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British Superkart Association

Donington Park 

1st / 2nd August

Round 9 and 10  - MSA British Superkart Championship

Incorporating the BSA National Div 1 Championship.

	Results - Sector times and Speed trap info

Report By Gary James -  To Follow

Photos by Jon Bunston

www.evado.co.uk/MotorsportPhotography/Donington Superkart/album/index.html                                      

O’REILLY AND TUCKER SHARE THE SPOILS

MSA British Superkart Championship rivals James O’Reilly and James Tucker cancelled each other out at Donington Park by taking a win and second place apiece. 

The Superkarts were part of the support package at the Superleague Formula meeting and qualifying on the Saturday was a real lottery. The weather conditions worsened during the afternoon to the point where the Superleague Formula suspended the remainder of their timed sessions due to heavy rain. This didn’t seem to deter the Superkart drivers and after a break of an hour during which the rain had stopped they were let loose in overcast conditions. Jason Dredge secured pole position in 250 National with a time of 1m 48.312s on a drying track near the end of the session. Alongside was James O’Reilly on 1m 48.948s. Gavin Bennett (1m 50.391s) drove a good last sector on his final lap to snatch third spot on the grid from James Tucker (1m 50.761s) who set his best time half way through the session. Paul Platt (1m 51.638s) struggled to find a gap on the circuit to set a decent time. However, after being knocked off at Fogarty Esses he promptly set his quickest time on the next lap to head row 3 with Sam Moss (1m 51.842s) alongside.

Due to the packed race programme the two Superkart classes would be in one race with a split grid, the 250 Nationals starting behind the Division 1 twins. O’Reilly made the most of his front row slot and was in the lead at the end of lap 1 followed by Tucker, Dredge, Bennett, Platt, Jon Neville and Moss. Over the next few laps O’Reilly stretched his lead at the front and by half distance was just over 3s ahead of Bennett, Tucker and Dredge. These three had broken clear of Platt in 5^th place who had put daylight between himself and the scrap for 6^th spot between Moss and Neville. During the second half of the race O’Reilly’s lead was starting to look fragile and gradually Bennett and Tucker pegged back the deficit. Starting the last lap, the gap was less than a second. Halfway round the final tour, Tucker disposed of Bennett and set off after O’Reilly. The leader made a slight mistake at the Fogarty Esses for the final time and this was all Tucker needed. At the Melbourne Loop he dived inside O’Reilly to take the lead but at the final corner, Goddards, he failed to defend his position and O’Reilly came back at his. The UK Cup holder snatched the win by half a kart length from Tucker with Bennett right on his tail. “I knew I had a good lead but also that they would be coming back at me,” explained O’Reilly after the race. Tucker wasn’t satisfied with his runner up spot. “I should have gone into Goddards tighter to defend my lead,” he added ruefully. His only consolation was setting a new lap record of    1m 34.888s which was 3.1s inside the previous best. Bennett “didn’t want to get involved with their championship and was happy to watch what was happening ahead and pick up the pieces if necessary.” Dredge lost ground over the closing laps to come home in fourth place safely ahead of Platt. Matthew Bett came through to sixth place after Moss retired with a seized engine three laps from the finish.

RESULTS:

1^st James O’Reilly (PVP Honda)

2^nd James Tucker (Jade Honda)

3^rd Gavin Bennett (Anderson Honda)

In race 2, Platt made the best start from row 3 and led until Coppice Corner, but O’Reilly eased past and at the end of lap 1 had Bennett snapping at his heels with Tucker behind Platt in fourth place. O’Reilly looked to be going for a double but on lap 4 a front engine mounting bolt broke slowing his progress and Tucker moved into the lead at Fogarty Esses followed by Bennett. Platt’s race ended on the same lap when the chain came off. With the benefit of fresh tyres Bennett took the fight to Tucker and these two opened up a gap of 5.5s over O’Reilly by lap 6. The UK Cup holder was 4.7s clear of the scrap for 4^th place headed by Dredge from Don Kennedy, Moss up from row 11, Bett and Craig Fleming. Neville had been part of this dice in the early stages but retired to the pits with a binding rear brake.

Bennett’s challenge for the win ended on lap 8 when the big end bearing failed and he toured into the pits to retire. This left Tucker with a lead the length of the Wheatcroft Straight which he held to the flag winning by 13.3s. O’Reilly struggled on with his problem and was being caught by the pack. At the finish he just held onto second place by 0.1s. Kennedy led the chasers starting the last lap but lost speed through Craner Curves and got swallowed up. Dredge claimed 3^rd place despite losing his rear brakes, just ahead of Moss, Bett and Kennedy.

RESULTS:

1^st James Tucker (Jade Honda)

2^nd James O’Reilly (PVP Honda)

3^rd Jason Dredge (Anderson Honda)

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 BSA National Championship for Division 1 Superkarts Rounds 5 and 6

KENNINGS TAKE SURPRISE OVERALL HONOURS

The Division 1 class saw Paul Kennings consistency take the  overall honours after Trevor Roberts and Carl Hulme had a win each but also a retirement.

In practice Dave Harvey set the early pace, his new Dunlop wets working well. But as the track started to dry his tyres went off and he struggled towards the end of the session. Trevor Roberts also put in a quick time early on. A pit stop half way through the session to change to Bridgestone’s for the drying track saw him snatch pole position with 15s of qualifying remaining.  His lap of 1m 46.688s was over 1.5s quicker than Harvey could manage.

At the start Carl Hulme got the jump and led down to Redgate for the first time but Roberts grabbed the lead on the exit and that was the last time that anyone got close. By the end of the first lap he was nearly 3s in front. At half distance he put in a record lap of 1m 31.432s and finally ran out thewinner by a massive 13.4s. “I just put my head down and went for it,” he explained later, using this weekend to set up the engine ahead of the European Championships at Assen the following week.

All the action took place behind the flying Roberts. Hulme’s second place lasted until Goddard’s on lap 1 when he had an off and dropped back to 9^th. “We had fitted new brake pads on the front and I was caught out when the brakes cooled.” He charged back up to 6^th place and was challenging Harvey when he pulled off at Fogarty Esses on lap 5 thinking the engine had seized. A closer inspection discovered that a plug lead had been knocked off. Steve White was also in the fight for second place but his rear brakes overheated and he pitted at half distance to retire. Paul Kennings grabbed second place on lap 2 and pushed hard to break the tow from the pack. He managed to ease clear and despite almost visiting the escape road at Fogarty Esses on lap 8 finished a worthy second. Malcolm Crowe got the better of Harvey just before half distance and held him off over the second half of the race to secure third spot.

RESULTS:

1st Trevor Roberts (Anderson BRC)

2^nd Paul Kennings (Anderson FPE)

3^rd Malcolm Crowe (Anderson FPE)

In race 2 Roberts picked up where he had left off earlier. Consistently quicker than the rest, he led by 7.2s after 6 laps but a major engine failure on the next lap ended his race. Hulme had pulled through from row 6 and chased after Roberts but didn’t feel that he could have caught the Irishman. With Roberts demise, Hulme took over at the front and ran out the winner by 3.5s. White sorted out his earlier brake problem and had an excellent drive battling with Kennings the whole race to secure second place. Harvey just held off Mark Owens for 4^th place. These two had scrapped with Crowe in the early laps but his FPE was jumping out of 3^rd gear and he pulled into the pits at the end of lap 6 to retire.

RESULTS:

1st Carl Hulme (Anderson FPE)

2^nd Steve White (PVP FPE)

3^rd Paul Kennings (Anderson FPE)

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Last modified: September 02, 2010