The weather was a big talking point as sun and rain made the Bayford Meadows Summer Championship interesting.

The Bayford Meadows Summer Championship round 6 Sunday 18^th August.

Mixed weather conditions brings out the best in Kent’s drivers.

Round 6 of the BMKR summer championships were held on Sunday 18^th August, at the Sittingbourne circuit. As ever the Bayford Meadows kart club attracted a fine entry to the family friendly venue and some unpredictable English summer weather added extra excitement to the event.

Bambinos.

The Bambino class started the afternoon’s finals off with 5 young drivers setting off on their third timed run of the day. Kalian Russell proved the fastest in the first run, but was halted by a heavy downfall of rain in the 2^nd run so it was Albert Friend that came out ahead of Ronnie Legg and Sergio Wirz, as they skated around on the treacherous surface.

Russell took the third run, now held in glorious sunshine on a drying track ahead of Friend, Wirz, Teddy-jay Porter and Ronnie Legg.

Honda Clubman Standard.

The Standard Cadet class proved to be highly competitive once again this month, the young drivers putting on some great racing all day for those watching on. Sebastian Morgan took the win in the morning’s first heat, continuing his fine qualifying form after snatching pole position. Antony Parfett was 2^nd from Emily Jackson and John Ward, Simon Parfett was 5^th with just over 1 second covering the top 5. The Pre Final was held on a very wet track and led to Jackson taking the victory over Morgan, Ward and Jack Owen-Drawbridge in a fine 4^th place, Simon Parfett was once again 5^th.

Emily Jackson kept up her form from the Pre Final by leading the final away, behind Morgan and Ward fought tooth and nail over 2^nd place, with this trio pulling away from the rest of the field led by initially Owen-Drawbridge and then Simon Parfett. Antony Parfett soon slipped past the #72 of Owen-Drawbridge to follow his brother up the field. As we headed into the final laps, the three at the front were battling hard, allowing the Parfetts and the rest to close in.

The #77 kart of Morgan grabbed the lead off of Ward going into the last lap and then as the top 5 karts hustled around the infield as one; Ward clipped the back of Morgan’s kart, sending him wide at the infield hairpin. This gave Ward the lead and allowed Jackson to place her kart ahead of Morgan for 2^nd place. They crossed the line in the order of Ward, Jackson, a dejected Morgan, Antony Parfett who had displaced his brother for 4^th – behind Simon was Owen-Drawbridge in 6^th, James Sherrington 7^th, Max Cuthbert 8^th, Josh Selvadorai, 9^th and Charlie Warren 10^th. The officials decided post-race that Ward would be given a 5second penalty for the incident with Morgan on the last lap, moving everyone up one place and giving a delighted Emily Jackson the win. Seb Morgan recorded the fastest lap.

Senior Club Max.

22 Drivers were on the entry for the Senior Club Max class and the grid looked very close after qualifying in the morning, with just 1 second covering the top 14 on the grid. Coming out on top was Jack Bartholomew, from Jack Wall, Kieran Ives, Josh Pullen, Joe’s Gethin and Wood, Will Barnes, Steve Bouffe, Max Goodwin and Lewis Deacon rounded out the top 10 positions. The Heat win went to Bartholomew, from the impressive Ives, GMS teammates Gethin & Wall, with Bouffe driving well in 6^th. Pre Final victory again went to Bartholomew, this time Wall finished 2^nd, Gethin 3^rd, Max Goodwin moved up 4 places to 4^th, Ives was 5^th, Mike Ashby was up to 6^th and showing some good pace on the very wet track.

Bartholomew led the grid away to a nice clean start, with the new starting procedure working well, this only lasted to the bottom hairpin however where three drivers’ races were delayed while they cut the grass on the outside of the corner! Wall running 2^nd was looking racey and was putting pressure on the Lamborghini pilot ahead, Goodwin and the rapid starting Ashby had demoted Gethin to 5^th, Ives was 6^th, Pullen now back near the front in 7^th and Lewis Deacon in 8^th at the end of the 1^st lap. Wall made his move for the lead on lap 6, both he and Bartholomew starting to drop Goodwin in 3^rd. Gethin had usurped Ashby and stated closing in on the #77 kart of ex Junior Subaru champion Goodwin ahead. The Clarke kart of Pullen then dropped Ashby too, moving into 5^th.

Back at the front ‘Barty’ wanted the lead back from the GMS kart of Wall and was looking everywhere to find a weakness in the well driven blue #65 kart ahead. 4 laps from the finish the move came as he lunged down the inside of Wall at the infield let hand bend that leads onto the short straight. It was a tight move as Wall was already aiming for the apex of the corner, but Bartholomew pulled it off, without any contact or post-race penalty – crossing the finish line with a celebration that he had honed five years previously! Behind runner up Wall – the battle between teammates for 3rd went the way of the #94 kart of Gethin, Goodwin was right on his bumper as he crossed the line for 4^th. Pullen turned what look like being a bad day into a solid 5^th place, Ives kept up his good pace with a stellar 6^th, and James Tomsett turned his nightmare day into good championship points and fastest lap in 7^th, after suffering an engine failure in qualifying left him at the back of the grid. Ashby, Wood and Deacon completed the top 10.

Junior Subaru.

Charlie Hand topped the 16 kart Junior Subaru grid for the first of the classes’ three races, after Kieran Janali had annexed pole position during qualifying. Janali’s SAIT Compkart was runner up in the Heat, with the Meyado backed kart of Callum Romaine in 3^rd place. For the wet Pre Final Hand romped away to a 7.5s win over Joseph Knight, Rory Burke 3^rd, Vincent Osborne 4^th, Janali 5^th and Ben Cooke in 6^th, Romaine retired early on when his kart cut out on the warming up lap. The Grand Final was a calm affair until the closing laps when the top 4 of Hand (who had away led from the start), Knight, Janali and Burke fought hard for the win. Janali was looking menacing as he moved onto leader Hand’s rear bumper, eventually taking the lead on lap 9 This was an albeit short lived lead however as over the course of the next lap the on track squabbling saw Burke promoted from 4^th to 1^st ! His Clarke kart then gapped Hand, Janali and Knight to take the win as they battled hard behind him. Hand eventually came out on top to finish 2^nd, Knight took 3^rd and Janali had to settle for 4^th. Benjamin Witham drove well to finish next on the road in 5^th; Cooke’s GMS kart was 6^th, Robin Jandu 7^th, Ciaron Edgson 8^th, Harry Kidd 9^th and William Fallon 10^th. The fastest lap went to the charging Janali who ultimately deserved more for his efforts.

Junior and Mini Club Max.

The Junior and Mini Club Max classes were run together with a time delay separating the two grids. Privateer Oliver Bullion topped the times for the 14 kart Junior class to start on the pole for the Heat, CHDD Evolution driver Mikey Porter did likewise in the Mini Max class. Brendan Sathees (SAIT Motorsport) took a good win in the Heat in wet conditions, as the rain arrived late morning in Sittingbourne; Bullion was on right his tail in 2^nd place, Max Lee’s Roalf racing kart moved up 6 places to take 3^rd. Chloe Chong topped the Mini Max class from Mikey Porter and Holly Miall. Sathees led away the Pre Final until Bullion found a way past to take the win, Lee finishing 3^rd once again. Rylee Brown topped the Mini Max class from Chong and Miall.

Bullion led from pole in the grand Final with Sathees once again being his biggest threat, Lee was third initially until he started dicing with Daniel Hughes and Leon Clark. Brown led the Minis until Porter came flying up through the field, eventually going onto win the class comfortably. Back at the front of the Junior class, Sathees took the lead for a short period before Bullion stamped his authority on the race, taking the lead and going onto win by 2.6s. Sathees was delighted with 2^nd as he had every right to be after a stellar performance. Hughes finished 3^rd on the road but took a 5s drop nose penalty post-race, giving Lee the place. Hughes’s time adjustment left him 4^th, Jack Aldis took 5^th, Clark took 6^th, Jayden Neal-Holder 7^th, Ella Haines was the first girl home in a creditable 8^th, Arjun Mehta was 9^th in class and Zak Dear 10^th. Behind winner Porter in the Mini Max class was Brown, Harry Chamberlin finished 3^rd, from first girl Chong in 4^th and Miall in 5^th. Bullion romped to the fastest lap on the 10^th tour.

Honda Cadet.

Gustavs Usakovs took the Heat and Pre Final wins in difficult wet conditions, this after Jai Lawrence had proven to be the quickest of the 12 entrants in qualifying. In the Grand Final Usakovs led away over the first lap, Reg Heywood starting from 2^nd soon lost out to the Project One kart of Lawrence; dropping to 3^rd. Lawrence then set off after his teammate Usakovs and took the lead that he was never to relinquish throughout the race, to take a resounding victory. Usakovs was a lonely 2^nd place as Heywood’s CHDD Evolution kart was a little way behind in 3^rd at the finish.

The fight for 4^th place was quite intense – eventually falling to the Clubman class winner Emily Jackson, who was busily featuring in both Cadet classes during the day. Heywood’s teammate Sonny Mortensen finished 5^th, just losing out to Jackson, Tighe Wratten was in amongst the battle for 4^th as he finished on Mortensen’s bumper in 6^th. Joshua Graham followed closely behind in his SAIT run kart in 7^th. Oscar O’sullivan had a spin to the back of the field and then fearlessly fought his way back up to 8^th, William Murphy took 9^th and Owen Neave 10^th. Fastest lap went the way of the winner Lawrence.

The full results from the event can befound at the link below.

https://results.alphatiming.co.uk/bmkr/2019/6/

The next round of the BMKR summer championship tak place on September 15th.