It was a bright if cold day that greeted the 120 karters who took part in the first round of Hunts Kart Racing Club’s 2007 Winter Championships. A smoothly run meeting saw 3 heats and 9 lap finals for all classes.

Cadet: What a start to the 2007 season - four karts involved in a race long scrap, with the winner in doubt right to the line! Sam Sanders was first to show ahead of Daniel Burton (taking his first ever pole), Toby Sowery and Alex Gill. On lap two Burton led, with Gill up to 3rd, but he was passed first by Sanders, Gill and Sowery. Starting the last lap it was all change, as Gill led Burton and Sowery with long time leader Sanders back in 4th. Sowery passed Burton again and on the run to the line, just failed to snatch the lead from Gill who won by 0.06 seconds!

Junior TKM: Ben Barker struggled to get off the dummy grid, but eventually took up his pole position and never looked back. Tom Fitzpatrick was quickly into 2nd, from Joe Porter and Ashley Jones. Porter took over in 2nd and looked secure, but he came to a stop at Kestrel on the last lap handing the place back to Fitzpatrick. Will Van Es won the novice award.

Rotax Mini Max/TKM Intermediate: Mini Max polesitter Ollie Varney had won the three heats and made light work of the final. Jack Taylor was initially 2nd, but Andrew Moore took the place off him just after half distance. The novice award went to Daniel O’Brien. In TKM Intermediate, James Blake had looked unbeatable in the heats, but had Jack Kemp to worry about in the final. With a couple of laps left Kemp seized his chance to go through and held on to win. Thomas Kolasky ran 3rd throughout.

Rotax Junior Rotax: Jack Goff made short shrift of passing David Pittard and started 2007, as he’d finished 2006, with a commanding win. Pittard also succumbed to Nick Wones and had to settle for 3rd. Bradley Gravett took the novice award.

Rotax Senior Max: Several drivers had a shortened race as nine karts came together in the headlong
rush into Stow. Up front, Marc Dawson was quickly past Kyle Chesterman with Paul Walsh in 3rd. These
three followed each other as they lapped at similar speeds, but Chesterman’s clutch failed on the last lap promoting Walsh to 2nd. Poleman Harry Arnold had not had the best of times in the first corner, but fought back through the field to take the last podium position. Simon Cooper was the recipient of the novice award.

Gearbox: In 250, Ron Stamp took to the gravel at Hanger and lost a lot of time, leaving Jason Tucker
in the lead with Ian Carvell in close attention. Carvell and Tucker got caught up together at Kestrel, to
the delight of Steve Burton and Martin Goodliffe who went on to take 1st and 2nd respectively. Tucker
got the kart pointing in the right direction again to finish 3rd, some thirty seconds behind. Paul Lawson
celebrated his first Kimbolton race off novice plates with a win in 125. Chasing pole man Ritchie Schmitz
for a good part of the race, Lawson made his move with two laps to go. On the final lap, Robin Kingham
found the speed to pass Schmitz, who then lost two more places at Kimbolton to Daniel Denis and
Barry Stuart.

Rotax Senior 177: Dan Holland led all through this enthralling 177 final, but was made to work for his
win by Lee Torrie. Holland put up a terrific defence, countering Torrie’s every move. Torrie did get his
nose in front for a moment, but Holland had things covered and nipped back in front. Martin Reader
watched on in 3rd but was never really close enough to join in the fun.

TKM Extreme: William Reed and Luke Caudle made it an all Gillard front row, but Caudle’s race lasted
only a lap and a half as the kart let him down. Reed gradually pulled away from Zak Roseman and
Daniel Humphrey. James Gould, Helen Gardiner and Mike Newell all passed Humphrey, but Newell had
to retire when shown the black flag. Gould gradually closed in on Roseman and battled for 2nd. When
Gould went past, his kart clipped Roseman’s, giving Gardiner the opportunity to slip into 3rd.

Hunts Kart Racing Club 2006 Championships Round 10
Cadet: 1 Alex Gill (Wright), 2 Toby Sowery (Birel), 3 Daniel Burton (Zip)
Junior TKM: 1 Ben Barker (Venom), 2 Tom Fitzpatrick (Gillard), 3 Ashley Jones (Jade)
Junior TKM Novice: Will Van Es (Tony)
Rotax Mini Max: 1 Ollie Varney (Tony), 2 Andrew Moore (CRG), 3 Jack Taylor (JPR)
Rotax Mini Max: Daniel O’Brien (Tony)
TKM Intermediate: 1 Jack Kemp (Venom), 2 James Blake (ARC), 3 Thomas Kolasky (Tony)
Rotax Junior Max: 1 Jack Goff (Biesse), 2 Nick Wones (CRG), 3 David Pittard (Biesse)
Rotax Junior Max Novice: Bradley Gravett (Zip)
Rotax Senior Max: 1 Marc Dawson (Alpha), 2 Paul Walsh (Gillard), 3 Harry Arnold (Alonso)
Rotax Senior Max Novice: Simon Cooper (Tony)
250: 1 Steve Burton (Jade/Honda) 2 Martin Goodliffe (Raider/Honda), 3 Jason Tucker (F1/Honda)
125 ICC: 1 Paul Lawson (Anderson/TM), 2 Robin Kingham (Tornado/Pavesi), 3 Daniel Denis (Mike Wilson/TM)
Rotax Senior 177: 1 Dan Holland (Kosmic), 2 Lee Torrie (Gillard), 3 Martin Reader (Kosmic)
TKM Extreme: 1 William Reed (Gillard), 2 James Gould (JKH), 3 Helen Gardiner (Venom)

MARK HINES TROPHY WINNER - James Manning
OVERALL JUNIOR CHAMPION - Jack Goff - 1200 pts
MOST IMPROVED JUNIOR - Jack Kemp
JUNIOR SPORTSMAN TROPHY - Daniel Burton
OVERALL SENIOR CLASS ONE CHAMPION - Marc Dawson 1212 points
MOST IMPROVED SENIOR -Milan Mach
SENIOR SPORTSMAN TROPHY- Peter Rankin
OVERALL SENIOR CLASS FOUR CHAMPION - Richie Schmitz 1153 points