1999 ABkC Inter Nations Team Challenge:  - Rowrah

  After previously visiting Eire and Scotland, this year it was England’s turn to host the ABkC Internations Challenge. Rowrah in Cumbria was the chosen venue and the Cumbria Kart Racing Club did a fine job of keeping all the visitors happy.Fridays free practice was followed by a dinner, for 350 hungry mouths and entertainment from a comedian, but the highlight of the evening was the managers from each of the five teams trying their hand at the ancient Cumbrian art of “Gurning”, for the uninitiated that is basically pulling an ugly face. 1999 World Champion, Tim Matheson was on hand to demonstrate and he was followed by five more of the ugliest mugs you have ever seen, allegedly it was England manager Steve Clayton who gave the Champ the best run for his money and that was without pulling a face. Saturday dawned and the glorious weather ordered well in advance had arrived, clear blue skies and sunshine that would last throughout the rest of the weekend.   The morning timed qualifying would give the psychological advantage to England as they captured four of the five class pole positions, Bradley Ellis took the Cadets, Ben Hanley JICA, Leon Coke 100 Libre and Mark Fell Formula 125, preventing a clean sweep was Eire’s, Kieran O`Carroll who led the Pro-Kart time sheet, at the end of the day all received trophies with both their names and the times they posted, engraved upon them. (Nice touch).  The afternoon session saw each class partaking in three of the four heats; Sunday would see the conclusion with a heat, a Pre final and the Final.

   By the close of racing, Saturday, England were already beginning to make their mark. In Cadets, consistent finishing gave the youngsters a handsome lead, Scotland held 2nd just 3pts ahead of Wales, .J.I.C.A. was closer, Scotland only 23 pts behind England. England also led Pro-Kart with Northern Ireland and Eire hot on their heels. In 100 Libre, Wales were only 13 pts adrift of England and in Formula125 England had a 16 pt advantage over Scotland.

But even so with one heat and double points for the Pre and Final it was by no means over.       Sunday started off were Saturday had finished as England continued to build on their points tally, After the 4th heat they had increased their lead in all the classes.

Cadets opened up the Pre-Finals and what a superb display they gave, five drivers frequently traded places in a clean and close race, Scotland’s John Boyd led them home with James McCarthy (Eire) taking a brilliant 2nd, from England’s Bradley Ellis, Oliver Field and Martin Plowman just 0.59s covering them.The final would be and all England affair, Boyd was the early leader but Field moved ahead on lap 2 he was quickly followed by team-mates Oliver Turvey and Matt Owen, mid race Ellis, who had started towards the back slotted into 4th and on the last lap Plowman completed England’s clean sweep as he took fifth place. The battle for second overall went right to the wire and it was Eire who just piped Scotland by 5 pts.

Cadet Result

England      841 pts

Eire            464

Scotland    459

Wales        433

N Ireland  379

  Alex Lloyd and Ben Hanley extended England’s lead in JICA taking a 1& 2 in the Pre-Final, The Final quickly settled into an England 1,2,3 as Lloyd, Russell Parkes and Hanley circulated in formation, the order remaining the same for the duration, good scoring in the middle order by the Scots kept them ahead of Wales in the battle for 2nd.

JICA Result

England       799 Pts

Scotland      574

Wales          501

N Ireland     308

Eire             296

Northern Ireland turned up the heat in Pro-Karts, a great pre-final saw 4 out of their five drivers in the top 10 and that took a huge chunk out of England’s lead.As they lined up for the final just 29 pts separated them, England’s Stephen White led them round the opening lap, Scotsman Stewart Linn had a turn on lap 2 but White regained and from then on never looked back, Northern Irish driver Cecil Conn pushed Linn further back on lap 3 and although he gave it his all he was unable to catch White outfront. England’s Drew Bradshaw and Neil Dodson came home 3rd & 4th, Dodson putting a super effort, 12th early in the race he gradually worked his way through securing England’s victory in class. N Irelands, Robert Robinson, Michael Curran and Dick Curran scored heavily but were unable to bridge the gap on the leaders.

Result Pro-Karts

England      687 pts

N Ireland    664

Eire             460

Scotland      416

Wales          361

100 Libre remained very close through out, a poor 4th heat allowed Scotland to close on Wales in 2nd and that took the pressure off the leaders, as England scored well.England & Scotland again scored well in the pre final, England’s Tom Ferrier led them home from Welsh driver Justin Edgar, with a gaggle of Scotsman moving them into 2nd place by just 20 pts. The final was a close fought race. Justin Edgar led the field throughout but was pressed hard by Jason Edgar, Scotland’s Stuart Lippe and Dave Stoddart would take a very close 3rd & 4th Stoddart just edging out Chris Hoey in the closing stages.

 

Result 100 Libre

England          680 pts

Scotland         592

Wales             548

N Ireland       473

Eire               211

  England held the lead by just 13 pts in Formula 125, after Saturday’s heats. They extended that in heat 4, but things then began to go a little pear shaped. Eire narrowed the gap in the pre-final as Noel Brennan and Pat Giltenane squeezed into the top 4. The final didn’t go exactly to plan for England as Kevin Pinder, Nelson Rowe and Tim Evans all had offs, Rowrah specialist, Mark Fell succeeded in scoring his sixth win of the weekend for England. A tremendous effort by the Scots saw them close to within 30 pts of England by race end as three of their five drivers, Jock Borthwick, Sandy Bonner and Simon Scott, made it into the top six.

 

Result Formula 125

England      628 pts

Scotland      598

Eire              550

N Ireland     442

Wales           356

  With the racing over and once everything had been confirmed the celebrations began. England’s team manager Steve Clayton said, “The team worked very hard, we had a small overnight lead which we continued to build on during Sundays heats and by the finals we were almost uncatchable in the team event, we nearly lost the lead in the Pro-Karts to Northern Ireland but just held on.”  “It has been a fabulous weekend.”

  Many of the competitors were eager to get away as they had ferries to catch and the presentations were soon under way and it was the victorious England team, which scooped all the awards.

Thanks must go to the Cumbria KART club for organizing the event, HS Sport Timing who provide a comprehensive race result system and points tables. The ABkC and the many, many sponsors who provided tyres, trophies, gifts, etc. Also the Marshals, Officials, St John Ambulance and all the Nations Drivers.

  Overall Result   1999 ABkC Inter Nations Challenge

England            3635 Pts

Scotland           2639

N.Ireland         2266

Wales               2199

Eire                  1981

 

Robin Haworth