Daytona Milton Keynes InKart Season 3 2024: Karadzhov & Justice crowned champions
On the morning of Sunday, December 15, Daytona Milton Keynes hosted the final event of the 2024 InKart calendar. Going into the round, Tom Justice led in the Junior category by nine points once drop rounds came into play, ahead of Zayn Perry, who was seven points clear of Matthew Swatton in third. Harry Fitch was hoping for a strong final round in order to leapfrog Swatton and steal the final podium step.
Below them, Zachary Smith, Rayaan Malik, Ethan Guest and Theo Laverty were in a four-way battle for fifth position.
In the Cadets, Alexander Karadzhov and Gillen Townshend were set for a straight shootout for the championship title – Karadzhov led the competition by four points going into the final, after accounting for drop rounds. Both young drivers would be desperate for the championship title, after previously finishing runners up to Rayaan Malik over the past few seasons. Karadzhov had won four of the previous seven rounds, compared to Townshend’s three.
Arel Kesimgil was almost certain to finish in third, and secure that illusive Race of Champions invitation at the end of the day. He was eight points clear of Ryan Cafferkey in fourth place going into the final – who has been brilliantly consistent all season long.
Below them, Charlie Marsden & Leo Sibthorpe were set to have a showdown for fifth position, which would be decided on the day.
As it happened…
In the first heat, Matthew Swatton was determined to maintain his third-place position, winning ahead of former Cadet champion, Jacob Kent. Rayaan Malik, Tom Justice & Holly Garratt had a neck-and-neck race, with Malik just pipping them both for the third Junior position. Alexander Karadzhov put on another masterclass to finish first, comfortably ahead of James Devereux in the Cadets. Ryan Cafferkey finished in third after some great battling with Charlie Marsden.
In the second heat, Zayn Perry was victorious by a whopping ten seconds over Harry Fitch, with former Daytona Tamworth InKart champion Zachary Smith in third. In the Cadets, Arel Kesimgil had an epic battle with fellow podium-hopeful Gillen Townshend, beating him by .5 of a second over the line.
The third heat saw a brilliant race between Michael Oxtoby-Page and Harry Fitch, with the former just edging the latter by 0.08 of a second – a photo finish for first place. In the Cadets, a second win of the day from Karadzhov, who now had one hand on the championship trophy at the end of the day.
Zayn Perry won the third heat in the Juniors, beating Ethan Guest marginally over the line, who was quickly followed by his fellow ex-Tamworth rival Zachary Smith in another photo finish.
Gillen Townshend won the second heat in Cadets, comfortably getting the better of Arel Kesimgil this time around. Leo Sibthorpe finished in third.
Over to the B-final, where we witnessed a Charley Murray masterclass. The young driver finished 15 seconds ahead of Jacob Noble in second place. Dominic Fleming rounded off the podium in third place. Charlie Marsden was the fastest in the Cadet class and would hope to finish the season in fifth place, depending on how Leo Sibthorpe got along in the A-final afterwards. Teddy Mullan and Amelia-Alice Barreau rounded off the podium, finishing the season in seventh and eighth respectively.
The A-Final was won by Charley Murray, last season’s third-placed driver, who had joined the grid for this round, likely for some valuable practice before Race of Champions. He finished marginally ahead of Matthew Swatton in second and Zayn Perry in third. That result meant that Perry had done enough to hold off Swatton, to finish runner-up in the Juniors with Swatton in third. Championship winner Tom Justice finished in fifth place, just behind Harry Fitch, who would finish the race and championship in fourth place.
A massive congratulations to all of our competitors this season. There were many twists and turns throughout this highly enjoyable season. InKart is all about developing racing skills, and we observed a massive improvement and notable progression in the all the driver’s ability race after race. The championship returns to Daytona Milton Keynes on Sunday 12th January. For 2025, we’ll be reverting to two eight-round seasons, with a round taking place each month.
