Last weekend saw the team travel the 250 plus miles up to Rowrah Circuit in Cumbria for the second round of the Super One British Championships.

Rowrah is a very technical circuit and Luke Whitehead had been there once before, in April and had about 48 minutes track time….not ideal.

Luke showed great pace in Fridays practice and we were looking forward to the heats come Saturday. Qualifying on Saturday morning saw Luke in 9th place, we were hoping for better, but still top ten.

A small issue in the first heat saw Luke drop back to 10th place, he could not get any heat in his tyres and it showed dramatically in his lap times, being over half a second off the pace. Heat two and with the issue resolved, Luke seemed to get his pace back, setting one of the fastest lap times and finishing 8th. This would give him a 13th place start for the first final on the Sunday.

The weather had changed overnight and we were met with a very wet circuit for final 1. Luke had a great start and even though he had never driven there in the wet, pushed forward, battling his way up to 7th at one point, but finishing 9th for the flag, this would be his starting position for the final 2.

By the time the second final came the track was starting to dry, set up and tyre pressures were critical and we adjusted the set up and tyres at least 3 times in the 20minute time slot in parc ferme.

We were somewhere near, as Luke showed great pace from the start, moving forward and picking drivers off one by one. He managed to get as far as 5th place on the last lap but had to settle for 7th at the flag. This was a very hard weekend for Luke, with some hard overtaking and defense work from the seeded older drivers, but again he didn’t back down and came away, yet again with more experience.

Luke gained reasonable points this weekend and he moves up to 12th place in the championship, only a handful of points seperate him from a top 10 place at this early stage.

There are two rounds in June, Glan Y Gors in North Wales and PFI in Lincolnshire, we hope to reap some rewards from these fast circuits…..

Sunday the 28th April was the first round of the Kent Cup Championship, held at Bayford Meadows circuit.

Jake Gillett hadn’t been to the circuit for nearly 6 months, but in practice on Saturday, Jake worked hard and he was soon on the pace.

Come race day qualifying Jake placed himself in 2nd by a little over a hundreth of a second, on the outside for the first corner.

Jake got squeezed at the start of the first heat and dropped back, he worked his way up to take the lead at one point but was forced onto the grass and then given a helping hand into the ‘boot’ from behind leaving him to finish 4th place for the flag, again putting him on the outside for the pre final.

Not the best of starts for Jake in the pre-final, tangling with another driver who mounted the rear of his kart, but Jake pushed on and managed to finish in 6th place, which meant he would start the final in 5th, this time on the inside.

A great race ensued, positions were swapping all the time and the battle for the lead was between four drivers. Jake managed to secure 2nd place going into the final lap and he defended perfectly, he left a small opening at the end of the centre straight which 3rd and 4th hustled into pushing him back to 4th, but Jake didn’t give in, changing his line and switching back to re-take 3rd and a side by side sprint to the flag for second, Jake losing out on this occasion.

Jake drove really well this weekend and proved he can be a contender for a win at Bayford. Hopefully a good result at Buckmore will help his points further……

Sunday 21st April was the first round of the Buckmore Park Summer Championship.

Jake Gillett was joined in the awning for race day by new driver Lochlan Bearman.

During the Honda Cadet Qualifying Jake got off to a flier, running in third place for 70% of the timed laps, but towards the end, a handful of other drivers put in slightly quicker times, one of them being Lochlan who was running as far back as 12th in the early stages. Jake qualified 7th and Lochlan 3rd in a good field of drivers.

Jakes pace and race craft were evident throughout the heats, overtaking, pulling away and trying to move to the front. He was unfortunate to be taken off going into Garda and from then on a plague of incidents saw him slip back further. Jake put in a fine performance in the final, he was capable of running in the top five this weekend, a little luck is required for the next rounds!

Lochlan started the day in third and carried on this position right through to the final, he was under immense pressure on the last laps of the race, but his age and experience paid off and he took the third step on the podium. a great result considering this was his first time with us, we look forward to working with him again next month. Well done Lochlan.

Last weekend was the first round of the Super One British Championships held at Three Sisters circuit near Wigan.

With only one driver entered in the championship, Luke Whitehead, testing was a major factor for us. We did not have the luxury of collecting data from the 6 to 9 drivers that most of the big teams had and it was going to be a testing time for both driver and mechanic to get the kart right.

We were slightly off the pace for the first practice session on Friday morning but after receiving feedback from Luke we immediately showed front running pace and were producing some worthy lap times and moved through the field with confidence.

By Saturday morning qualifying, the track had changed, we were in the first group to go out and the kart lacked the performance it had from the practice day, we qualified 9th in our group and as the second group had a cleaner track to work with they immediately went faster pushing us back to a 12th place start for the heats in the afternoon.

After checking the data and talking to the driver, we did some major changes to set up and it proved to be the right choice, Luke showing front running pace once again and he finished his two heats in 4th and 7th, giving him a 4th row position of 8th for the Finals on Sunday.

Sunday mornings practice, saw Luke clocking 2nd fastest lap times and we were confident come the first Final at 1pm.

Luke drove a very mature race, the kart came on a little later than expected but as it was a 15minute race, this proved to work out quite well, with Luke clocking the fastest lap of the day and finishing where he started in 8th.

We were clocking up some great points in the championship and were confident of doing even better in the 2nd final. Luke immediately moving up to 6th on the first lap and looking in contention for a better result until a mechanical fault saw him pull off the track in the fourth lap, race over.

Luke should have been in the top ten for points which would have been a better start than we could have hoped for, being the youngest front runner. An unfortunate 2nd final saw him come away in 13th place but we learned a lot and are looking forward to the second round at Rowrah in May.

Last weekend was the final round of the Bayford Meadows Winter Championship 2013.

Luke Whitehead and Patrick Kibble were in the awning for race day.

A good start for Luke in Honda Cadet’s saw him take pole in timed qualifying. The following heats weren’t so good, Luke getting  jumped in heat 1, dropping back to 6th by the first corner, how did that happen………

He was then held up by a driver being totally defensive on the first three laps allowing the front 4 drivers to pull a large gap. Finally Luke broke free and chased down the front runners, catching them on the penultimate lap, but was unable to move any further forward. A similar situation ensued in Heat two with Luke again having to chase down the front runners, finally finishing 4th.

Luke started the final in 4th, on the outside,again he was left no option but to drop back as far as 7th by turn one whilst the front 5 drivers started to pull away. Luke promptly overtook this driver on lap 2 and then began hunting down the front pack, he caught them quickly and one by one moved passed them in turn with some confident moves, making it to the front with three laps remaining, where he stayed until the chequered, also posting the fastest lap of the day.

Patrick qualified unusually outside the top ten in Honda Clubman but he dug deep and during the heats moved through and up to as high as 6th place at times. Getting tangled with other drivers didn’t help his cause and he dropped back to finish 9th in the final.

Both boys took podiums in the Winter Championships 2013 at Bayford with Patrick taking 3rd in Honda Clubman and Luke taking 2nd in Honda Cadets, the trophies for this will be presented at the first round of the Summer Championship in March.

Worthy of mention is Khali Atkins, he has been improving rapidly in recent weeks and he finished 6th in the Honda Cadet Championship.

Buckmore Park held an awards evening in February 2013, to celebrate the success of drivers who made it to the podium in their Summer Championship 2012.

Both Luke Whitehead and Patrick Kibble were in attendance, both collecting trophies. Luke for 2nd place in the Honda Cadet Championship and Patrick for 3rd in the Honda Clubman Championship.

Congratulations boys, a long, testing and hard season at Buckmore, with many highs and lows throughout 2012.

Last Sunday after the first meeting of the Winter series at Bayford Meadows, was the trophy presentation for the Summer Championships 2012.

Luke Whitehead secured 3rd place in the Honda Cadet Championship and we congratulate him, some great racing in his first year of MSA racing.

Luke also secured 3rd place at the Lydd Honda Cadet Summer Championship 2012 even after dropping 3 rounds and also 2nd place in the F6 Honda Cadet Championships 2012.

Congratulations Luke.

Last Sunday was the first round of the winter championship at Bayford Meadows. The weather on Saturday’s testing was rain, rain and more rain, but come race day the circuit was dry.

With Patrick Kibble and Khali Atkins racing in Clubman and Luke Whitehead in Cadets.

Both Patrick and Khali had some fantastic racing during the day, with Patrick setting the fastest lap in the pre-final and Khali in the final.

Come the final, Patrick was to start in 3rd and Khali in 5th, little did we know what an intense and exciting race was to unfold. Some 8 karts broke from the main field and this eventually whittled its way down to 4 as the front runners, including Patrick and Khali broke away. Lap after lap, Patrick battled with Khali for position but never lost ground to the front 2. Eventually a slight shower hit the circuit and the front runners either span off or crashed out, those that chose wets started to push to the front, Khali and Patrick, both on slicks kept their karts on the track but dropped back through the field slightly, Khali finishing 6th and Patrick after a great effort managed to finish 3rd, great racing boys.

In the Cadets, Luke managed to win the first heat, came 6th after spinning to avoid another driver and this put him in 3rd for the final. A valiant effort from Luke after an early mistake saw him chasing down the leader, lap after lap, Luke shortened the gap, eventually down to 7 kart lengths with 3laps to go, but a back marker who fell nice or the front runner, fell in a tight twisty section for Luke and all his hard work diminished as the gap grew to a distance he could not close down in the dying laps, finally he finished 2nd, a good strong drive nonetheless.

Congratulations to all the boys, 100% effort and determination!

Yesterday saw round 7 of the Buckmore Park championship and also the Henry Surtees memorial race for the Honda Cadets.

Jake Gillett and Luke Whitehead were racing in the Cadets with Patrick Kibble in the Clubman class.

We witnessed some great racing this weekend with very changeable conditions to keep the team on their toes with constant set up changes, the bottom end of the circuit was dry whilst the top was wet.

A great result in the Honda Cadets saw Luke finally make the podium this year after knocking on the door at most rounds and what a weekend to do it, a full grid of 28 drivers and he took the 3rd step on the podium receiving the highly coveted Henry Surtees “H” trophy. The points from this weekend should move back up to 2nd place in the championship standings aswell.

Jake also had a cracking final, making his way up to 6th for the flag, a great performance.

Unfortunately, engine trouble once again besieged Patrick and he didn’t manage to finish, a good result in the final round is imperative to keep his championship hopes alive.

Next weekend is the first round of the Bayford Meadows Winter Championship….

Sunday October the 28th saw the final round of the Bayford Meadows Summer Championship.

It was an extremely cold weekend both on test and race day and the boys showed good pace all weekend.

Patrick Kibble, Khali Atkins, Jake Gillett and Luke Whitehead were the teams drivers for the weekend, with Jake recovering from a broken ankle, this being his first race weekend since the incident.

All four boys were racing in the Cadet class, with Khali also taking on the Clubman class…..

Throughout the heats in the Cadets, Luke finished 2nd with Jake hot on his heels in 3rd place. Khali showed some great pace in Heat one making it up to 6th and challenging for 5th throughout the whole race.

In the final, Luke and another driver pulled a fair gap on the rest of the field and he finished 2nd, setting the fastest lap of the day and securing 3rd in the summer championship. Jake’s ankle had started to cause him problems and although he tried to push through thepain barrier, he finished 4th place on the podium, a great result considering a six week absence.

In the Clubman Class, Khali showed excellent form, some poor starts sent him backwards at the beginning of each race, being used to rolling and not stationary starts. Khali again showed some really strong pace and finished 4th place on the podium.

Congratulations to all the boys…..

Next stop PFI.