LLANDOW Kart Club’s blue riband event produced excitement and unpredictability in equal measure as the coveted ‘C’ plates were handed out at the Welsh Championships.

A busy timetable - boosted by the inclusion of round three of the Southern TKM Championship - packed in four practice and two qualifying sessions as well as two heats and two finals for each class, spreading the competition over two days in which the weather once again looked on favourably.

Without a Welsh title, the Bambino class featured just one runner, as novice Ryan Smith enjoyed having the track to himself, improving his performance by four seconds over the course of the weekend and thoroughly deserving his awards at the end of the event.

Smith’s appearance served as the precursor to each round of competition, with most classes being afforded their own track time. The hotly-contested Cadet classes were duly split into Honda and IAME runners, with the former producing five different names at the top of the result sheets in either qualifying or the races.

Saturday’s qualifying session was topped by Axel Laflamme before Joshua Martin came through to claim the opening heat later that afternoon. Louis Harvey then posted the fastest time in Q2, only for Matthew Herbert to take the heat win. Harry Restall won a topsy-turvy pre-final that saw Martin, Herbert and Laflamme all disqualified, but the same trio then upset the order once again to finish 1-2-3 as Martin repeated as Welsh champion by just 0.114 seconds.

IAME was no less intriguing, as an appeal in the final saw Jonny Wilkinson promoted from sixth on the time sheet to first when a penalty was overturned after the flag. The youngster had been a fixture in the top three throughout the weekend, winning the pre-final having had to give best to Klaas Kooiker in the previous sessions. Llandow regulars Thomas Nippers and Shay Keough remained in the mix, with the latter completing the podium behind Wilkinson and Kooiker.

Junior Honda may only have had four runners, but three of them took turns at topping the results, including increasingly impressive novice Finley Green, who bested usual frontrunners Ben Cutler and Alex Wilkins to win heat two. Come the final, however, and Cutler restored order, adding the Welsh title to his familiar club success as he comfortably led Luca Nardone and Wilkins across the line.

By contrast, Junior Max only featured one name at the head of the field, as Ethan Ling returned from his Super One exploits to dominate. Behind him, the order only showed one alteration as regular runner-up David Spiller briefly missed out to Ethan Rees in the pre-final, before returning to lead the pursuit of Ling in the finale.

The final junior class, for TKM runners, was also the domain of one driver, as Ryan Edwards only allowed one competitive session to slip from his grasp. Once Louis Beaven had headed opening qualifying, Edwards proved hard to dislodge from P1, despite every time sheet showing a margin of less than a second between the top two. Beaven was, more often than not, in second spot, while Lucas Sullivan and Ross Deal shared opportunities to break into the top three, with the latter completing the final podium just 0.2 seconds behind Edwards.

Senior Honda was similarly subjugated, with Kristian Prosser in front throughout qualifying. Overcoming the veteran presence of reigning Welsh champion Chris Lipscomb, the Junior Honda graduate led a youth brigade including Patrick Hill and Tom Ford in both qualifying sessions but, with Lipscomb and Monty Gorringe both showing potential when racing began, the positions behind Prosser were always in doubt. In the end, the reigning Celtic champion triumphed by 10 seconds over Lipscomb, with wily veteran Paul Saunders upping the average age of the podium in third place.

Senior Rotax started out with Zach Jones setting the pace in opening qualifying and following that up with victory in heat one, but Sunday saw Morgan Rose turn the tables, topping both the timed session and the three races that followed. Q2 underlined how close the competition is in the class, with the top four covered by 0.092 seconds, but Rose had the field covered thereafter, able to put at least a second between himself and his pursuers. Jones, Rob Ellis, Josh Gray and Sam Morgan all vied to join Rose on the podium, with the latter pair eventually succeeding when it mattered.

The inclusion of the Southern TKM Championship added a 17-strong TKM Extreme field to the bill, although the roll of honour followed a similar pattern to Senior Rotax, with one driver turning Sunday in his favour. After Matthew Allnutt and Sam Taylor had topped day one’s qualifying and heat respectively, Lewis Round took charge on day two, claiming all three races, with Matthew Ayres edging Allnutt for second place in both pre-final and final.

Amongst the usual silverware, the traditional Welsh Championship ‘extras’ were also presented, with long-standing club timekeeper Margret Evans being surprised by the Evelyn and Harry Maund Memorial Award for her ‘behind the scenes’ but nevertheless vital contribution to the running of events at Llandow. Finley Green, meanwhile, picked up the Kath Denscombe Memorial Award as the junior club member best setting an example for his dedication and effort to learn the skills of karting.

Round six of the Llandow Kart Club championship will take place on Sunday, July 19.

Results:

BAMBINO 1. Ryan Smith (Topkart)

CADET HONDA 1. Joshua Martin (BRK); 2. Matthew Herbert (Project One); 3. Axel Laflamme (Zip)

CADET IAME 1. Jonny Wilkinson (Synergy); 2. Klaas Kooiker (Zip); 3. Shay Keough (Shark)

JUNIOR HONDA 1. Ben Cutler (7Kart); 2. Luca Nardone; 3. Alex Wilkins (7Kart)

JUNIOR TKM 1. Ryan Edwards (Tonykart); 2. Louis Beaven (Tonykart); 3. Ross Deal (Jade)

JUNIOR ROTAX 1. Ethan Ling (Tonykart); 2. David Spiller (Alonso); 3. Ethan Rees (Tonykart)

SENIOR HONDA 1. Kristian Prosser (7Kart); 2. Chris Lipscomb (Wright); 3. Paul Saunders (7Kart)

SENIOR ROTAX 1. Morgan Rose (Tonykart); 2. Josh Gray (Tonykart); 3. Sam Morgan (CRG)

TKM EXTREME 1. Lewis Round (Alonso); 2. Matthew Ayres (Jade); 3. Matthew Allnutt (Tonykart)

Best novice: Ben Watson (Cadet Honda)

Driver of the day: Luca Nardone (Junior Honda)

Kath Denscombe Memorial Award: Finley Green (Junior Honda)

Harry and Evelyn Maund Memorial Award: Margaret Evans