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InKart - Daytona Tamworth
Racers were met with slightly overcast conditions ahead of the third round of InKart at Tamworth, as one grid of racers prepared to take on the heats format once more.
Juniors
Championship leader Zachary Smith was absent in this round, creating a wide gap at the top of the junior rankings. In the first heat, Joseph Smith bridged the gap with confidence, taking the quickest lap on his way to a commanding victory over Alfie Kells and Reuben Potter. Smith was able to build on his ideal start to the day with a third-place result in the second race, this time significantly behind the leader but still around the pace you would expect. This time, Noah Johnson won by a comfortable margin over Alfie Kells, despite the fact that the two were separated by only three tenths in terms of lap times throughout the race.
In the final, there was an intriguing battle from second to fourth place. Joseph Smith triumphed, repeating his spectacular first heat victory with an even greater margin - nearly fifteen seconds. Further behind, Alfie Kells put forth an incredible defensive effort to finish second on the podium. Kells was somewhat slower than those around him, but he handled the pressure admirably to secure a hard-fought podium slot. There was even more suspense in the position directly behind, as Harry Kennedy was penalised for a bump-and-pass in the closing stages of the race, giving William Jenkinson third place. However, Kennedy filed an appeal in the post-race after reviewing his footage and said appeal was upheld, giving him back a very well-earned podium position. There was just a second separating second through to fourth.
Cadets
It was a slightly quieter cadet field for this round of the season, with many of the championship contenders choosing to take this as their dropped round. However, that did not deter our cadet class from making it a very entertaining event.
In the first race, Locke Evans picked up an assured victory in what is only his second ever InKart round after graduating from Daytona’s race school earlier in the year. It was not an easy victory, as he was hassled by Leonardo Palagi just behind. Unfortunately for Palagi, he made a mistake at turn eight on the final lap of the race which took him out of contention for the cadet win, ending up finishing third – with Logan Thacker in second. The order was only changed slightly in a very similar second heat, where Locke Evans kept a round sweep alive with a victory, Palagi made his way back into second.
Evans took his first ever InKart victory in the final, though made hard work of it as he was continuously pressured by Palagi for that top spot. The two of them fought hard but found it difficult to really get into a rhythm due to the added complexity of the cadet traffic. Either way, it takes nothing away from Evans who has impressed already in what is a very early InKart career. They were joined on the podium by Logan Thacker, who’s pace improved quite dramatically throughout the day.
Of course, all championships take a break next week thanks to the Daytona 24 Hour in Milton Keynes, however we look forward to welcoming all drivers back in two weeks’ time, on the 20th October, for another round of InKart to continue this thoroughly exciting season.
InKart - Daytona Milton Keynes
The third round of the Inkart season featured fluctuating circumstances, requiring the drivers to react rapidly to the ever-changing conditions.
Qualifying
Zachary Smith took the pole in the Juniors just in front of championship leader Tom Justice in second and Zayn Perry in third. In the Cadet class, the gap for pole would be nothing with two drivers setting identical lap times. At the top of the times, Arel Kesimgil took pole position as he set the lap first just in front of Leo Sibthorpe who took second place. Just a few hundredths back from them was Alexander Karadzhov who took the third spot on the grid.
B Final
A thrilling race for the B Final win saw all the drivers vying for a spot in the A Final. Harry Fitch led the race for most of it thanks to an incredible defence at the front of the field, but he may have defended too hard because he received two position penalties at the flag. Matthew Swatton had an incredible drive, passing Fitch in the final laps to take the lead and then building up a comfortable gap of 6.6 seconds at the front of the field. Arthur Caluch finished in second place, while Ethan Guest picked up the final spot on the podium.
A Final
In the A Final, Smith drove brilliantly to win his second Junior class championship of the season, 7.6 seconds behind Perry, who had also pulled a sizable lead over the battling pack. The battle for the final podium spot was closer, with just over two seconds separating third and fourth. Swatton, who had won the B Final, had an incredible drive from the back of the grid to take home his second trophy of the day and earn an additional point along the way. Justice finished fourth despite his remarkable five-race podium streak coming to an end.
It was a very close race for second and third place, with Kesimgil winning by just two seconds. However, contact between the two drivers near the end of the race resulted in Kesmigil receiving a post-race penalty, dropping him to third, and Sibthorpe taking second place with his best-ever finish in the InKart championship. In the cadet division, it was a dominant driver from Karadzhov who won the race by thirteen seconds after starting from the second row of the grid.
SuperChamps - Daytona Tamworth
The D40 format is the greatest test of solo endurance offered across our championships at Daytona Tamworth, and so it was going to be an immense challenge for drivers at round three of SuperChamps. With the weather just about set fair ahead of this one, two full grids were set to compete over the course of the evening.
N35-ST
With qualifying completed over just one lap, Sam Makinson stood above the rest of the Lightweights, a tenth of a second ahead of Leo Jackson. Kristine Kolodziejski was third, and on pole in the Heavyweights, with just six tenths of a second separating the top three.
Into the race, it was relatively smooth sailing for Jude Lillyman at first, who built a steady gap ahead of Oliver Noakes and Leo Jackson, who perhaps he sees as his two main rivals for the championship. His victory looked pretty much certain until an exaggerated red flag towards the end of the race created the prospect of a very dramatic sprint. With the field now bunched in a safety-car style restart, Lillyman had to put in a massive defensive shift to try and keep a hungry Noakes behind. He was able to do just that and ended up crossing the line in the lead by jut over one and a half seconds. They were joined on the podium by Leo Jackson.
As for the Heavyweights, Chris Cleaver returned to the championship after taking the second round as his dropped round, winning in the process. He was not a million miles away from runner up Kolodziejski but was comfortable in his pace to ensure victory. Thankfully for Cleaver, he was able to just put enough karts in between himself and Kolodziejski for the last dash to the line, decreasing the dramatics. Benjamin Tompkinson-Gray joined them on the podium, a solid performance from him to climb back into the podium positions.
DMAX-GT
Alex Jackson has not really had to much bother winning races this season, and this trend continues in DMAX qualifying, where he took pole by a tenth of a second ahead of Heavyweight driver Matt Ellis. Jackson’s primary competition was no doubt going to be Joseph Simcock, who would start on row two.
Into the race, there was an early red flag where the resulting full course yellow caught a few drivers out. Multiple spun under yellows and received positional penalties, which would shake up the resulting order. It was a little bit of a shame, because Alex Jackson and Joseph Simcock had a cracking scrap towards the end of the race – the actual winning margin being just three tenths of a second. However, Simcock would not join Jackson on the podium, and instead Dom Balasaitis managed to grab the runner-up spot on his Tamworth debut. They were joined on the podium by Joseph Simcock.
As for the Heavyweights, Matt Ellis was in a class of his own to take victory ahead of Tom Duffy. There was not much of a battle to speak of between the two, with the main Heavyweight battle occurring behind. Demetri Wade and Kristine Kolodziejski had a great battle for third, with Wade eventually managing to squeeze ahead and take a well-earned podium.
Of course, all championships take a break next week thanks to the Daytona 24 Hour in Milton Keynes, however we look forward to welcoming all drivers back in two weeks’ time, on the 19th October, for another round of SuperChamps, as we return to the heats format.
Photos:
For all Daytona Championship photos and more, please click here.