LLANDOW Kart Club began a busy month of May by using round four of its annual championship as the curtain raiser for the return of the national Super One series to South Wales.

A packed field assembled for the mid-May clubbie, with many drivers using the occasion to ‘get their eye in’ ahead of the S1 visit, and it made for some spectacular racing as the weather gods looked favourably on the Vale of Glamorgan.

Having been boosted by the visit of the national Bambino championship runners in April, the youngest field on the card was back to more modest numbers this time around, but that did not stop Nathan Browning, Caleb McDuff, Cameron Crockett and the visiting Joseph Baird from showing their abilities against the clock. The quartet finished in that order, with each picking up a trophy to mark their achievements.

A 30-strong Honda cadet field earned itself the right to run solo on track, and made a colourful site as they did battle over three heats and a final. The wonderfully named Dragan Pinsent opened the day with a win in race one, before TVKC club-mate - and reigning ‘O’ Plate champion - Wesley Mason took out the remaining heats, but it was a third visitor from the same club who came through to take overall honours, with Alex Lloyd snatching victory in the final by 0.3secs over Mason and Kieron Jermey.

The IAME Cadet class was smaller in comparison, and belonged exclusively to Shay Keough, who strengthened his bid for the title by sweeping all four races from Billy Vassilev, Shayne Clarke and Ewan Long.

Junior Honda also took on a familiar air, with Ben Cutler winning races one and two. However, Alex Wilkins put an end to dreams of another clean sweep by claiming the third and final heat, although that was not enough to throw Cutler off his stride come the final. The points leader, however, did not have it easy, with increasingly impressive novice Finley Green coming through to take runners-up honours just 0.3secs shy of the winner, with Wilkins completing the podium.

The busy timetable meant that it was inevitable that some classes would be merged on the day, and so it was that Junior TKM found itself sharing track time with both Junior Rotax and the comparatively new Junior X30 category.

Ross Deal, Louis Beaven and Tom Rawlings shared the TKM heat wins before Alex Rees came through to claim the top step of the podium in the final, edging Sam Johns by 0.3secs while Beaven capitalising on a DSQ for Rawlings to beat Deal to third spot.

David Spiller was unopposed in Junior Rotax and thus found himself sharing a final with the X30 runners while the TKM karts got their own stand-alone main event.

Harry Platten appeared to be the driver to beat in X30, winning all three heats, and would have added the final as well had it not been for him running afoul of the scrutineers and stewards after crossing the line several seconds clear of second place. His disqualification allowed Harry Dyson to clean up ahead of Oliver Greetham and Bayley Gregory.

Senior Honda welcomed another new face in the shape of Daniel Watkins, but the novice’s inexperience showed as he gave vain chase to the rest of the field. Without April tormentor Kristian Prosser absent from the entry, Monty Gorringe was able to complete the clean sweep he was denied four weeks previously, beating Tom Ford and Paul Saunders to the top step in the final.

Like their junior counterparts, the Senior Rotax boys found themselves sharing the South Wales Karting Centre tarmac only, on this occasion it was with both the TKM Extreme of sole runner Callum Johns and the visiting Senior X30 class, spearheaded by former Llandow champion Josh Collings.

While Collings had to give best to Zach Jones in one heat, he duly made light of his rival’s retirement after seven laps of the final to run out victorious by a similar number of seconds over Euan Wilson in the final. Likewise, Rotax runner Rob Ellis defied the challenge of both Sam Morgan and Morgan Rose in the heats to return to P1 in the main event, reversing the April result with his main rivals duly filling the podium.

After Super One has come and gone, round five of the Llandow Kart Club championship will share top billing with the annual Welsh Championships over the weekend of 20-21 June.

RESULTS

BAMBINO

1. Nathan Browning (Zip)

2. Caleb McDuff (Zip)

3. Cameron Crockett (Birel)

4. Joseph Baird (MS)

CADET HONDA

1. Alex Lloyd (BRK)

2. Wesley Mason (Project One)

3. Kieron Jermey (Project One)

CADET IAME

1. Shay Keough (Shark)

2. Billy Vassilev (Wright)

3. Shayne Clarke (Zip)

JUNIOR HONDA

1. Ben Cutler (7Kart)

2. Finley Green (Biz)

3. Alex Wilkins (7Kart)

JUNIOR TKM

1. Alex Rees (Jade)

2. Sam Johns (Jade)

3. Louis Beaven (Tonykart)

JUNIOR ROTAX

1. David Spiller (Alonso)

JUNIOR X30

1. Harry Dyson (Octane)

2. Oliver Greetham (Alonso)

3. Bayley Gregory (Octane)

SENIOR HONDA

1. Monty Gorringe (7Kart)

2. Tom Ford (7Kart)

3. Paul Saunders (7Kart)

SENIOR ROTAX

1. Rob Ellis (Kosmic)

2. Sam Morgan (CRG)

3. Morgan Rose (Tonykart)

TKM EXTREME

1. Callum Johns (Tonykart)

SENIOR X30

1. Josh Collings (CRG)

2. Euan Wilson (Alonso)

3. Zach Jones (CRG)

BEST NOVICE: Josh Coombes (Cadet Honda)

DRIVER OF THE DAY: Jack Johns (Junior TKM)