The team were at Bayford the weekend of the 21st/22nd April 2012 for round 2 of their Summer Series.

Jenson Butterfield moved up to cadets to race alongside Luke Whitehead, with Liam Carter and Oliver Appleby racing in the Clubman Class.

Liam once again dominated the qualifying by a good 3/10ths of a second with Oliver in 7th out of the 19 racing. Liam continued his reign by winning all the heats putting him on pole for the final, with Oliver moving forward finishing Heat 1 in 6th and heat 2 in 3rd giving him a fourth place start, some great racing.

Liam pulled a gap from the first lap and no-one could match his pace which he kept up until the chequered dropped with Oliver having the drive of his short racing career to date, moving up to 2nd and maintaining his position under immense pressure from two other drivers. Well done boys, 1st and 2nd steps once again for Benchmark drivers, fantastic driving.

In the cadets, Luke qualified in 3rd place and Jenson in 12th out of 15 drivers. The first heat saw Luke take the lead for a few laps under pressure, he dropped back to third but whilst challenging for 2nd again he was turned in upon and although he took avoiding action contact was made and he finished 4th. Jenson proved qualifying isn’t always the bee all….and after a great drive finished 6th.

Heat 2 saw Luke and Jenson move to the front with Luke taking the win and Jenson coming home 5th, this placed Luke on Pole for the final with team mate Jenson in third. A great race ensued, with Luke leading for most of the race, eventually he was overtaken and whilst challenging for 1st again had to take avoiding action and take to the grass twice pushing him back and eventually he was hit so hard from the rear he ended up underneath another kart and ruined his race for the second weekend running. Bitter disappointment for the 8 year old in a grid of 10-12year olds. Jenson had a great race and considering this was his first cadet race at Bayford he showed he had the pace and commitment to be a contender for the podium in the not to distant future, good driving boys.

A great weekend for the team, some great driving by all the boys and another 2 trophies for our drivers…………..Next race is Round 2 of the F6 Championship, hopefully we can replicate Round 1!!!!

Well done Liam and the team gets a mention to…………….thank you!!

This was the first round of the Summer Championship at Buckmore Park.  The team did very well during testing on the Saturday posting some good times and standing us in good stead for race day on Sunday. We had two Honda Clubmen racing, Liam Carter and Jenson Butterfield, two Honda Cadets,  Luke Whitehad and Jake Gillett and Joel Saunders was racing in the Kartmania Challenge in the 4 stroke TKM class.

Liam Carter started the day in style, taking Pole in the Clubman Class during qualifying, closely followed by Jenson Butterfield in 3rd and then Luke Whitehead also put his kart on pole in the Cadet Class.

Liam showed his determination in every heat, winning everything with Jenson close behind in a constant battle for 2nd place but never seeming to quite make it. Liam continued his reign into the final, with Jenson bringing his kart home in 3rd. Fantastic driving boys…….congratulations.

The Cadet races were a little trying to say the least, Jake Gillett qualified in 9th at the start of the day and although both boys drove very well in the heats, contact saw them both end up in last place at times.  Luke posted fastest lap times in some heats and although he moved back through the field quickly was unable to get to the front three where he undoubtedly should have been. The video footage taken by Karl Atkins is very interesting and will be posted onto our video page shortly.

With random grids in the Kartmania Challenge, Joel started the heats in various positions, unphased by this, Joel still won every heat bar one when his brakes failed and he came home 3rd but he romped to victory in the final to show his domination in this class. Congratualtions Joel.

Thank you to all the team who worked hard once again this weekend and we also like to thank Karl who supplies us with al of our footage for the website.

At the first round of the Lydd Summer Championship on Sunday, the trophies for the winter Championship were awarded.

Liam Carter took 1st place in the Clubman Championship with Jack Clegg taking 4th place and Luke Whitehead took 2nd place in the Cadets Championship.

Congratulations to all the boys who took part, hopefully we may take a few more at the end of the Summer Series……..

It was the first round of the summer championship at Lydd last Sunday and due to it falling on the Easter weekend, we only had four drivers in attendance.

Liam Carter, Jenson Butterfield and Khali Atkins were racing in Honda Clubman and Luke Whitehead in the Honda Cadets.

In very wet conditions, Jenson put his kart on pole in qualifying followed closely by Khali in 2nd. Liam had tyre trouble and although he drove very well he qualified in 6th.

The same story continued in Heat 1 for Liam, again he drove well in the conditions but we had narrowed the problem down to tyres after this heat. Jenson took control of the race and won with Khali finishing halfa second behind.

Heat 2 again saw a great drive from all 3 boys and with a change of rubber, Liam finished a tenth of a second behind Jenson and Khali two tenths back from him. A 1, 2, 3 in heat 2 on a drying track, a great result.

By the time Heat 3 came there was a dry line forming and the team decided to go for slicks,  Jenson won again with Liam tight to his rear bumper, Khali using new slicks, struggled slightly in this heat and dropped back to 7th, it was all to play for in the final.

What a great race, Jenson once again drove his little socks off on the now very wet track again as the clouds came in, taking first and winning all the heats and final, Liam kept a cool head and came home in 2nd, a great drive considering the earlier problems, Khali finished 3rd after a fantastic drive, he set the fastest lap, but most of all locked out the podium, well dones boys, it just doesn’t get any better than that…..

In the Cadets, Luke kept up the teams good fortune and placed his kart in pole again.In the changeable wet and dry conditions he won every heat in fine style, also setting the fastest lap in each,  pulling a clear gap on the rest of the field and showing his dominence in the wet. The final was a similar affair, he dropped a place at the start but took it straight back a corner later and then it was a drive to the chequered flag as he put in lap after lap of fastest times. A fantastic drive once again and a nother win under his sleeve.

We have had some great results so far,  but this is by far the teams best, 4 drivers in the awning and all of them on the podium, well done boys, great driving, congratulations and some fantastic team work from all involved.

Next stop…….Buckmore Park……can we do it again……..

Saturday the 31st March was the first round of the F6 championship. It was held at Bayford Meadows and again a busy awning kept everyone on their toes.

With Joel Saunders racing in the senior TKM it was going to be an interesting day for the young team drivers to see how Joel faired.

In the Cadets there are various classes, Open Cadet 95KG, Honda Cadet 103KG and Honda Cadet Clubman 103KG plus a heavy weight class at 108KG.

Jack Clegg and Kieron Jermey ran in the Open Cadet Class, Luke Whitehead and Jake Gillett ran in the Honda Cadet Class and Jenson Butterfield, Oliver Appleby and Liam Carter ran in the Honda Clubman Class.

All classes raced together on random grids which was somewhat confusing for the drivers.

Luke Whitehead won every race outright and secured the ‘O’ plate in the Honda Cadet Class. He drove extremely well all day and it was a well deserved win. Jake Gillett again drove very well in all his races and was always a strong contender for 2nd place which he secured for the flag.

Liam Carter again drove faultlessly in Honda Clubman and even managed to give some of the Cadets a few problems throughout the day. He secured 1st place and the ‘O’ plate in Clubman.

Joel Saunders felt the pressure building, like Luke, he had won all his heats and the boys put a bit of pressure on him to follow suit with a win. Joel duly stepped up to the challenge, winning by over half a lap and securing the ‘O’ Plate too.

Oliver Appleby won top novice in Clubman and Kieron Jermey top Novice in Cadet 95kg.

5 trophies in one day……………….congratulations boys(…and Joel) a proud day for the team.

Sunday the 25th of March saw the start of the Summer Championship at Bayford Meadows. We had a busy awning on both practice and race days and all the boys had really good pace in Saturdays practice.

Sunday qualifying got underway in the Cadets with Luke Whitehead putting his kart in 2nd place on the grid, which was followed shortly after by the Clubman class. Liam Carter once again topped the team positions by placing his kart in 3rd followed very closely by Jenson Butterfield in 4th, Oliver Appleby(Novice) in 6th and Kieron Jermey(Novice) in 8th.

In the Cadets, Luke finished 3rd and 2nd respectively and qualified in 3rd for the final. At the start, Luke moved into 2nd and held it for over half the race then suddenly his pace dropped off and he fell prey to the three karts behind over the final laps, finishing 5th.  A snapped bolt on the brake being the offending item causing lack of brakes.

Heat one of the Clubman saw Liam move up to 2nd, with Jenson, Oliver and Kieron finishing where they started. Heat 2 was an exciting race with Liam finishing 1st, Jenson 3rd and Oliver and Kieron holding their positions and finishing 6th and 8th.

A great final ensued, with Liam challenging for the win over the 12 laps, but no last lap board saw him 2nd over the line with a bewildered look about him, he was waiting until the last lap to make his move, but with no board…..it never came! Jenson ran in 3rd for 90% of the race but contact from 4th place saw him drop back to 5th for the flag, a solid drive by the 10 year old who recently came off novice plates. Oliver had a fantastic final, he drove very well and finished 4th and top novice. Kieron made a huge improvements over the weekend and he to drove very well in the final, he was running as 2nd place novice all day until a spin saw him finish where he started the day in 8th but as third place novice.

Congratulations to Liam, Oliver and Kieron on your trophies and well done to all the drivers, it could so easily have been 5 trophies this weekend……..

Another Congratulations to Liam Carter who secured 3rd place in the Buckmore Park Winter Championships Honda Clubman, which were held over three rounds.

Luke Whitehead and Jake Gillett also raced in the Winter championship in the Honda Cadet Class, with Jake finishing 10th overall and Luke joint 6th on points with two others, which then meant it  came down to pre-final and final starts making him 8th in the end.