It was back to the circuit 1 layout for the July round of HKRC’s Summer Championships at Kimbolton circuit on Sunday 13th July 2008. The weather was ideal for karting with lap records being set in all but the 250 class. 12 lap finals were the order of the day.
Comer Cadets gave us a great start with one of the most thrilling races of the day. From the off Charlie Savage grabbed the lead from Stephen Letts who was also to fall behind Toby Sowery and Harry Webb. Having followed Savage for a number of laps, Sowery looked to have won it with a succession of quick laps which saw him catch and overhaul the leader on the penultimate lap. Savage though fought back and surprised Sowery to regain top spot with a most audacious move round the outside at Kestrel, winning by a nosecone! Webb followed home a lonely but well driven third.
The Honda and WTP Cadets had raced their heats with the Comers, but were given a separate final. With the majority of drivers being novices, the racing was respectful. Hannah Pym took a couple of laps to get up to speed, but once past Ashley Davison, she pulled away to win by over 5 seconds. Leading Honda driver, Dean Woodward spent most of the race battling with WTP driver Liam Hoel each taking turns to lead the other, Woodward crossing the line just ahead.
Minimax was a bit of a procession with Sam Ward leading Toby Reynolds from start to finish. Aaron Charles took a few laps to deal with Henry Jackson and by the time he was into third, the leading pair was out of reach.
Rotax Junior driver, William Hillyard came close to repeating last month’s lights-to-flag win, but Tom Ingram was just that little bit quicker. Having tracked the Hillyard’s rear bumper lap after lap, Ingram made a decisive move for the lead on the penultimate lap and went on the win by a kart length. Jordan Stilp and Benji Hetherington tangled on the last lap, letting David De Rosa through to third.
Sam Grogan had the upper hand throughout the Junior TKM final, winning by over a second. Will Van Es took 2nd from Matthew Cochrane on the penultimate lap. Cochrane dropped further back as Billy Baxter passed him, but he snatched the place back on the line.
Rotax 177 pole man Tom Holland lost the lead to Tim Penton on lap 2 and then dropped to 3rd behind Scott Clee. From then on though there was only going to be one winner as Holland was clearly quicker than the two in front of him. By lap 4 he was back in 2nd and half a second a lap faster than Penton. With one lap to go Holland made his move for the lead and ended up comfortably ahead. The grid of 177 Veterans grows each month. Dave Stimpson had another win, but Mark Bartholomew made life difficult for him with virtually nothing between them at the end.
Martin Smith kept Ron Stamp on his toes throughout the 250 final, Stamp claiming the win by just 4/10ths of a second. In 125 Jason Gardener led Russell Brown by over a second at half distance, but Oliver Wilding drove a superb race passing Brown on lap 7 and when Gardener was delayed by 250 back-markers Wilding was able to catch the leader. Taking his chance at Kimbolton, Wilding swept into the lead with a lap to go.
31 drivers competed for Senior Rotax honours. Jamie White was the early leader, but James Mulley and Josh Parker passed him on successive laps and he dropped out of the reckoning. Pole sitter Harry Arnold found himself on the outside line at Stow first time round, pushing him down the order. He recovered to finish third. Mulley had a scare on the last but one lap when passing a backmarker, the delay nearly allowing Parker past, but he managed to hold on to win.
Katie Doggett had pole for the TKM Extreme final, but Michael Cornell made a quick kart and he took the lead on lap 3. Doggett then had to fend off Arran Maile and Sam Brown, which she did successfully, but this gave Cornell an easy win.