ELF/
Hill House Hammond S4 National Kart Championships:- Shennington
All
six classes had still to be decided but some were closer than others.
It
was bright and sunny during the morning practice, but the odd shower and a rare
glimpse of the sun followed that, this did affect tyre choice but on the whole
it was only marginal.
Tony
Edney was making only his third 125 Europa appearance in S4 this year, but he
swept to victory in all three of the heats.
Mark
Leeson had led the championship table before the event from Charles Long &
Dave Morris and going into the final a winner would come from one of these.
Morris
looked to be favorite as he had eked out a small 5pt lead during the heats but a
dreadful start was followed by a collision on the first left hand bend which
tore off his offside rear wheel and that ended his race and unless Leeson and
Long both failed to finish his title hopes.
Edney
led the final during the early stages but Guest driver John Boucher, who was on
wets, moved ahead on lap 4. Boucher established himself a small lead but Edney
began to reel him back in as the track dried and with a third of the race to run
Edney retook the lead and on to eventual victory. Dave Lucas and Tony Gilson
battled it out for 3rd with Gilson taking the spot, behind Mark
Leeson would come home 5th from James Farrell 6th with
Charles Long taking a cautious 7th and that would give him the
championship title by just two points from team-mate Leeson, Third place for
Lucas boosted him into 3rd in the championship just ahead of Morris.
1
Toney Edney
1 C Long
784 pts
2
John Boucher (G)
2 M Leeson
782
3
Tony Gilson
3 D Lucas
719
4
Dave Lucas
4 D Morris
709
In
250 National Neil Burroughs had already placed his hands around the title after
Larkhall and a win in the first heat at Shennington confirmed him as the 1999
Champion.
Second
place had yet to be concluded and a trio of drivers, Mally Witts, Andy Walker
and Don Kennedy could still yet take the runner up spot. Witts and Walker took a
win apiece in the other heats helping their chances but it was all down to the
final.
Kennedy
had pole but it was Walker alongside who blasted into the lead and it was a lead
he would not relinquish, slowly extending his lead throughout the race taking a
comfy win and the #3 plate in the process.
Behind Kennedy had held 2nd but Andrew Smith overhauled him on lap 4 and Smith would put in a great performance to take his best result of the year, 3rd for Kennedy was enough to secure 2nd in the championship, Witts could only manage 7th placing him 4th for the year.
Result
250 National
Final Championship Positions
1
Andrew Walker
1 N Burroughs 856 pts
2
Andrew Smith
2 D Kennedy
823
4
Stephen Clarke
4 M Witts
733
5
Neil Burroughs
Setting
the pace he moved into an early lead, Kennings right on his bumper. As the race unraveled
Kinsey seemed to be under control but an error at the chicane saw him off the
track and on the banking, fortunately for Carl he managed to rejoin still in 2nd
place.
Paul
now led and from there he kept extending his advantage each lap finishing ½ a
lap clear at the flag. Kinsey only needed 2nd to take the title and
he duly obliged shortly after, Andrew Scott took third place and in doing so
clinched 3rd overall.
Result
F250`E`
Final
Championship Positions
1
Paul Kennings
1 C Kinsey
870 pts
2
Carl Kinsey
2 P Kennings
864
3
Andrew Scott
3 A Scott
744
4
Paul Troalic
4 S Cryer
528
250
International had provided some of the most consistent scoring in any class. The
top 4 drivers had posted only four non-finishes between themselves all year.
John Riley headed the point’s table on arrival at Shennington from Jamie
Blackburn, Dave Harvey and Graham Lewis.
Riley
took two heat wins with Harvey the leading them home in the other, Riley looked favorite
for the title but Blackburn was still in with a shout, Harvey’s non finish in
the final at Larkhall had put him out of the running.
At
the lights it was Harvey who made the better start, Riley slotted into 2nd
from Andy Holmes and Jamie Blackburn.
By
the close of the opening lap Riley had moved into the lead, quickly stamping his
authority he began to ease clear of Harvey in 2nd. Behind, Holmes had
Blackburn looking for a way past but a spin dropped Jamie back to 5th
behind Stephen Peace. Lap after lap Riley continued to pull away and after a
trouble free run, victory, and with that the 1999 title, Harvey eventually
coming home a distant 2nd.
Blackburn’s
race ended in controversy, after his early spin he quickly dispatched Peace and
began once again to press Holmes for 3rd but contact rounding pit
bend, in a rather ambitious move, saw Blackburn’s rear wing flying in the air
and subsequent retirement, Holmes receiving the black flag as a consequence,
that gave Peace 3rd place with Graham Lewis eventually 4th
after a scrap with Mike Young and Rob Millar
1
John Riley
1 J Riley
875 pts
2
Dave Harvey
2 J Blackburn 821
3
Stephen Peace
3 D Harvey
811
4
Graham Lewis
4 G Lewis
700
5
Mike Young
6 Rob Millar
125
National and 125 Open have provided some outstanding racing this season, but
there could only be one winner in each class.
In
the Open class any number of drivers were still in with a possible chance of
taking the title, on arrival Mark Fell headed the points table from Wesley
Crankshaw and Paul Ozanne.
In
the heats Fell, Ozanne and Richard Palmer took wins and Palmer would be a
revelation in the final, Nelson Rowe took an early lead, from Daniel Grieg,
Grieg took over on lap 3, a fantastic recovery after a big excursion on lap 5
only dropping him two places, Rowe was once again the leader, but after starting
down in 19th place Palmer had been busy working his way through the
field and on lap 7 swept past Rowe and into the lead, continuing his pace he
pulled away and on to an impressive victory. Grieg managed to again get ahead of
Rowe in the close stages of the race and Rowe was pushed further back by Stephen
Coward on the penultimate lap. Behind points leader Fell had been languishing
down in 11th place early in the race, slowly making his way forward
he would just edge his outfit into the top five on the last lap ahead of Wesley
Crankshaw and in doing so take the championship by just 15 points over Rowe.
1
Richard Palmer
1 M Fell 747
pts
2
Daniel Greig
2
N Rowe 732
3
Stephen Coward
3 D Greig 718
4
Nelson Rowe
4 P Ozanne 701
5 Mark Fell
6
Wesley Crankshaw
Five
heats and a `B` final were needed to sort out the 24 drivers in the 125 National
final, with wins for Richard Ward, Simon Scott, Matthew Bett and Kevin
Pinder(2).
Realistically
either Kevin Pinder or Matthew Bett would take the 125 National title, just 16
points separated them at the top of the table and they lined up 1 & 2 on the
grid.
At
the green light Pinder made an unbelievably fast start, Bett found himself
swamped by the pack, as both Paul Platt and Simon Scott swept past, Matthew
really needing to win to stand any chance of overhauling Kevin.
By
the close of the first lap Pinder was already easing clear of the field, Bett
was trying to find a way past Scott but Simon was defending his place. Lap 2 and
Pinder, who was putting in a tremendous effort, had again put a little more air
between himself and the rest, Platt and Scott continued to hold 2nd
& 3rd with Bett all the while pressing in 4th.
By
the time Bett had managed to squeeze past Scott on lap 4 and then Platt on lap
5, Pinder had long gone, Bett bravely chased but unless a problem hampered
Pinders progress, it was doubtful that he would catch him before the flag and
that’s just how it finished. Pinder punching the air as he took the chequered
flag for the final time this season, the championship in the bag and the #1
plate for next year.
Second
position was little consolation for Bett after coming so close last year,
hopefully he will return in 2000.
Simon Scott would take 3rd ahead of Andrew Agnew in the race, giving him the #5 for next year, Platt completing the top five in the race.
125
National
Final Championship Positions
1
Kevin Pinder
1 K Pinder
838 pts
2
Matthew Bett
2 M Bett
826
3
Simon Scott
3 S Neal
739
4
Andrew Agnew
4 Carl Hulme 694
5
Paul Platt
6
Jeff Stewart
Robin
Haworth