Halliwell just holding on under ferocious late pressure.

If the Senior TKM saw a clear cut winner, then the Minimax final put even that into the shade, as Devon Modell, starting on pole, simply disappeared into the distance, leaving Daniel Murphy and Jonathan Crankshaw trailing in his wake. With the Essex based Modell the obvious victor, barring breakdown, after only a couple of laps, the battle for the minor placings became an intense affair. Ryan Singleton came through into second spot as Murphy dropped back, seemingly hampered by mechanical problems. Oliver Webb came through into third place. Despite a couple of slight changes in the later laps, that was how it finally ended, with Modell taking victory by over eight seconds from Singleton who in the end was only just holding on to the runner up spot under increasing pressure from Webb.

Only half a dozen entrants took the track for the 125 open gearbox final, which was somewhat disappointing, and indeed, with this class now being on probation for the 2005 season, a turnaround in numbers is required if the class is to be retained as a championship in 2006. However, the final itself provided a good battle between Andrew Hazlehurst and James Price, with Price, after looking well beaten at the mid way stage, coming back well in the later stages and by the finish had Hazlehurst glancing round anxiously as he took a much more narrow victory than he had anticipated. Barry Armstrong took a distant third spot some eighteen seconds back from the front two.

It was also a smallish grid of Junior TKM drivers, this race however provided a real sting in the tail. Max Buckley took up the running from pole spot with Andrew Potter initially taking second place, although this was quickly taken over by Lee Morgan and, after a few laps, the front two had broken away a little from the rest of the pack. There was also by now a good battle going on between Potter and James Campion for third place. The placings, certainly the major ones, stayed the same throughout, with Morgan camped right on the back bumper of Buckley. Into the final lap, in fact into the final corner at lunar, and Morgan, realising it was now or never, got the inside line as Buckley went slightly wide and, with neither prepared to give an inch, a little contact saw Buckley, who had led for the entire race, spin off onto the gravel, thereby handing the victory to Morgan, with Potter and Campion coming through for the minor placings, before the crestfallen Buckley managed to limp home to at least pick up a few points.

Junior Rotax provided a good contest with a lights to flag victory for Daniel Cammish by no means telling the whole story. It was actually an object lesson in fast and defensive driving by Cammish to hold off the ferocious challenge of Nico Angelides who was very close throughout the race, but could never quite make a challenge as Cammish drove a faultless race, constantly shutting the door on Angelides. The busy Oliver Webb took his second third place of the day following his earlier efforts in Minimax.

The usual full grid of Rotax Max entrants provided yet another excellent spectacle. Nik Goodfellow, making a rare appearance, showed he had lost none of his skills, taking the early advantage from the front row, before Matt Bedford, who had been alongside him on pole, took up the running. The quartet of Bedford, Goodfellow, Dean Parker and Gary Foster began to pull clear from the pack, however, in Fosters case, a little contact with a kerb saw him damage his steering column, causing him to drop back, but still doing well to finish seventh in the end. Meanwhile up at the sharp end Goodfellow briefly regained the lead, but Bedford soon snatched it back and then began to break away somewhat, whilst behind him, ex champion Paul Pendlebury battled through to grab second spot on the final lap from Goodfellow, Dean Parker also coming through at the death to grab third place and relegate Goodfellow to fourth.

The final race of the day saw a surprisingly small line up of Rotax 177 entries in view of the fact that this class has been expanding rapidly over the past. Reigning club champion Steven Chapman flew away from pole and rapidly decimated the small field, only Damien Tonge briefly stayed wihin sight, until later in the proceedings Dean Bednarek put in some quick lapsin third spot to put Tonge under a little pressure. Chapman was able to cruise home to take the victory by some eight seconds from Tonge, who was still reasonably comfortable in second spot from Bednarek.

Report by: Mel Tipton

Results

Full Race Results from Round 1...

W60 CADETS
1/ Billy Albone (Zip/Comer)
2/ Chris Warburton (Wright/Comer)
3/ Max McGuire (Zip/Comer)

S60 CADETS
1/ Jacob Hunstone (Tony/Comer)
2/ Jordan Keelan (Zip/Comer)
3/ Bradley Ord (Zip/Comer)

SENIOR TKM
1/ James Duxbury (JKH/TKM)
2/ Ryan Furner (JKH/TKM)
3/ John Halliwell (Side/TKM)

MINIMAX
1/ Devon Modell (Maranello/Rotax)
2/ Ryan Singleton (Sodi/Rotax)
3/ Oliver Webb (Gillard/Rotax)

125 OPEN GEARBOX
1/ Andrew Hazlehurst (Mach1/TM)
2/ James Price (Gold/SGM)
3/ Barry Armstrong (Birel/TM)

JUNIOR TKM
1/ Lee Morgan (JKH/TKM)
2/ Andrew Potter (JKH/TKM)
3/ James Campion (JKH/TKM)

JUNIOR ROTAX MAX
1/ Daniel Cammish (Intrepid/Rotax)
2/ Nico Angelides (Birel/Rotax)
3/ Oliver Webb (Gillard/Rotax)

ROTAX MAX
1/ Matt Bedford (Tony/Rotax)
2/ Paul Pendlebury (Cat/Rotax)
3/ Dean Parker (JKH/Rotax)

ROTAX MAX 177
1/ Steven Chapman (CRG/Rotax)
2/ Damian Tonge (Haase/Rotax)
3/ Dean Bednarek (Tony/Rotax)

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