Kimbolton 10th June 2007

A cloudy day greeted competitors at Kimbolton for the fifth round of Hunts Kart Racing Club’s 2007 championships, but thankfully the day stayed dry and a full race programme was completed, including a round of the 210 Challenge.

Cadet: In Cadet, Alex Walker and Jake Dalton had a titanic struggle. Initially shadowed by Toby Sowery, the pair gradually pulled away with Walker resisting Dalton’s every move. On the last lap Dalton made a supreme effort, just missing out by half a kart length at the line. Sowery duly finished a comfortable third with Michael Dunstan just ahead of Jacques Morley to win the novice trophy.

Junior TKM: In Juniors, pole man Francis Harrold’s race lasted 2 laps, a move for the lead at Kimbolton proving unsuccessful. This gave Joe Porter the opportunity to pull a gap on the rest of the field and he led to the flag. Sophie Lanc was second momentarily, but dropped away into retirement after being hit from behind. Tom Fitzpatrick now headed William Hillyard, matching each other’s lap times as they battled over second. Hillyard got his nose in front on the last lap, only for Fitzpatrick to snatch the place back.

Rotax Mini Max/TKM Intermediate: Ashley Hand and Jordan Aveline had shared the spoils in the Mini Max heats, but it was Hand who emerged victorious in the final. Aveline led for 6 laps with Hand content to follow waiting for an opportunity to pass. On lap 7 he made his move at Stow and then defended manfully as Aveline tried to respond. Anton Spires had a lonely race in third, with Lewis Penstone-Smith taking the novice award. In Intermediates, Jack Kemp led from start to finish. James Blake had second throughout, quicker than Kemp in the latter stages, but too late to affect the result. Thomas Kolasky dropped down the order at the start, but fought back for third. Scott Bugner took the novice award.
 
Rotax Junior Max: Nick Wones passed pole sitter Brad Smith at the start of lap 2 and from there never looked threatened. Smith was able to cruise home in second as David Pittard and Jake Parker battled for third. Parker was a little too defensive on lap 6, allowing Pittard through.

210 Challenge: Paul Fowler and Stephen Plain swapped the lead over the first two laps but Plain was clearly quicker and soon dispatched Fowler with ease. Graham Payne had to negotiate Garth Dyer, before setting up an attack on Fowler and this left him some way behind the leader at half distance. Payne was now the faster kart and as back markers came into play, Plain had to be on his mettle. He responded with his fastest lap of the race to win from Payne and Fowler.
 
Rotax Senior 177: Lee Torrie headed Wayne Smithers throughout, but with Smithers’ kart coming on in the latter half of the race, the result was in doubt until the end. Martyn Smith, Martin Reader, Scott Clee, Tom Pyttlik and James Darch squabbled over the remainder of the top six, but Clee and Reader collided putting them out of the running. Smith looked set to take third, but a last lap move by Darch wrestled it away from him. Stephen Lloyd took the novice award.

TKM Extreme: Will Reed, Luke Caudle and Oliver Sedden, made it a Gillard 1-2-3 for the start of the TKM Extreme final and they set off in that order followed by Michael Cornell, James Gould and Helen Gardiner. Daniel Graham leapt from 10th to 4th in the space of two laps, but was unable to make much impression on the top three. Caudle seemed to be biding his time and sure enough, he passed Reed on the penultimate lap. Reed wasn’t finished and re-passed Caudle on the final time into Stow whilst behind them Graham nipped into third. Approaching the Hairpin, Reed and Caudle were so intent on their battle that they left a gap for Graham to plant his kart into. Graham emerged ahead of Caudle with Reed third, but the action wasn’t over as Reed snatched second from Caudle at Kimbolton and Sedden just failed to pass his team-mate on the line!

Rotax Senior Max: At the start Karl Haxton was straight into the lead followed by Stephen Johnson and Daniel Tuffs, but at the end of lap one, Johnson took over at the front and Kyle Chesterman moved into third. Johnson faced pressure from Haxton whilst Chesterman had James Corpe to worry about. Up front, Johnson and Haxton gradually pulled away, but Tuffs came back past Corpe giving Chesterman a breather. With two to go, Haxton passed Johnson at the Hairpin allowing Chesterman to catch up. On the last lap with Johnson all over Haxton, Chesterman went for broke, but the move didn’t work for him and Corpe was able to grab third. At the line Haxton hung on by the narrowest of margins.

125 ICC: Jack Angus led from the start ahead of Richie Schmitz and Santino Meale. Meale was soon into second and spent the rest of the race trying to find a way past Angus. Schmitz dropped back, concentrating on fending off a late challenge from Robin Kingham. On the final lap, Kingham got alongside Schmitz down Yamitsu Straight, but the two karts touched and he had to back off. Chris Thexton won the novice award.

250: In a processional 250 race, Martin Jones was the runaway winner ahead of Ron Stamp and Steve Burton.

RESULTS:
Hunts Kart Racing Club 2007 Championships Round 5
Cadet: 1 Alex Walker (Zip), 2 Jake Dalton (Zip), 3 Toby Sowery (Birel)
Cadet Novice: Michael Dunstan (Zip) 
Junior TKM: 1 Joe Porter (Tony), 2 Tom Fitzpatrick (Tony), 3 William Hillyard (Tony)
Rotax Mini Max: 1 Ashley Hand (Zanardi), 2 Jordan Aveline (Intrepid), 3 Anton Spires (Intrepid)
Rotax Mini Max Novice: Lewis Penstone-Smith (CRG)
TKM Intermediate: 1 Jack Kemp (Venom), 2 James Blake (ARC), 3 Thomas Kolasky (Tony)
TKM Intermediate Novice: Scott Bugner (Venom)
Rotax Junior Max: 1 Nick Wones (Gillard), 2 Brad Smith (Tony), 3 David Pittard (Biesse)
Rotax Junior Max Novice: David DeRosa (Tony)
210 Challenge: 1 Stephen Plain (Anderson), 2 Graham Payne (Anderson), 3 Paul Fowler (Anderson)
Rotax Senior 177: 1 Lee Torrie (Gillard), 2 Wayne Smithers (), 3 James Darch (JPR)
Rotax Senior 177 Novice: Stephen Lloyd (Tony)
TKM Extreme: 1 Daniel Graham (Tony), 2 William Reed (Gillard), 3 Luke Caudle (Gillard)
TKM Extreme Novice: Steven James (RM Wilson)
Rotax Senior Max: 1 Karl Haxton (Tony), 2 Stephen Johnson (Tony), 3 James Corpe (Tony)
Rotax Senior Max Novice: Justin Burrell (Kosmic)
125 ICC: 1 Jack Angus (Wright/Pavesi), 2 Santino Meale (Maranello/TMK9B), 3 Richie Schmitz (Arrow/Pavesi)
125 ICC Novice: Chris Thexton (First/Pavesi)
250: 1 Martin Jones (Raider/Honda), 2 Ron Stamp (Raider/Honda), 3 Steve Burton (Jade/Honda)

Jonathan Needham