The BMKR club held their fourth round of the year at the popular Sittingbourne circuit – Bayford Meadows over last weekend.

The May event is annually held in honour of Lee Wood, who sadly passed away in 2006 and it was lovely to see Lee’s father Steve there in attendance on Sunday. Fair weather for both Saturday’s Bambino class and Sunday’s main race day was welcome to all.

A new initiative had been put into place over the weekend, to keep the circuit clear of the detritus from the Mojo tyres used by the majority of the Rotax classes for this year. This kept several of the circuit staff busy in-between races collecting the waste rubber which had gathered in various areas around the track, aiding to prevent a one line only racing surface.

Bambinos.

10 Bambino drivers competed in their race day on Saturday and the racing at the front proved to be a close affair. Lenny Barton qualified the fastest and took the Heat win from Jenson Drummond, in the Pre-Final the positions were reversed with Jenson narrowly taking the win from Lenny.

The 8 lap Final was again a close contest between Jenson and Lenny with the former eventually taking a very close 0.08s victory over Lenny. Jenson also took the fastest lap along with the win at 1:00.73s. Albie Houlihan and Jake Harris proved 3rd & 4th fastest all day as they finished in those positions in the Heat, Pre-Final and main Final.

Cooper Galloway had run in 5th for the majority of the Final until he slipped back on the last lap, behind Alfie Bi (5th) and Tymon Pecak (6th) to finish 7th. William Boswell was next up in 8th from George Bridger 9th and Harriet Jones in 10th.

Honda Cadet 200.

The Honda Cadet class started off Sunday’s Finals and on the pole position sat Jack Cope, who was continuing his great start to 2025, with wins in the morning Heat and then the Pre-Final.

Project One drivers were represented well on Sunday as George Pickett, Marcus Cooper and George Quinlan sat 2nd, 3rd & 4th behind Roalf racing’s Cope on pole. Ollie Spooner-Green and George Lilley were next in 5th & 6th, ahead of Alexander Robertson 7th, Ernie Wade 8th, Ellis Honey 9th & Milo Taylor in 10th.

Cope led away in the Final and soon settled into a groove as he pulled a gap over Pickett in 2nd, in 3rd & 4th – Quinlan was on a charge as he passed teammate Cooper and was soon to move ahead of Pickett too, taking Cooper with him, this pairing then worked together to track down the leader Cope.

Spooner-Green held 5th from Lilley early on, that was until Taylor had fought his way up from the back after a disappointing end to his Pre-Final to run in 6th. Going into the closing laps Quinlan and Cooper had caught Cope, putting him under intense pressure.

Eventually the Roalf racing driver couldn’t hold the Project One pairing off any longer and they both slipped through going into the infield right hand hairpin on the last lap, going onto finish in 1 – 2 formation, with the BM plated kart of Quinlan taking the win by 0.18s from Cooper.

Cope remained positive despite losing two places on the final lap by taking a good points scoring 3rd. Pickett was next up in 4th from Taylor who had worked his way to 5th passing Spooner-Green on the last lap. Behind 6th placed Spooner-Green finished Lilley in 7th ahead of Wade in 8th, who had been struggling with engine problems all day.

Robertson and Honey collided early on which put the latter Honey out with a dead engine and Roberston a very much delayed 9th. The fastest lap was recorded on the 8th lap by winner Quinlan at 51.86s.

Senior Max.

There were some familiar faces at the top of the times after qualifying in the Senior Max class, with Ciaron Edgson topping the 16 entrants from Josh’s Pullen and Pattrick in 2nd & 3rd, Joe Gethen, Caitlin May & Connor Tubby were 4th to 6th. The top 10 was completed by James Bentley, Jemima Woolley, Arrow Suarez and Mollie Griffiths.

The Heat win went to Edgson from Pullen, Gethen and Pattrick, with May, Tubby and Griffiths. The Pre-Final proved to be a bit messy behind comfortable winner Edgson, as Gethen took 2nd from Griffiths, Matthew Angel, a delayed Pullen and Tubby.

These 6 drivers filled the first three rows of the grid for the Final, on row 4 sat Suarez, Emma Stoner and on row 5 were Kate Broadbent and Felix Dymant.

Unlike last month the rolling start was more orderly as Edgson led them away into turn 1 with Gethen soon slotting into 2nd, Griffiths was in 3rd although soon to be usurped by Pullen who was up from 5th. Tubby too was soon up to 4th after a couple of laps leading both Griffiths and Angel.

A first corner crash took out several drivers midpack, with Broadbent, Pattrick and May being delayed after each had spun. As the race progressed both Gethen and Pullen were putting pressure on the leader Edgson and on lap 6 Gethen had a good run out of the bottom hairpin and slipped up the inside of Edgson’s kart into the infield right hand hairpin, Pullen saw an opportunity to follow the GMS driver through, sliding sideways on the exit of the corner as Gethen broke clear.

Tubby, Griffiths and Angel looked settled in 4th, 5th & 6th as the trio ahead had pulled clear. Gethen’s pace was too hot for Pullen and Edgson who swapped places on the 8th lap and he went onto victory by 1.51s. Edgson ran on the winner’s pace once clear of Pullen, but was left too much to do as he finished runner up.

Pullen though was clear of Tubby who finished 4th, Angel eventually passed Griffiths as the pair finished 5th & 6th. Pattrick recovered to 7th after his first corner spin, Dymant took 8th from Suarez in 9th and Bentley in 10th.

The fastest lap went to May down in 14th after her spin avoiding Broadbent’s prone kart at the start and also a 5s nose fairing penalty, her fastest lap was set on the 4th tour at 45.03s. Hollie Bonner took the privateer award on the day finishing 12th overall.

Junior Max Rookies.

18 drivers were entered in the Junior Rookies class on Sunday and on the front row for the afternoon’s Final were the season pace setting pairing of Oliver Peters and Jacob Smith, after Peters had taken the win in the Pre-Final from his rival, Smith having won the earlier Heat.

On row 2 was BM plate holder Eden Salvidge and Jacob Jarman, they were ahead of Harrison Matthews and Bailey Doughty on row 3. Next up on row 4 sat Harrison’s Page and McNealy, on row 5 was Brandon Swanwick and William Spencer.

Peters and Smith led the field away for the Final, with both using all of the circuit and a bit more on the exit of turn 1, meanwhile an incident further back in the pack delayed both McNealy and Cody Crudgington. Salvidge slotted into 3rd as Jarman didn’t get away so well, losing out to Matthews and Swanwick, before being collected and taken out of the race by Page on lap 3.

Peters and Smith ran as one throughout the race, with Salvidge waiting to pounce on any mistake from the pairing ahead of him. Smith however couldn’t quite mount a clear challenge on the leader and eventually ended up 0.91s behind a victorious Peters, as their close championship battle continues to develop this year. Salvidge was clear in 3rd from Matthews in 4th, putting in a solid performance as was Doughty finishing in 5th.

Rhys Rutland rose from 16th to 6th wearing his Lando Norris inspired crash helmet, which no doubt helped in his stellar drive up through the field. Swanwick took 7th and it should have been Ashan Iqbal next up but he unfortunately retired within sight of the finish line, leaving Aston Tabb to finish 8th. Riley Mottweiler climbed 6 places to take 9th ahead of Spencer in 10th. Peters set the fastest lap at 46.22s on the very last lap of the race.

Senior Max 177/ Masters 177.

Only 8 drivers made it out onto the circuit for the Final after Gerry Poore failed to repair his kart in time after a hefty Pre-Final crash and previous Masters winner – Mark Goodwin discovered a broken steering bolt whilst on the dummy grid.

Lewis Deacon proved to be in great form by topping qualifying and then winning the Heat and Pre-Final from Finley Cross, Jayden Miles and Reece Anscombe, this quartet filling the first two rows of the Final grid. The Masters pairing of Mike Ashby and David Ives sat on row 3 ahead of Doug Thomson and the soon to be DNS Goodwin on row 4. John Nye sat alone on row 5 .

Any hope of an out and out fight between Deacon and Cross in the Final was quelled soon after the start at turn 1, as Cross didn’t get away well and was spun around as he tried to cut in behind a fast starting Miles. This left Ashby 4th, Ives 5th and Thomson 6th, Nye 7th and a recovering Cross last in 8th. Deacon gradually pulled clear of the field, leaving the rest in his wake as he went on to take a dominant and popular 8.4s victory, his fastest lap of 46.95s proving to be the fastest of the race on lap 8, underlining his outright pace.

Miles held off a failed challenge from Anscombe to take the runner up spot from Masters winner Ashby in 3rd. Cross recovered well to take 4th from Anscombe in 5th although a nose fairing penalty post race dropped him down to 7th overall behind Thomson and Ives in 5th and 6th. Nye completed the finishers in 8th.

Junior Max.

The last race of the day was for the 11 Junior Max drivers. Both the Heat and Pre-Final wins went to Callum Sims from Jack Pullen this after Fletcher Growns had topped the morning Qualifying times. Growns would line up on the 2nd row of the Final grid after finishing 4th behind Louis Bishop in the Pre-Final.

On the 3rd row were Freddie’s Leppenwell & Wall ahead of  Kieron Hammond and Che Marriot-Dixon on the 4th row. Dexter Collins and Leon Knight were on row 5 and Ayda Sexton sat alone on row 6.

The front row of the grid got away well with Sims leading Pullen until they reached the hairpin at the bottom of the circuit, when Pullen pounced and grabbed the lead by the exit. Growns held 3rd with Bishop in 4th, soon to be passed by an eager Wall.

The opening laps proved to be quite frenetic as they usually are with the Junior class, as Pullen’s tenacious lead was soon to be usurped by the rapid Sims, indeed by the end of lap 3 the Evolution kart of Sims was in the lead, with Pullen shuffled back while trying to defend. Wall too was soon also shuffled back as Bishop moved into 2nd from Growns and a very fast starting Sexton.

Once Sims had hit the front he controlled the pace setting a fastest lap at 46.07s on lap 8 of 13 at a circuit that he has always liked, as he cruised to a 0.96s win over Bishop who was delighted to have finished 2nd in his GMS kart. Growns to did well to take 3rd for Project One until a nose fairing penalty dropped him down to 8th in the final standings. This promoted Sexton to a well deserved 3rd after a spirited comeback drive from 11th on the grid.

Pullen was no doubt ruling that a pre-race set up change had cost him valuable pace on his way to 4th place. Hammond overcame a race with Leppenwell to take 6th, as Wall finished in 8th behind Leppenwell in 7th. Collins, Knight and Marriot-Dixon finished 9th,10th and 11th behind the penalised Growns.

Full results from the event can be found here –   https://results.alphatiming.co.uk/bmkr/e/280788

Round of the BMKR 2025 championships will be held over the June 14th – 15th weekend.