Tamworth

We returned to the heats format for the first time this season in round two of Superchamps at Daytona Tamworth, and with the grid being as competitive as it was – it was set to be a thrilling afternoon.

N-35 ST

Heat one was hotly contested, with a fantastic battle between Jessica Swannell and Zak Bolton taking place. Jessica was able to just about take victory, but only by about a tenth and a half to the charging Zak – setting a 1:01:972 in the process, something that would go on to be the fastest lap of the day. They were joined in the lightweight top three by Nikodem Benonski, a driver who would be hoping to take a second consecutive victory today. In the heavyweights, Jacob Connellan started strongly in his quest to make it ten consecutive round sweeps – winning the class – but by just over a second to Kristene Kolodziejski. They were joined in the heavyweight top three by Rohit Sharma, making his return to the championship.

Jacob would continue his bid to keep the streak alive in the second heat, winning it in the overall classification as well as the heavyweights. Kristene was runner-up once again, climbing up to third overall, with Rohit Sharma again being the third-placed runner. Our lightweight race saw Nikodem Benonski get back to winning ways, taking victory by about eight tenths to a high-flying Sinclair Potter-Greene. Ben Hughes had a fantastic race and made up the rest of the top three.

The fifteen-minute final was some of the most entertaining racing seen throughout the entire day. Jessica Swannell and Nikodem Benonski battled intensely for the overall and lightweight victory, the battle being slightly cut short by Jessica being a little bit too aggressive into the hairpin and receiving a -1-place position penalty. Nikodem still showed determination to win it on track, getting very close to doing so but falling just short, mindful of Jacob just behind. They would be joined on the podium by Ben Hughes, who had a quiet but consistent drive to third. It was Jacob who took heavyweight victory, keeping this unprecedented streak of sweeps alive, but today proved he had good competition in Kristene – who finished in second. Consistency was key once again for Rohit Sharma, who made up the last spot in the top three.

DMAX-GT

Josh Gora dominated the first heat of the day, something that might start to become a trend in this season’s Superchamps. His victory of five seconds takes nothing away from Thomas James, who showed a lot of class to lap as quickly as he did when finishing second. Richard Lavender, now a lightweight, pulled out a really nice drive to scrape through into the top three ahead of Alex Jackson. There were no surprises in the heavyweights, where the returning Stuart Corr got back to winning ways immediately, ahead of newcomer Fanggang Zhang. They were joined in the top three by back-to-back driver Kristene Kolodziejski, who proved her pace throughout what became a test of endurance.

Perhaps a little bit surprisingly, Josh Gora did not dominate the second race – which instead saw a fantastic display from Alex Jackson – who won by nearly three seconds. Jacob Holley was quietly having a really good round, finishing runner-up and putting himself into good grid position for the final. Josh Gora was stuck in traffic throughout the early stages of the race, and so his progress was significantly hampered – allowing him to finish just third. As for the heavyweights, Kristene found herself winning this time, ahead of Stuart Corr. Fanggang continued his consistent performance in the third spot.

Intense battling continued into the final race of the day, but Josh Gora saw absolutely none of it – winning by seven seconds. It was not as straightforward behind, where Alex Jackson had his hands full in a battle with Jacob Holley for the second spot on the podium. Alex defended in a particularly textbook manner to hold onto the second spot, by just three tenths of a second. Jacob was slightly frustrated with third, but he needn’t have been as it was overall a very successful round. As for the heavyweights, Kristene Kolodziejski got the better of Stuart to make it two podiums in the day, with one race win, Stuart having to settle for the runners-up spot. It wasn’t a bad performance at all for Fanggang Zhang on debut, who was able to secure the final spot on the podium.

Heats once again proved to be a very entertaining format, but all drivers will be excited to take on something different in a week’s time at round three, with the D40 format being introduced.

Milton Keynes

The third round for season 2 of InKart at Milton Keynes took place in lovely warm and sunny weather, with a couple of drivers towards the top of the Junior championship noticeably absent from the round.

Heat 1:

The first practice of the day saw fantastic laps set by the Cadets to get lap times mixing in with the Juniors. With nine drivers across the two classes split by less than a second, it was set to be a fantastic first heat in both classes.

In the Juniors it was a close battle throughout however early on Michael Oxtoby-Page spun around and dropped down to 5th position, however still managed to finish just 12 seconds behind the eventual winner of Callum White who drove great from pole to second on the track before the penalty for Brandon Edwards, an advantage by contact, saw him drop 3 positions to 4th.

In the Cadets it was Gillen Townshend who managed to take the win, just beating Arel Kesimgil by less than four-tenths. Further back, Jacob Nobel beat Ryan Cafferkey across the line after an intense battle for the last few laps.

Heat 2:

Practice 2 saw a larger spread of times from the drivers with the more usual separation of Juniors ahead of Cadets, with Lewis Bowey and Tudor Geanta split by just 0.003 seconds on their fastest laps. William Bennett made his return to InKart for the first time in 2024 and found himself 1.8s off the pace as he familiarised himself with the circuit again.

In the Juniors, Lewis Bowey pulled a gap of seven seconds to take the heat win ahead of Jacob Kent. Tudor Geanta just took third in front of Abbie Boyd who had great consistency throughout the heat.

In the Cadets Rayaan Malik and the returning William Bennett had a battle for the lead throughout the heat and it was Rayaan who saw the chequered flag first by just .3s with Charlie Marden finishing two seconds back in 3rd.

Heat 3:

Heat 3 saw Brandon Edwards lead every lap to take the win pulling six seconds over Callum White who found himself behind Michael Oxtoby-Page until a last lap move got him up into 2nd and 0.6 seconds clear.

Gillen Townshend found himself with another heat win after taking the lead on the second lap and pulling away from Arel Kesimgil, building a four second gap. Jacob Nobel finished a further three seconds behind in front of Ryan Cafferkey and Leo Sibthorpe. The finishing positions being the same as heat one, but a completely different race to get there.

Heat 4:

Jacob Kent started first and after gaining a position each lap, found himself leading at the end of lap 2. Tudor Geanta dropped down from pole and found himself battling with Lewis Bowey who had fought his way up from 5th. Jacob pulled away by four seconds to see the chequered flag first and as the battle behind settled down it was Tudor who took 2nd in front of Lewis.

Rayaan Malik started heat four in third but found himself leading after a great first lap. Noah Hammond and William Bennett, who started on the front row both found themselves dropping a position to second and third. A battle throughout lap two saw William Bennett get ahead of Noah. As the race settled down it was Rayaan who took win with William finishing 6 seconds behind and Noah a further five seconds back.

B Final:

In the Juniors it was Ethan Steng who found himself on pole with consistent finishes with Michael Oxtoby-Page alongside him. Logan Cunningham and Abbie Boyd started on row two with newcomer Holly Garratt rounding out the grid, with her lap times consistently improving throughout the day.

It was the front row that dominated the commentary throughout the race as Michael and Ethan battled each other throughout the race, from start to finish. Ethan found himself constantly looking back and defending at Micheal, both hungry for the win. Michael found his way through with three laps to go and defended that until the end, just taking the chequered flag in front of Ethan, both showing excellent skill in their battle. Abbie Boyd kept the pressure on the battle and finished in third, two seconds back. Logan and Holly rounded out the field further back.

In the Cadets Charlie Marden starting in front of Ryan Cafferkey. Noah Hammond and Amelia Alice-Barreau on the second row with Leo Sibthorpe started on row three.

Ryan had a poor first lap and dropped down to third, with Charlie Marden leading and Noah in second. An incident on lap three saw Charlie drop down to fourth, Noah took the lead and Ryan slotted into second, with a battle for the win looking like it was getting close. As the race passed the halfway point Ryan took the lead away and built a four second lead to take the win as Noah finished second. Leo took third in front of Charlie and Amelia.

A Final:

In the Juniors it was Jacob Kent who started on pole and Callum White alongside. Lewis Bowey and Brandon Edwards had the second row and Tudor Geanta on row three.

The race saw the top 3 battle away throughout, as Brandon and Tudor battled behind. Callum saw himself land a 1 place penalty for a advantage by contact at the hairpin of Turn 10. As the race ended it was Jacob Kent who built a 2 second lead on Callum, who had a further second on Lewis Bowey. The trio never crossing the line in a different order, however with the penalty its Lewis who takes 2nd and Callum in 3rd. Behind it was Brandon finishing just 0.2 seconds in front of Tudor who also never crossed the line in a different position despite their battles as well.

The Cadets saw Gillen Townshend start in front of Rayaan Malik at the front. Arel Kesimgil and William Bennet had the middle row with Jacob Noble behind them. Rayaan found himself leading the cadets at the end of the second lap with Arel having dropped to second. Jacob found a position on both lap 2 and 3 to get up to 3rd with William finding 4th. It was a shock as Gillen found himself dropping down the order, and a lonely race from there, at the back of the cadets and dropping further back with every lap. The front 4 found themselves battling throughout and a few trades of positions. At the end of the race it settled down slightly as the front 2 of Rayaan and Arel pulled slightly from Jacob and William, both pairs fighting away for the win or podium. As the chequered flag flew, Rayaan managed to see it first just leading Arel. 3.5 second back it was Jacob who managed the take the last podium position. Both pairs split by just 0.4 seconds the last time they crossed the finish line. Great battles to finish of a great morning of battles for all the InKart drivers throughout.

SuperChamps Duos

The last event of the day saw 9 teams head out onto the National layout for round 4 of SuperChamps Duos, 7 returning teams and 2 new entries, with most teams being solo drivers and performing dummy driver swaps mid race.

The 15 minute qualifying started with K.B.R 7 having Lee Schnitzler driving just one flying lap before swapping with James King. CI Group 1 had an early lead with a 51.085 and K.B.R 7 a tenth of a second behind and Maple Motorsport a further 0.15 seconds back in 3rd. By the end of qualifying, it was CI Group 1 who led by 0.39 seconds with a 50.745 over K.B.R.4, K.B.R 1, K.B.R.7 and then Maple Motorsport, who were all split by 0.066 seconds. CI Group 2 led the two new solo entries of Dr Vapes Snr and Jnr with CoMat Racing rounding out the field.

As the sun began to set the 60 minute race began with CI Group 1 pulling an early lead over the 3 K.B.R teams, with the field split by less than 10s after 5 laps. The strong early pace racked up many track limits warnings with many teams already being close to their final warning. K.B.R 1 and 4 began to fight for P2 allowing Josh Davies to pull an ever-growing gap out front before making his dummy stop as soon as the pit window opened. Gareth Baldwin in CI Group 2 followed him in shortly after to also get his dummy stop out the way early on. As the pit window closed it was CI Group 1 leading with K.B.R 7 in second, with the rest of the field still fighting away, although beginning to spread out. Josh Davis picked himself up the only penalty of a race, a one position drop, for a bump and pass advantage by contact onto a backmarker in the second half of the race with the sun now setting.

As the chequered flag fell it was Josh Davis in CI Group 1 who saw the flag first, and K.B.R 7 who took the fin, finishing 11 second back on the track. Dr Vapes Snr fought to the end to take the last podium place in front of Maple Motorsport and K.B.R 4 who were all split by a second and a half. K.B.R 1 finished in 6th a further 6 seconds back. Rounding out the field was CI Group 2, CoMat Racing and Dr Vapes Jnr all finishing a lap, 2 and 3 laps down.

SuperChamps

SODI:

The SODI practice began in the warmth of the midday sun with all drivers wanting to find pace as soon as they could with the best laps setting the grid for the 15 minute shootout race. With both Lightweights and Heaviweights being mixed into one grid, lap times were even more important. Amelia Charlesworth set the pace with a 1.17.216. Max Lindgren had an early 2nd 4 tenths back, and the top 5 split by less than a second. With the chequered flag flying Amelia failed to find any more pace, however no one else could match her. Charlie Fenton was the closest exactly 2 tenths slower. Max Lindgren beat Scott Woosey who both had the 2nd row of the grid. Round 1 lights winner Liam Weatherall lined up 5th with a familiar face alongside being Cooper West.

Shootout:

The SODI Shootout saw Amelia pull away from the pack behind as Max Lindgren held up the back behind in a battle for 2nd place with Cooper West, Charlie Fenton and Scott Woosey all close together. At the end it was Amelia who saw the chequered flag with over 10 seconds to the battle behind. With multiple bits of contact, Max Lindgren found himself with six places worth of penalties applying to the lights category and dropping him far down the class results at the end of the race. Cooper West who in a photo finish just missed out on P2 on track, inherited it after the penalties. Charlie Fenton and Scott Woosey were just behind in their battle for P3 overall and the Heavyweights win.

Feature:

With the feature race grid being set by best lap times in the Shootout, Amelia would continue to start on pole with Max Lindgren alongside. Liam Weatherall started 3rd with Charlie Fenton being the fastest Heavyweight driver starting in 4th overall.

The first lap saw quite a lot of bumping throughout the middle of the pack as Amelia continued to gap the field behind. The rest of the top 4 separated as well while to keep up. A yellow flag on lap 4 caused Amelia to be caught up by the top 8 and battle begun for the lead of the race. A mistake by Charlie Fenton saw him go deep and wide into the hairpin at 10 dropping to 3rd. Max Lindgren found himself looking to take the lead while Amelia took visibly defensive lines to prevent the move. After a good 5 laps of battling Fenton found himself in the lead with 2 seconds over Amelia and Max Lindgren, who found himself in the pits with a mechanical failure and chose not to head back out in a new kart, receiving 0 points.

A late yellow flag saw both Cooper West and Giles Coke receive a one place penalty for speeding under yellows, dropping Cooper off the podium.

At the end of the race it was Charlie Fenton who took the overall win 0.4 seconds in front of Amelia winning in the Lights. Liam Weatherall and Nathan Clark stood on the Lightweight podium with Scott Woosey and Adam Green on the Heavyweight.

DMAX:

The DMAX practice saw Ethan Pritchard find the pace straight away and started on pole. James King started alongside with the top 8 all being split by less than a second and the field receiving many track limits warnings throughout.

Shootout:

The first lap saw quite a lot of contact throughout the field with a yellow flag at the bottom end of the circuit for drivers finding themselves in the wall. Many drivers found themselves with more track limits warnings. Ethan Pritchard and James King found themselves fighting for the lead however Ethan received a one place penalty for speeding under yellows down at the far end of the circuit. The rest of the field battled away and many getting reviewed for advantages by contact, with them all being seen as hard racing by the field in what is a tight and competitive grid throughout. At the end it was Ethan who crossed the line first and James King inheriting the win. Daniel Varlan led the rest of the pack in P3 with Barry Morris, Lee Witney and Josh Davis finishing in P5,6 and 7 overall leading the Heavyweight class.

Feature:

The feature race saw Ethan and James start on the front row with Daniel and Lee swapping round. Lee and Barry would also swap around with Josh Davis behind them. The race start saw James King pull away from Ethan who had a poor start, however found his way past the next lap to lead. Emeka Ogodazi found himself with a 3 place penalty for contact onto Lee Witney at T4 early on. James King and Lee Witney received a black and white flag for track limits in their battles. Ethan Pritchard and James King continued to pull away in their fight to the end with Ethan winning by nearly 5 seconds at the end over James King. Lee Schnitzer finished in 3rd in front on Daniel Varlan. Josh Davis took the heavy win in front of Barry Morris and Giles Coke.