Macaulay’s drive this weekend in the MSA British Championship showed true determination after a mechanical failure in the first of his qualifying races with a broken rear hub, he managed to overcome the disappointment and put that aside to win his remaining heat comfortably, then in the pre-final drove from 20th on the grid to 5th and then in the main final just missing out on the win with a respectable 2nd place and his best result to date in his debut year in the Kf3 category.

Team Manager Piers Sexton said “After a hectic few weeks of taking over I think we are starting to get there now, Macaulay’s result this weekend was a positive sign that we as a team are becoming more of a force and I am sure that there are more results to come in the future”

Related Posts

• Dennis joins winners list
• Walker does the double at Larkhall
• Double win extends Litchfield’s lead
• Simpson makes it six in a row
• Stirling closes in on British KF3 title

Walker’s 2nd and 3rd places were also the perfect present to himself, as he celebrated his 20th birthday on race day.

However, he faced a stern challenge after Timed Qualifying - “I was quickest in the warm-up, but could only go 6th quickest in Qualifying,” Jonathan said.

With the rapidly changing weather playing havoc with the teams’ kart set-ups, Jonny found that it had wrong-footed his choices during the first heat. “It would rain really heavily, stop, and then the track would dry very quickly. But how long it would rain for, you just couldn’t tell. We went with the wrong tyre pressures and I couldn’t find the right level of grip, which meant I dropped back a couple of places”.

His fortunes began to improve when the AMT driver took 5th in the second heat. “It had stopped raining again and the track was drying, so I was on slicks. This made over-taking quite challenging because to make a pass, you had to come off the dry racing line and go onto the damp, greasy parts of the track – which made heavy braking quite lairy.”

Having qualified 9th overall for the first final, Jonathan started from the 5th row of the grid and describes the start-line action, “Larkhall’s one of the shorter, tighter and twistier circuits on the calendar and there are always crashes there. Just after the start, it’s important to avoid the incidents, let the race settle and then move forward. Which is exactly what I did. I picked my way, one by one, and got into second place. At this point, the leader - Mark Litchfield – had established a three second lead, but I began to take big chunks out of it and managed to peg it to just over a second at the finish.”

Although he was delighted to take a trophy and a good haul of points, Jonny knew that his second-place meant that he would start the day’s next final on the still damp outside line. “The first corner at Larkhall is a quick, left-hander. You need to get over to the left as quickly as possible because if you don’t, you’ll be hung out to dry on the dirty part of the track.”

Which is exactly what happened. “Mark got a good start but I couldn’t tuck in behind him because his team-mate, Chris Rogers, was already there! I was pushed wide and got beaten up a little, but fought my way back and eventually got into 3rd.”

On the penultimate lap, Walker posted the fastest lap but was unable to finish further up the order. “I think I could’ve been 2nd had the race been two laps longer,” he mused. “Still I took home good points and I’m second in the standings now. There are four races left and I think I can catch (Championship leader) Mark. It’s going to be interesting. He’s good at the start of races and I’m good at the end, so we’ll just have to see…”

Related Posts

• Double win extends Litchfield’s lead
• Jonny aims to fly in Scotland
• Ultimate back on track
• Dennis joins winners list
• Simpson makes it six in a row

Starting the first of two championship races at the Scottish circuit in third place, Litchfield moved ahead of rivals Lee Bell (High Wycombe) and Chris Rogers (Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire) to win the race. In the second race, Litchfield converted pole position to victory.

Behind him Lee Bell, Jonathan Walker (Dinkley, Blackburn) and Chris Rogers are in close competition for the runners-up spot in the championship. Walker climbed from 8th on the grid in the first final to finish second, and dropped a place at the hands of a fast-moving Sam Tordoff (Leeds) to finish in third in the second final.

Walker’s two podium finishes at Larkhall puts him just two points behind Bell in the championship standings. Bell just managed to hold on to second place in the title race at Larkhall after a pair of disappointing races. Bell started the first final in pole position, but dropped to fifth at the chequered flag. In his next race he fell further back, finishing ninth.

Chris Rogers remains in the thick of the chasing pack, and would have been even better placed in the title hunt if he could have repeated his 3rd place finish from the first final at Larkhall. Unfortunately Rogers retired from the second final two laps from the end, costing him valuable championship points.

Sam Tordoff (Leeds) made impressive progress through the field in both races, moving from 10th on the grid to finish 6th in the first final, then moving up to second place in final two. Meanwhile Jordan Lennox-Lamb (Bedford) struggled to realise the full potential from his qualifying heats. He started the first final in pole position and finished 4th, and retired on lap 10 of the second final.

Elliot Burton (Sawtry, Cambs) was excluded from the first final because of a technical infringement, but recovered well in the second final from 13th on the grid to finish 4th.

KF1 provisional championship points: 1 Mark Litchfield 385pts; 2 Lee Bell 352pts; 3 Jonathan Walker 350pts; 4 Chris Rogers 346pts; 5 Sam Tordoff 332pts; 6 Jordan Lennox-Lamb 330pts.

Advertisement: Advertise here! Buy links in the Kartlink RSS feed.

Related Posts

• Walker does the double at Larkhall
• Jonny aims to fly in Scotland
• Ultimate back on track
• Dennis joins winners list
• Simpson makes it six in a row

Dennis’ first race win in the new KF2 formula was in the second of two championship races at the Scottish circuit and followed a pole position and second place finish the first final. The results elevate him to 4th in the championship standings with four races to go.

Carl Stirling (Moira, Craigavon), leads the championship and won his third race of the season at Larkhall. He drove a storming race in the first final, climbing from 7th on the grid to take the lead and victory. In the second final he gave way to Dennis and Macaulay Walsh (Northampton), who also enjoyed a meteoric rise through the field during the races at Larkhall. Walsh started the first final in 20th place and climbed to 5th, then moved from 5th to 2nd in final two.

Stirling enjoys a comfortable 24 point lead in the title table ahead of Mackenzie Taylor (Ashford, Middlesex) who finished a consistent 4th pace in both races.

Alexander Albon (Bures, Suffolk) retains third place in the junior national karting championship with a 3rd and 5th place finish at Larkhall, while Lewis Hall climbed into the top six with 11th and 7th place finishes.

John Norris (Sutton Wick, Bristol) had a troubled weekend, finishing 23rd in the first final and 17th in the second, leaving him 6th in the championship, while Rikki Gordon (Portglenone, Co Antrim) finished both finals in a solid 6th place.

KF3 provisional championship points: 1 Carl Stirling 377pts; 2 Mackenzie Taylor 353pts; 3 Alexander Albon 343pts; 4 Jake Dennis 223pts; 5 Lewis Hall 296; 6. John Norris 289pts.

Related Posts

• Ultimate back on track
• Stirling closes in on British KF3 title
• Stirling and Danzey win after tough battles in KF3
• Double win for Alexander Albon in KF3
• Walker does the double at Larkhall

The remarkable run of victories leaves him favourite for the national karting title with four more championship races to go, even though Jordan Chamberlain (Newport, Gwent) leads the points table. The gap is now just two points, but with the dropped scores calculation applied, Simpson is the series leader in his first year in the formula.

Chamberlain ran strongly in both races finishing 4th in the first final and improving to third place in the second final, but the results weren’t enough to stop him being eclipsed by Simpson. Rob Foster-Jones (Southend-on-Sea) showed his potential with pole position in the first final at Larkhall, but was pipped for victory by Simpson and then dropped to fourth in the second championship race. His results move him to third in the title standings.

Despite qualifying for the first final in 25th position, Craig Stirling (Moira, Craigavon) made a strong recovery to finish the race in 12th place, and improved still further in the next race to finish in seventh overall. The results leave him in 4th place in the championship standings.

Still in his first year of S1, Gary Edwards had excellent qualifying and heat results but his weekend was ultimately disappointing when he was pushed off on the first lap of the first final. He recovered strongly in the second championship race, but having started from the back of a large KF2 field, he still only managed to reach 15th place by the end, leaving him 5th in the standings.

Edwards faced close competition in the championship with Shaun Carter (Crowthorne, Berkshire) who is five points behind him in the standings, and Jack Harvey (Bassingham, Lincolnshire) who had two podium finishes at Larkhall to take him two points away from Carter.

KF2 provisional championship points: 1 Jordan Chamberlain 355pts; 2 Michael Simpson 353pts; 3 Rob Foster-Jones 332pts 4 Craig Stirling 314pts; 5 Gary Edwards 295pts; 6 Shaun Carter 290pts.

Related Posts

• Ultimate back on track
• Walker does the double at Larkhall
• Double win extends Litchfield’s lead
• Dennis joins winners list
• Stirling closes in on British KF3 title

The 15-year old from Northern Ireland also took an important third place in the 8th round to further stretch his lead in the title race, and take the psychological upper hand over his rivals. He said, “Points wise, it was a very good weekend. I’ve been on the podium in my last four races now and just hope that I can maintain that level of consistency in the remaining rounds.”

With a 24 point lead, the Millennium Motorsport driver is beginning to think that the Super 1 title is a realistic possibility - “For sure, that’s my goal but the main thing is to concentrate on the next race and make sure that I win that. If I keep winning or taking podiums, then the title will sort itself out.”

The reigning O Plate holder had to overcome dramas in his two heats before putting his kart on P7 of the grid for the first of Sunday’s two finals. He describes how he won the first final, “I picked a driver off lap by lap until I caught the leader, Jake Dennis. I passed him and was able to open a gap of three kart-lengths which I held to the finish.”

Eager to improve his 4th place in the Championship table, Dennis proved to be a tough customer in the second final. “Jake won it with a cheeky move. There was a bit of contact which dropped me to 6th. But I clawed my way back up to 3rd and was relieved to see the two guys closest to me in the Championship standings – Mackenzie Taylor and Alexander Albon – were behind me and dropping points as a result.”

Whilst Carl was all smiles, his younger brother Adam - who also races in the KF3 class - wasn’t enjoying himself. After two crashes in the heats, Adam’s fortunes weren’t about to improve in the finals. “It was mayhem, so it was. There were lots of people crashing and bashing.”

Also racing at Larkhall was big brother Craig, and like Adam, he was having a torrid time. After his heats, the 16-year old found himself down in 25th place on the grid for the first final but a strong drive saw him take the chequered flag in 12th place.

In the second points-scoring final, he came through to finish in 7th place, scoring sufficient points to keep him in touch with the Championship leaders. “I’m happy enough,” he said afterwards. “Considering that I started the first final in 25th and ended up inside the top ten isn’t too bad. The Championship is really close now and I’m aiming for a top three position. I’d be over the moon if I could do that. I’ll keep banging on the door until I get a lucky break.”

His first opportunity – and also for his younger brothers – will be the penultimate round at Whilton Mill in Northamptonshire in two weeks’ time (30/31 August).

Related Posts

• Stirling work in Cumbria
• Dennis joins winners list
• Stirling efforts see Adam, Craig and Carl qualify for Bridgestone Cup
• Ultimate back on track
• Walker does the double at Larkhall

The Newark Steel-backed racer made an immediate return to the podium after his frustrating weekend at the European Championships just a fortnight ago. His result in Scotland was even more satisfying for the 15 year-old factory Birel Motorsport driver after he was forced to start from the back of the grid, after a technical infringement took his pole-position time away from him and left him at the rear of the field.

In a typical Harvey drive, in the heats he put on a fantastic display of overtaking as he claimed a fifth and an eighth place in the two races. In the first of two finals he managed to take third place, giving him a second row starting position for the all-important second final.

At the start Jack went to go with the leaders as they made a break. However, the second place driver’s engine let go right in front of him and he had to take avoiding action. This allowed the leader to pull out a lead that was too much for Jack to get back over the course of the race, but he was still able to keep control of the rest of the field behind him and take a hard fought second place, giving him more silverware to take home.

“It was good weekend for us,” admitted Jack afterwards. “Practice went well and I’d qualified on pole, but a problem meant that I was forced to start from the back of the grid once the heats got underway and I knew then that I would have to drive hard all weekend.

“My heats went well and I was hoping to be able to go for the win in the second final but there was nothing I could do about the guy in front of me and his engine problem. Once I’d got past him the leader was just out of reach, but it’s great for all of the team to come straight back to a podium finish and we will be aiming for more of the same at every race for the rest of the season,” he added.

Jack now has just two weeks before he is back in action in the British series as it heads to Whilton Mill at the end of August.

Advertisement: Advertise here! Buy links in the Kartlink RSS feed.

Related Posts

• Ultimate back on track
• Walker does the double at Larkhall
• Double win extends Litchfield’s lead
• Dennis joins winners list
• Simpson makes it six in a row

The 15-year old was competing in the 6th and 7th rounds of the Stars of Tomorrow Championship at Genk, just an hour from Brussels.

On Saturday, Carl - the current British Open Champion in the junior KF3 class - qualified on pole position for the first of the meeting’s two points scoring finals, with a brace of heat wins.

After getting the jump on his rivals at the start, he initially led - but a developing problem with his engine saw him drop back to 6th place. Finding that he could still run at the pace of the battling leaders, despite his motor woes, Carl was able to fight his back past fellow front-row starter, Sam Snell to take 5th place at the chequered flag.

Having raced in warm sunshine all day on Saturday - Sunday couldn’t have been more different; “It chucked it down all day” Carl said. With the wet conditions making the lap-times 18 seconds slower than the previous day’s in the dry, Timed Qualifying became very tricky. Carl succeeded in qualifying 4th place, with his younger brother Adam just behind in 5th.

A 5th and 3rd in his two heats gave Carl third place on the grid for the final. Unfortunately 13-year old Adam fared less well, qualifying midfield in 17th place. He explained why; “In my second heat, Carl ran me wide and I lost places. He apologised later though! But I was then hit by the same driver who drove me off the circuit in the first race.”

The rain stopped in time for the final, but left a greasy surface that caught out the unwary. A blistering start saw Carl take an early lead, but a mistake saw him lose it, before quickly regaining it. Englishman Jake Dennis fought back and snatched the lead, but pressure from Carl saw him drop down to 4th. Whilst Dennis fought his way back past Adam and Alexander Albon, Carl seized the initiative and opened a race-winning 7-second lead – huge in karting terms. “I worked really hard for that”, he said afterwards. “I’m now 2nd in the Championship (after starting the weekend in 4th place overall) and I’m very happy. It’s all coming together at the right time.”

Adam was similarly pleased with his best performance yet in his first season of top-flight KF3 racing - and has now moved into the top ten in the points table. He said, “I was running in 2nd place but my engine developed a problem mid way through the race. I couldn’t pull maximum revs on the straights and dropped to 4th – which I guess, wasn’t too bad in the end but I had been game-on for a podium.”

Next weekend (16/17 August) sees the boys return to British Super 1 series duties at Larkhall in Scotland, where they’ll be joined by big brother, 16-year old Craig - who competes in the senior KF2 class.

Carl currently leads the Super 1 KF3 Championship and says, “I’m quick at Larkhall and my win at Genk was a big confidence booster, I’m quietly confident”.

Related Posts

• Stirling celebrates fantastic win
• Dennis joins winners list
• Stirling closes in on British KF3 title
• Last minute win for Wykes at Llandow
• Ingram proves a consistent threat at Whilton

Last year the 19-year old won both finals and set the fastest lap of the day. Unsurprisingly, he wants to repeat that performance and close the gap on series leader, Mark Litchfield.

With three races to go, the AMT Racing driver is just 29 points behind three-time British Champion Litchfield in the standings, and is confident that he can win again on the fast, flowing circuit.

“I was three to four tenths quicker than the other drivers testing there last week,” he said.

“We tried different things – from engines to chassis – and found some good pace. I’m looking forward to the weekend.”

Sunday will also mark Jonathan’s 20th birthday - and he says that a win would be the perfect present to himself, although he won’t be able to celebrate it, even if he does.

“After the racing, I’ve got to head straight home. Not for a party, but to pack again because I’m flying to Spain first thing on Monday. I’ll probably have a party in Puerto Banus”, he adds with a chuckle.

But he won’t be able to enjoy himself too much. The week after, he’s straight back into action - this time in the penultimate round of the Super 1 series at Whilton Mill, near Daventry (30/31 August).

“I’ve not even been there before, so that’ll be interesting. Particularly as I won’t have time to test at the circuit, or learn it beforehand.”

Related Posts

• Walker does the double at Larkhall
• Double win extends Litchfield’s lead
• Ultimate back on track
• Dennis joins winners list
• Simpson makes it six in a row

En Course 1, Elkmann a rapidement rétrogradé de la pole-position à la 4e place, mais s’est rattrapé pour se débarrasser de John Riley (Anderson-Rotax) et obtenir la 3e place, puis de Gavin Bennett (Anderson-FPE), se retrouvant ainsi 2e. Seul Lee Harpham (Anderson-Rotax) demeurait inaccessible, mais, alors qu’il restait un tour et demi, il a dû faire face à des problèmes d’embrayage. Du coup, Elkmann a pris la tête pour s’en aller gagner devant Bennett (2e) et Riley (3e).

Damien Payart (PVP-FPE) reculait au classement du championnat en ne terminant que 7e, mais se maintenait mathématiquement dans la course au titre, tout comme Benjamin Mahé (PVP-FPE), dont la 12e place était très inférieure à ses espérances.

Au terme du premier round d’Assen donc, Elkmann avait déjà pris une première option sur le titre européen, alors que la forme de ses deux rivaux français ne paraissait pas au beau fixe. De sorte qu’Elkmann n’avait plus qu’à terminer devant les deux pilotes français en Course 2. Sa tâche fut facilitée lorsque Benjamin Mahé eut la malchance de sortir de la piste sur tête-à-queue dès le premier tour, ce qui mettait un terme à son espoir d’être couronné. Le titre allait donc se jouer entre Elkmann et Payart. Troisième au bout de la première boucle, Elkmann parvenait à se défaire de Bennett, mais il ne pouvait aller chercher Harpham – ce qui, en fait, n’était pas nécessaire dans sa quête du titre. Il pouvait en effet se contenter de la deuxième place, quel que soit le résultat de Payart, qui finit par remonter de la 8e à une respectable 5e place. Harpham, cette fois épargné par les ennuis mécaniques, allait chercher une victoire méritée, tandis qu’Elkmann franchissait l’arrivée en seconde position et en Champion d’Europe 2008 de Superkart. Carl Hulme (Anderson-FPE) et Steve White (PVP-Rotax) ont fait forte impression en s’appropriant les troisième et quatrième places de cette course de clotûre.

Marcel Maasmann (MS Kart-VM), meilleur représentant néerlandais, a connu des soucis mécaniques dans chacune des deux courses, et c’est très déçu qu’il a terminé 21e et 14e. Premier et seul Américain courant dans l’édition 2008 du championnat d’Europe, Andy Kiker (Anderson-FPE) s’est classé à de très respectables 16e et 20e places alors qu’il évoluait ici dans des conditions très différentes de celles qu’il connaît aux États-Unis.

Kristin Breckwoldt (PVP-Yamaha) s’est classée 28e et 34e et, en tant que seule représentante de la gent féminine dans le championnat, elle peut néanmoins se prévaloir du titre officieux de championne d’Europe de Superkart.

Related Posts

• No mistakes for Elkmann at Assen
• Doublé de Peter Elkmann au Lausitzring
• Double win for Peter Elkmann at Lausitzring
• Harpham fastest in Qualifying at Lausitzring
• Pole-position pour Harpham au Lausitzring