Llandow Kart Club: Championship campaign moves into its second half (From Barry And District News)

Llandow Kart Club: Championship campaign moves into its second half

7:10am Thursday 9th August 2012 in Sport

LLANDOW Kart Club’s main championship campaign moved into its second half as the summer broke with tradition and graced the South Wales club with a largely dry raceday, as the visiting ABkC Super 4 Championships for 125 ICC UK swelled the entry to 90.

The popular Bambino class got things underway with five drivers all aiming to produce their best in the decent conditions. Regulars Shayne Clarke, Jakob Chamberlain and Matthew Rees all achieved the gold awards, with Brooklyn Thomas attaining silver.

Meanwhile, although the newest member of the class, Jenson Parton, didn’t manage an award on this occasion, he did knock ten seconds off his previous lap time, so remains headed in the right direction.

With 26 drivers on show, the two Cadet classes received their own finals after running together in the heats. Comer honours eventually went the way of the visiting Charlie Andrews, although brother Harry ran him close throughout the day, winning heat three before accepting runners-up spot in the final. Tom Rawlings completed the podium as five seconds covered the leading quintet at the flag.

The numerically bigger Honda Cadet class saw reigning Welsh champion Hugo Holmes and Joshua Martin take the victories in the early stages, and it was the former who came out on top in the main event too, albeit crossing the line just 0.15secs clear of second-placed Ethan Ling. Ross Thomas rounded out the top three, ahead of Alex Rees and Martin.

Honda Junior could not match either Cadet field for numbers, but that didn’t bother Ben Stevens, who continued his seemingly inexorable march towards the title with another clean sweep of heats and final. Thomas Croydon and Tom Ford led the resistance, but had to settle for swapping second and third places before Croydon secured the runner-up spot some seven seconds adrift of Stevens in the main event. Novice Patrick Hill also turned out in the four-strong class.

Despite the presence of perennial frontrunner Ross Chell, Ryan Edwards was the driver to beat in Junior TKM, claiming two heats and going on to notch up another notable victory in the final. Chell took the middle heat, but missed the podium in the main event, allowing Louis Griffith-Walker and driver of the day Yousuf Ashraf to complete the top three.

With a combined eight runners, Junior and Mini Max shared their track time throughout the day. While Jodie Handford had the upper hand on Minimax novice Ceran Sokhi each time, the Junior class was a lot more open. Toby Allen, visitor Toby Cook and Rob Ellis each took a win during the heats, before Ellis doubled up with victory in the final, coming home seven seconds clear of the field. His passage was aided by Allen retiring on the opening lap, leaving Cook and Thomas Stride to complete the podium.

If Junior Max provided some variety, there was little on show at the front of the Senior Honda class, where Simon Evans continued his relentless march towards a third title with four wins from four outings. Behind him, Nick Turley, Danny Griffiths and Paul Saunders took it in turns to lead the pursuit, with Turley eventually coming home second in the main event. The third podium spot remained open, meanwhile, and eventually fell to Ferdinand Ball, who bounced back from exclusion in heat three to cross the line a matter of hundredths behind Turley, with Gareth Lewis denying Griffiths in fourth.

Josh Collings returned from national championship duty to restate his superiority in Senior Max, winning all three heats and adding the final for good measure, as those who enjoyed his recent absence were left to battle over the minor podium places.

While Collings had things all his own way out front, Matthew Dowers led the chase, twice finishing second in the heats before repeating the result in the main event. David Entwistle underlined his recent good form with a runner-up spot of his own, but it was out-of-towner Jon Sweeper who ultimately claimed third place in the final, with Sebastian Hutchinson and Dilip Singh also getting the better of Entwistle.

The Max 177 class grew to four runners, but that could not prevent Nigel Hughes from claiming three of the four races, including the final, with reigning champion Wayne Stone taking the other. Simon Wheeler and novice Nicky Coombs were the others in action.

The ICC UK runners provided a rarely-seen spectacle as the month’s guest championship, with 14 runners scrapping over the spoils. James Mudd laid down an early marker with victory in heat one, before Tom Duggan threw his hat firmly into the ring with wins in the next two. Neither would ultimately come out on top in the fourth and final encounter, however, as Matt Dittman emerged from the shadows to take the honours by just 0.03secs over Duggan, while #1 plate Daniel Borton claimed the remaining step on the podium.

RESULTS

BAMBINO:

Gold Award: Jakob Chamberlain (Birel) Shayne Clarke (Topkart) Matthew Rees

Silver Medal: Brooklyn Thomas (Birel)

Participation: Jenson Parton

CADET COMER: 1. Charlie Andrews 2. Harry Andrews 3. Tom Rawlings (Zip)

CADET HONDA: 1. Hugo Holmes (Zip) 2. Ethan Ling (Project One) 3. Ross Thomas (Wright)

JUNIOR HONDA: 1. Ben Stevens (7Kart) 2. Thomas Croydon (Jade) 3. Tom Ford (Biz)

JUNIOR TKM: 1. Ryan Edwards (TalKo) 2. Louis Griffith-Walker (Jade) 3. Yousuf Ashraf (Jade)

MINI MAX: 1. Jodie Handford (Tonykart) 2. Ceran Sokhi (Kosmic)

JUNIOR ROTAX: 1. Rob Ellis (Tonykart) 2. Toby Cook (Formula K) 3. Thomas Stride (CRG)

SENIOR HONDA: 1. Simon Evans (7Kart) 2. Nick Turley 3. Ferdinand Ball (MS)

SENIOR ROTAX: 1. Josh Collings (CRG) 2. Matthew Dowers (Kosmic) 3. Jon Sweeper (Tonykart)

ROTAX 177:  1. Nigel Hughes 2. Wayne Stone (Tonykart) 3. Simon Wheeler (CRG) ABkC

SUPER 4 CHAMPIONSHIPS 125 ICC UK: 1. Matt Dittman (Tonykart) 2. Tom Duggan (Energy) 3. Daniel Borton (BRM)

Best Novice: Joshua Budding (Honda Cadet)

Driver of the Day: Yousuf Ashraf (Junior TKM)