cansdale clinches maiden victory
A bumper field of entries were in action for the third round of the Ellough Park Kart Club and the drivers and spectators were treated to sunny and warm conditions for the first time in many months.
Seventeen Honda Cadets took to the track for qualifying with Scott Cansdale taking his now customary pole position. There was a surprise alongside him on the front row in the form of Reece Hurrell with his brother Liam Hurrell heading up row two alongside Callum Tadman. Championship leader Callum Yarham endured a difficult session leaving him down in seventh. Heat one went the way of Cansdale who took a lights-to-flag victory ahead of Liam Hurrell with Yarham heading a train of karts for third. Cansdale backed up his Heat one win with an even more dominant display in Heat 2 with Yarham this time fighting his way up to second, just pipping Tadman across the line. The Final began with Cansdale taking full advantage of his pole position to pull away from Yarham who headed up a line of karts consisting of the Hurrell brothers, David Shearing, Max Herbert and Tadman. Liam Hurrell exited the race on lap seven with a mechanical failure and Herberts race ended with a lost chain on lap ten. Tadmans exit was more significant with a hard hit against the barriers on lap twelve. During the confusion Yarham was spun out from second place and Shearing pulled off the circuit which promoted Brodie Rivers to second with Lydia Walmsley third. Cansdale stayed out of trouble at the front and duly took his maiden EPKC victory. Rivers and Walmsley were delighted with their podium finishes with Harvey Norton and Reece Hurrell both claiming their highest finishes in fourth and fifth. Oscar Drane picked up the top novice award in tenth.
The Easykart Cadets provided some spectacularly close racing all day long with series leader Euan Johnson eventually coming out on top ahead of Morgan Wroot.
James Hillery topped the time sheets for Minimax qualifying ahead of Harry Gent and Jack Thompson. Hillery took the spoils in Heat 1 while Gent came out on top in Heat 2. The two drivers battled hard all the way through the final with Gent coming out on top by just one tenth of a second at the line. Thompson consolidated his championship lead with third.
Junior TKM qualifying saw Oliver Grantham take pole position on his return to the series ahead of novice sensation Charlie Machin. Grantham took the win in Heat 1 after holding off the attentions of Lewis Wadley with Machin third. A thrilling Heat 2 went all the way to the wire with Grantham holding a defensive line into the final corner which allowed Machin to pip Wadley across the line for second, all three covered by eleven hundredths of a second. Grantham and Wadley continued their fight into the Final which again went all the way to the line but it was Grantham who held on to take a clean sweep for the day ahead of Wadley with Machin scoring his first EPKC podium. Jake Gregory and Alfie Lawrence rounded out the top five with series leader Jack Rutter in sixth.
Junior Rotax qualifying was dominated by Georgie Whitbread who would be joined on the front row by series returnee Oliver Hart. Whitbread, Hart and Lee Edwards took the top three spots in both Heats while Cameron Maskell held off Jack Tritton, Kallum Dixon and Jay Daniels for fourth in both encounters. Whitbread led away at the start of the Final while a poor getaway dropped Hart to sixth. He soon pulled the positions back with some tremendous overtaking and after a tussle with Edwards he was back up to second. Chloe Hewitt was putting in her strongest showing of the season in eighth showing good pace.
Whitbread took his second win of the season ahead of the hard charging Hart with Edwards completing the podium.
The Senior Rotax 177 class had a separate grid to the ‘lights’ for the first time and they treated the crowd to some closely fought racing. Jason Beck backed up his Final win from last month with a clean sweep of wins to take maximum points. He was followed all the way by series leader Trevor Villa who took a brace of second places with Andy Symonds in third. Kevin Golloghlys day ended with a brake failure to add to the disappointment from his non-finish in Heat 2.
Henry Riley took the honours in the Senior X30 category with Sean Rackham claiming his maiden Biland victory.
The Senior Rotax grid was as hotly contested as ever and it was Ben Kidd who would head up the field with pole position alongside title rival Sam Jackson. Siobhan Dade produced her best qualifying to date with third alongside Clinton Bridge. Heat 1 went the way of Kidd who was chased by Dade in the early stages before she fell back into the clutches of Jackson who eventually stole second place back. Shaun Reeve took fourth ahead of Bridge. Heat 2 was disrupted by two major accidents, the first of which suffered by Guy Griffiths who slammed head on through the tyres at the fastest point of the circuit after brake failure. The circuit was brought under full course caution while the wall was repaired and thankfully Griffiths was none the worse for the impact. Not long after the restart Reeve then suffered a monumental crash coming out of turn one as he flipped violently down the straight. Like Griffiths he was uninjured but both would be out of the Final. Jackson took the win having dived past Kidd at the restart with Dade continuing her good form in third. The Final started off badly for Lee Waters as he hit the start cone bending his axle. The cone was flung into the path of Luke Dickerson who also sustained a bent axle meaning both drivers were out on the spot before reaching turn one. Jackson controlled the race from the front followed by Kidd and Dade while Matthew Hunting stormed through the order into fourth. Series debutant Simon Francis had an entertaining battle with Simon Jordan and Craig Jones for tenth while Flash Racing team-mates Chris Lodge and Andy Chenery disputed ninth, a battle won by Lodge. Jackson made it three wins out of three for the season half a second clear of Kidd with Dade taking a career best third.
Scott Cansdale won the coveted ‘Driver of the Day’ award with his dominant display in the Honda Cadet class winning the votes of the marshals and officials.
Round 4 of the championship plunges the drivers into darkness with the annual night race meeting under the floodlights on Saturday 19th April.