British Kart

  Grand Prix 1999 

It?s that time of year again and with vans, trailers, caravans etc packed to capacity it was off to South Wales and the Kart Grand Prix.

  Pembrey was hosting it for the second time since it was dropped from Silverstone`s race calendar and it wasn?t just the weather that was hot over the weekend, with over 120 entries competition was close, glancing at the runners it looked to be one of the most open GP`s for years and as it turned out, it was! The weather would play its part as a good few suffered tyre problems and a good few would suffer at the hands of the stewards.

Saturday saw timed practice for all classes followed by two heats, they would determine grid positions for Sundays Pre-Final and that would sort the order out for the 12 lap Grand Prix Finals.

   Formula 210 National got the show under way and it was last year?s winner Steve Hurst who headed qualifying, Charles Morris was next, closely followed by Lionel Siffleet and Cliff Tween. Hurst took the win in heat 1 with Simon Bateman the heat 2 winner. Morris gave Hurst a good run in the Pre-Final and looked like taking the win but with a lap to run his engine began to lose power and Hurst secured pole for the final, joining him on the front row would be Ian Reeves and Cliff Tween, Morris did managed to coast home in 6^th place.

 Heading the field on the run down to Hatchets, Hurst quickly began to build a lead in the 12 lap final, Siffleet had slotted into 2^nd from Tween and Reeves. By the end of lap 1 Hurst was over a second clear, behind the next three were evenly spread out, Morris held fifth, but he would not add the GP to his UK Cup as pulled off the track exiting the hairpin on lap 3. Lap 4 and Tween was closing on Siffleet, he moved past on the next lap into 2^nd, Siffleet was losing power and he would slowly drop back retiring on lap 9. Positions mid race were Hurst, Tween, Reeves, Simon Bateman and Simon Quance. Over the next few laps Tween gradually began to close on the leader, Bateman was also on a charge and he moved ahead of Reeves on lap 8, with three to run Tween had closed right up on Hurst and was making his presence felt, on lap 10 they were side by side over the start finish line, but with a lap and a half to run Tween`s motor cried enough and he pulled into parc ferme leaving Hurst to retain his GP title, Bateman would come home 2^nd some 7seconds adrift, Reeves 3^rd.

Result F210 `GP Final`

1 Steve Hurst              Zip HRE

2 Simon Bateman        Anderson Nametab

3 Ian Reeves            Invader SPV

4 Simon Quance          Zip Villiers

5 Don Thompson    Anderson Villiers

6 Tim Woodward    Jade Cat FV

    The Formula 125 Open class had a real feel to it with any number of drivers capable of winning, Richard Hanmer just dipped under the minute with a time of 59.18s/88.21mph in qualification and he was followed by Carl Hulme, Paul Ozanne, Mark Brookman and Nelson Rowe who were all in short circuit trim. The heats would go to Hanmer and Hulme. Hanmer made himself the odds on favorite by taking the Pre-final ahead of Hulme, Brookman and Rowe.

As the lights flicked to green it was the bright red & yellow rig of Hanmer, which led the charge down to Hatchets, all safely round it was very close indeed. By the end of the lap Hulme had moved to the front, into Hatchets for the second time and the fun started as Hanmer was spun onto the grass, Rowe, collected Hulme and they too spun, all three did manage to rejoin but well out of contention. With ten laps to go that left Brookman and Ozanne outfront by two seconds, Derek Charlton held 3^rd from Robin Kingham, Matthew Gray, Scott Dunn and Dick Ayling.  Lap after lap Ozanne and Brookman swapped places for the lead, very evenly matched either of them stood a chance of taking the title, but on lap 10 it all went pear shaped for Ozanne, exiting Spitfires he pulled off the track his race run, throwing his helmet & gloves down in disgust he headed for the tyre wall, it had been so very close! Brookman was now the lonely race leader and two very cautious laps later he would taste the sweetness of victory. Behind and after his early spin Hulme had worked his way back up the field, with a lap to go he had caught Charlton in 2^nd place, but his engine seized ending any hope of a podium finish, Hanmer had also made up a lot of lost ground and on the last tour he managed to wrestle 3^rd from Scott Dunn on the line by just 00.01, the same margin would separate Ayling and Kingham in 5^th & 6^th with Neil Hawley, Ian Finch and Graham Salmon the other finishers.

Results F125 Open `GP` Final

1 Mark Brookman               Tonykart  Beaumont Pavesi

2 Derek Charlton                   Anderson Magnum SGM

3 Richard Hanmer                    ADE TMKV

4 Scott Dunn                        Swift Rotax

5 Dick Ayling                      Zip TMK8

6 Robin Kingham                Zip  Beaumont Pavesi

  After qualifying Justin Doherty headed the Formula 125 National time sheet, from defending champ Graham Barker, Dennis Gale was 3^rd from Bob Nash and Mark Gillingham. Doherty powered his way to victory in both of the heats; He then followed them up with a convincing win in the pre-final taking victory by over 10 seconds at the flag. Along with Doherty, Nash and Barker were also on the front row for the final but a great start by the short circuit outfit of Simon Scott from the second row saw him briefly lead the field for the first half lap, but by the close, the long circuit bodied karts of Barker, Nash, Doherty and Gillingham had all slipped past. Lap 2 and it was Barker who led, Doherty had dispatched Nash and was now starting to press for the lead, by lap 4 he was right on Grahams bumper and on the exit of the hairpin on lap 5 streaked past into the lead, once past he quickly began to build on his lead. Over the remaining 7 laps he would eventually build a 7 second advantage by the time he took the chequered flag, Suffering from tyre troubles Barker would take an unchallenged 2^nd with Nash a similar 3^rd place, Gillingham holding 4^th throughout. Good scraps behind had seen Simon Andrew, Dennis Gale and Simon Scott giving value for money, as had Ivor Gent, Noel Brennan, Jonathan Bothamley and Amanda Gent, Charles Johnson on his Anderson AF TM was an early top ten runner but he retired on lap 7 after a seize.

Result F125 National `GP` Final

1 Justin Doherty          Anderson SGM

2 Graham Barker         Anderson SGM

3 Robert Nash             Anderson  Barker SGM

4 Mark Gillingham      Cousins  Minarelli

5 Dennis Gale             Anderson Barker TM

6 Simon Scott              Anderson TM

  55.62s / 93.85mph, that was the stunning time set by Poul Peterson in Formula 250`E` his nearest rival was Richard Lietner who was nearly 3 seconds shy of Peterson's time, Local hero Carl Kinsey held 3^rd with Neil Ridley and Mark Ellis rounding out the top 5.

 Predictably the quick Dane romped away with the heats and the pre-final, Ridley and Lietner took a 2^nd place apiece with Ridley the pre-final runner up, Kinsey was having a wretched time and failed to finish any of his three starts. But it isn?t over till its over and come the final Kinsey got it all right, Ridley briefly held the lead on the opening lap, but Kinsey had taken it up buy the close and from there he extended his advantage every lap taking a convincing win by over 16secs at the flag, Ridley would come home 2^nd with Richard Lietner some 6 secs behind in 3^rd Mark Ellis would take 4^th.  What happened to Poul Peterson? I hear you ask, well an illegal airbox necessitated in the affable Dane being excluded from the meeting, so he was unable to participate in the final.

  Result F250`E` GP Final

1 Carl Kinsey         PVP MSE Rotax

2 Neil Ridley         Anderson Rotax

3 Richard Lietner   Anderson Yamaha

4 Mark Ellis           Anderson Rotax

5 Paul Troalic        Anderson Rotax

6 Andy Scott          Anderson CDPT Rotax

As it turned out Formula 250 National lined up with the largest grid of the weekend and undoubtedly the closest.

The top 10 qualifiers were separated by just over a second and names like Stephen McAdam and Roy Bennett were still well down the sheet. Andrew Walker topped the table from a very impressive Stephen Clarke, Carl Hopkin and Mark Allen.

Although struggling with a neck injury Mark Allen won both the heats, but only just, Gavin Bennett followed him home in H1 0.04s behind, Clarke was only 0.34 in 3^rd. H2 and this time it was McAdam 0.20s adrift the top 4 covered by less than half a second. Mark would again take victory in the Pre-final but was a little fortunate as seven karts traded places in a great scrap for 2^nd, Paul Tinker eventually leading them home.

 Allen made the best getaway in the final to lead them round the opening lap; Tinker led the chase from McAdam, Don Kennedy, Gavin Bennett and Carl Hopkin the rest line astern behind.

It was very, very close over the first three laps, the field like a great snake slithering around the Pembrey circuit. Lap 4 and Allen was gradually beginning to ease away from Tinker in 2^nd, McAdam in 3^rd now had Hopkin and Bennett pressing him and in turn they were followed by Andrew Walker, Kennedy, Clarke and Roy Bennett.  The next couple of laps saw no change in positions, but it was still close, Mark had a 20-kart length advantage but was his rear tyres were starting to lose adhesion and that was allowing Paul to close. McAdam was busy defending 3^rd, some 12 karts queuing up behind.

  As the race entered it second half Tinker had the bit between his teeth and was closing on the race leader, in a couple of laps he had reeled him in and on the run to the hairpin on lap 9 he steamed past into the lead, from there he proceeded to rattle off three faultless laps to take his first `GP` title. Behind things were a little more intense; Lap 7 had seen a shuffling of places in the chasing pack, and it was Gavin Bennett who now led the charge and he had set his sights on the ailing Allen and after pressing hard he would reap his reward by taking 2^nd place away from Allen on the last lap. Proving just how close this class is, just 6 secs covered the drivers between 2^nd and 10^th position at the flag.

Result F250 National `GP` Final

1 Paul Tinker    Unifab Jade Honda

2 Gavin Bennett  F1 CBR Honda

3 Mark Allen        Jade KMP Honda

4 Carl Hopkin       F1 Cat TM

5 Andrew Walker  F1 Honda Ford

6 Stephen Clarke    ADE Honda

  After switching to Anderson / CSK earlier in the season John Riley was now fully accustomed to his new outfit and promptly posted quickest time in qualifying (56.13s/93.00mph). Holding 2^nd on an F1 was the ever-improving Chris Hart, just a tenth of a second adrift, Anderson`s other four team drivers filled the next four places, Malcolm Crowe, Pete Lazzari, Paul Machin and Nigel Dace, Boyd Barrington was 7^th with, Malcolm Clark, Richard Boston and Dave Harvey completing the top ten.

 Riley and Crowe were one and two in H1 with the rolls reversed in H2. Crowe would take the pre-final, closely followed by Machin 2^nd and Riley 3^rd.

 The final itself would have its fair share of drama on and off the circuit, Boyd Barrington was the surprise early leader, Riley shadowing in 2^nd, the two Malcolm?s, Crowe and Clark were 3^rd and 4^th with Nigel Dace 5^th. Paul Machin was an early retirement on lap 2.

  Riley moved past Barrington at the hairpin on lap 3, Crowe and Clark did like wise on lap 6. A spin by Barrington at the hairpin on lap 7 allowed Dace past, Boyd only dropping that one place before rejoining in 5^th.

 That had given the leading trio some breathing space, Riley continued to lead from Crowe, Clark was right there but with two laps to left he too suffered a mechanical failure that ended his race, That left Riley and Crowe clear to do battle for the crown.

 Side by side on lap 11 Crowe was trying everything to find a way past, into the final tour and he was still looking for a gap or a mistake but it never materialized, unfortunately one final attempt at Honda Curve on the last lap was thwarted by a yellow flag and it was Riley who flashed across the line first, but it was not to be and John was later excluded for passing under a yellow flag during the race, so Malcolm was deemed the winner, Nigel Dace collected 2^nd with Barrington 3^rd, Richard Boston and Paul Sydenham completing the top five. Pete Lazzari would have finished 5^th but he to suffered exclusion for passing under yellows.

Result F250 International `GP` Final

1 Malcolm Crowe  Anderson MIB Rotax

2 Nigel Dace          Anderson Rotax

3 Boyd Barrington    Spyda Rotax

4 Richard Boston    PVP CDPT Rotax

5 Paul Sydenham    ADE Rotax

6 Colin Menary        F1 Rotax

Robin Haworth