March 2011 Round 1 FEKC Championship

March 2011 Round 1 Forest Edge Championship

 

The first round of the 2011 Forest Edge Championship was welcomed by a dry, cold day and 145 drivers raring to kick off their challenge for this years top spots. Grids were buoyant in all classes with great racing across the classes and with Rotax moving to Mojo tyres for 2011 it was a day when lap records fell in Senior Rotax, Minimax and Junior Max.

 

The first A final out saw Junior Rotax with Kieran Gifford on pole, Ian Bolland alongside, Jack Mayle starting from fourth took a couple of laps to ease up to Gifford’s bumper dropping Bolland down to third early on. Gifford and Mayle eased slightly away from a battling pack of Bolland, Owen Hunter, last year’s Champion Ollie Pidgley, David Wright and Sam Cassidy with positions swapping throughout the race. Three laps from home Mayle edged past Gifford and looked to be pulling away, Gifford head down closed, one lap to go Mayle closed on a back marker, Gifford seized the initiative and took advantage to move back into the lead and hold Mayle by half a kart on the line. Bolland took third, followed by Hunter, Pidgley and Wright, but the class oozed quality with the top nine drivers all less than two tenths of a second separated in lap times which looks to be THE class to watch in 2011?

 

Minimax, like Junior saw many drivers moving up, Jordan Gilbertson on pole tangled early on with second place Harry Sturt allowing Lewis Bowles to seize advantage and move up to second and then through to first from Gilbertson. Jack Constable and Ben Blick battled behind for the final podium, Bowles looked to be easing away but Gilbertson found a new turn of pace powering past and to take the win from Bowles, Constable taking the final podium from Ben Blick.

 

Another full grid, Rotax were the third A final out with Craig Mooney on pole, Dan Bushell alongside, Mooney got a great start, Bushell tagged on the outside of Haynes Loop allowing Michael Kent to get through and into the lead quickly. Mooney and Kent pushed throughout swapping places, with three laps remaining Kent eased a couple of kart lengths away from Mooney leaving an ensuing battle for third place from Gemma Batstone, Scott Smart and Stephen Andrews. Across the line Batstone held off Smart whose kart seemed to leave it late in the race to establish the pace on the new Mojo’s?

 

The libre grid of cadets seems to have seen or is seeing the dwindling of the WTP class leaving a burgeoning Honda and Comer contingent. Thanassi Barnicoat on board the all new British Shark chassis took pole with Max Bird’s Comer alongside, Barnicoat eased away from the field to take a deserved win from Bird. Samuel Pooley battled early on with Harry Mailer, yet the strength of Pooley’s setup in the latter stages of the race played to his karts strength gaining him third on track from Mailer with identical pace between the different engine types. Thomas Alderton and Matteo Zanetti both on differing engines again showed the value of the libre grid by battling throughout the race length, with the crisp dry weather it was Alderton’s Honda which triumphed to secure fifth on track from Zanetti. Joe Pfiffner took first WTP home.

 

2011 sees a welcome return to Forest Edge of the Junior TKM class with a total of thirteen take to the track for the first round of the season with a mix of TAG and direct drive engines, and with the backing of Talko it bodes well for the class moving forward. Calum Woodridge, Tom Hackett and Robin Sedden pulled clear early on from the pack with Hackett setting fastest lap after fastest lap, two laps to go Hackett defended into the corner seeing Woodridge move into the lead with Sedden behind. Last corner Tollys, Sedden saw a gap from Woodridge and with a late braking move slipped inside and got on the power earlier to take the win in the last 30 metres. A great historic class looks to have a great year at Barton Stacey with ever growing grids!

 

What Senior TKM lacked in numbers, this month eight, did not lack in quality and had the spectators spellbound watching Micky “Moose” Higham, Chris Boardman and Scott Chaney nose to tail, tail to nose for the entire race. Chaney started on pole, pulled clear then, saw his lead dwindle in the latter stages with Higham taking the smallest of wins from Boardman and Chaney. A great race, good respect from all the drivers and looks to be an exciting class to watch for the remainder of the year.

 

The last and biggest grid of the day, Rotax 177/Masters will see a B final in April, but for March saw one of the most famous names in British Motorsport on pole, James Hunt! Joe Holloway back in the seat after two years away babysitting(J) took an early lead from Hunt at Haynes Loop around the outside of the bend heading into Johhnys in the lead, this seemed to stun the returnee and pace suffered early on! Steve Pratt with a DNF in heat three made light work of his competition coming through the field to assume the lead on lap 5, Paul Warrener took Holloway on lap seven before Holloway rediscovered previous form and put in some great late laps to match the front two for pace. Matt Gardiner had a great drive to maintain fourth on track from the “master” Oliver Smith.

 

The Masters/177’s rounded off a great first round of 2011 and with significant grids across the classes it proves impossible to see an inch of the track where battling will not be prevalent!

 

Comer Cadet                        1^st Thanassi Barnicoat, Shark

                                    2^nd Max Bird, Zip

                                    3^rd Harry Mailer, Zip

                                    4^th Matteo Zanetti, BRM

 

 

Honda Cadet                1^st  Samuel Pooley, Project 1

                                    2^nd Thomas Alderton, Project 1

                                    3^rd Harry King, Project 1

                                    4^th Nathan Lunness, Project 1                              

 

WTP                            1^st  Joe Pfiffner, BRM

 

Junior TKM                   1^st Robin Sedden, Gillard

                                    2^nd Calum Woodridge, Tony

                                    3^rd Tom Hackett, Intrepid

 

Minimax                       1^st Jordan Gilbertson, Storm

                                    2^nd Lewis Bowles, Storm

                                    3^rd Jack Constable, Tony

 

Junior Max                   1^st Kieran Gifford, Gillard

                                    2^ndJack Mayle, Tony

                                    3^rd Ian Bolland, Maranello

                                    4^th Owen Hunter, Gillard

                                    5^th Oliver Pidgeley, Tony

 

Rotax Max                    1^st  Michael Kent, Tony

                                    2^nd  Craig Mooney, CRG

                                    3^rd  Gemma Batstone, CRG

                                    4^th  Scott Smart, Tony

                                    5^th   Stephen Andrews, CRG

 

Senior TKM                   1^st  Micky “Moose” Higham, Alonso

                                    2^nd Chris Boardman,

                                    3^rd Scott Chaney, Alonso                                      

 

Rotax 177                    1^st  Steve Pratt, Tony

                                    2^nd Paul Warrener, Sodi

                                    3^rd  Matt Gardiner, Wildkart

                                    4^th Christopher Mayhew, Maranello                    

 

177 Masters              1^st   Joe Holloway, Intrepid

                                  2^nd  Oliver Smith, CRG

                                 3^rd   Charlie Watson, Gillard

                                 4^th   Graham Mackie, Gillard

 

Report Colin Wright