It was a busy weekend at Bayford for the team on both the Saturday’s testing and more so on race day.

With 3 Clubmen racing, Jack Clegg, Oliver Appleby and Jenson Butterfield and 2 cadets, Luke Whitehead and Jake Gillett.

There were 18 Clubman racers and over half of the grid were novices this month which made the challenge for Oliver and Jenson even greater. Both boys drove very well in qualifying with Oliver in 8th just behind Jack(7th) and Jenson 11th.

In heats one and two Jack and Oliver battled hard with each other with some good clean racing and both came home in the same positions in the first heat and reverse positions in the second. Jenson gained a position in heat one even though he was under immense pressure from behind and he kept hold of this throughout the second heat too.

It was a similar situation in the final and we witnessed some good clean racing betwen Jack and Oliver who swapped positions throughout the race to come home in 6th for Jack and 7th for Oliver. Jenson again had his work cut out as he was the 3rd Novice on the circuit and he battled in a tight bunch of 5 karts through the whole race but sheer determination meant he finished 13th.

A great performance by both boys meant that Oliver finished as 1st place Novice and Jenson 3rd place. Well done boys, your first of hopefully many trophies, congratulations from all the team.

Last Saturday and Sunday, the team were testing and racing at Buckmore Park.

We had 5 drivers out in Clubman and Cadet testing, 4 regulars and a test driver for the new chassis. Conditions were changing every session but we kept one step ahead and produced some great lap times across the driver’s.

Race day on Sunday was even more treacherous, with the start of the racing delayed until the clerk of the course deemed it safe.

Eventually, qualifying got underway and Jack Gillett and Luke Whitehead, our two racers for the day set about trying to qualify highly in the Honda Cadet 19 kart line-up. Luke pushed hard from the off and placed himself in 6th place with Jake a little further back in 11th.

In the first heat Luke meant business from the start and battled up to 3rd place for the flag after a great drive but Jake dropped back to 13th after struggling for grip in the slippery conditions.

At the start of the Pre Final there was a big accident which brought the red flags out and put Jake at the mercy of the stewards, who deemed him unable to continue after seeing the medics, thankfully though Jake was unhurt. The race was then restarted and Luke held 3rd place for a number of laps until he was pushed wide at the second hairpin where he dropped back to 8th for the finish. Interestingly, Luke upped his pace for this heat and set the second fastest lap time.

Final – A great start by both drivers saw Luke move up to 3rd place in the top section of the first lap and Jake stayed out of an another incident and found himself in 6th even after starting in last place (17th). Jake took full advantage of his position moving through the field and taking his team mate early on into the first hairpin under braking. From halfway through the race, Jake was running 2nd and Luke 3rd, Jake caught the leader and was battling hard for 1st place and although he managed to take the position, he lost it straight back and crossed the line in a fantastic 2nd place. Luke should have finished in 3rd place but a driver error on the penultimate lap saw him spin off  into the tyres and he finally finished 11th.

After the race had finished we heard that the race winner was disqualified for causing the incident at the race start. This was later overturned  to a 10 second penalty which meant both drivers moved up a place, making Jake the winner. Congratulations Jake, a great, nail biting drive right to the wire and well done for winning your first Cadet race and the first winter round at Buckmore. jake also set the fastest lap in the final which was also the fastest of the day.(all trophies were held back pendingthe outcome of the disqualification, so we will add photos at a later date.)

Our podium run gathers momentum once again and the trophies are coming fast in 2012! We are looking forward to Bayford Meadows with a 5 driver line up!

With five drivers all making their way down to Lydd’s Non-MSA event at the weekend, we had high expectations.

Four drivers were racing in the Honda Clubman Race, Khali Atkins, Jack Clegg, Oliver Appleby and Jenson Butterfield. A great qualifying session saw Khali top the team drivers in 4th, followed by Oliver in 7th, Jack 10th and Jenson 12th.

An incient in the first heat saw Khali and Jenson drop to 10th and 14th respectively, but Jack and Oliver managed to finish in 6th and 8th. More incidents ensued in the 2nd heat and this time Jack took the brunt and finished 10th. A great drive by Oliver saw him finish in a fantastic 5th place with Jenson also pushing up to 8th and Khali 13th.

In the final, the drivers had a cleaner race and Jack came home in 6th, Oliver 8th, Jenson 9th and Khali 12th. Some solid driving in this class by all the drivers and it bodes well for next months meeting.

In the Honda Cadet class, we had one team  entry, Luke Whitehead, who managed to put his kart on the front row in qualifying  in 2nd place.

A great battle in all the heats with the pole sitter, saw Luke qualify in 2nd for the final. A nail biting race ensued and Luke and the pole sitter battled hard throughout the 12 laps, pulling a gap on the rest of the field and although Luke lead the race at times, he came home in 2nd by just over a tenth of a second. Luke managed to post the fastest lap time of the day, a good two tenths faster than anyone.