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InKart - Daytona Tamworth
We welcomed many new and returning faces to Daytona Tamworth for the first round of Inkart ahead of the Autumn season at Tamworth. With the very popular heats format in play, it was going to be an exciting event.
Juniors
The first junior heat saw a close battle between Reuben Potter and Joseph Smith, two of the fastest drivers in the field. Potter was able to just about get the better of Smith, but the gap was only two tenths of a second at the line. The close nature of this battle was not to be repeated in the second heat, however, where reigning champion Zachary Smith ended up taking a controlling victory of twelve whole seconds, ahead of Reuben Carter-Smith and the Junior debutant William Jenkinson.
In the third heat, Zachary once again won in dominant style, this time ahead of the first heat’s winner, Reuben Potter. Just the same as the first heat, Alfie Kells was able to come home in third position, giving him a good chance of qualifying for the A-Final.
As for the final heat of the day, this was marvellously won by Joseph Smith as the rain started to pour over the circuit. His seventy second winning margin was by far the largest of the day, with Jay Lee finishing in second position.
Next up was the B-Final, and there was a new set of stakes introduced for this season as the winner would get promoted into the A-Final. Our first beneficiary of the new rule was Harry Kennedy, who had a wonderful battle with William Jenkinson that went right down to the wire. Both were remarkably clean, but of course it was Kennedy who ended up snatching victory in the closing stages. Noah Johnson completed a very productive round on the last step of the podium.
In the finale, Reuben Potter and Zachary Smith found themselves glued together for the majority of the race. Their positions were switching every couple of laps, but it was Smith who won eventually despite Potter having the slightly faster lap. Joseph Smith was just six seconds back to complete the podium.
Cadets
Debutant Henry James impressed in the first heat of the day. Taking a sensational victory which saw him two seconds faster than the rest of the field in terms of fastest lap of the race. Jessica Kirby another debutant, had a great battle with Leonardo Palagi. In the second heat, it was George Marriot’s turn to take victory, but only by a very slender margin ahead of championship hopeful Henry Gordon.
The third heat was won by Gordon, who went one better than his previous race and absolutely dominated. It was an interesting dynamic, because it took a lot to be faster than the very quick James, who had to settle for second. The battling was just as close in the fourth heat, where Jessica Kirby took her maiden Inkart victory ahead of the much-improved Logan Thacker, who had a difficult first heat.
Into the finals, Leonardo Palagi was the driver that was able to win promotion. Very impressive considering the incredible pace of second-place Kirby. What was similarly as impressive was the recovery of Logan Thacker, who was able to go second fastest in his charge onto the final step of the podium.
As for the A-Final, George Marriot put in a lovely and dominant drive to victory of almost an entire lap as he remained the only cadet not to get lapped by the very quick Junior class leaders. He was joined on the podium by the two Henry’s, James and Gordon, who were virtually inseparable throughout the whole of the fifteen minutes. Eventually, James held onto second by just about a tenth of a second as the two-drag raced to the line.
As ever, Inkart was thoroughly entertaining in its first round at Daytona Tamworth, and we look forward to welcoming all drivers back in a couple of weeks’ time for Round 2.
InKart - Daytona Sandown Park
We welcomed back new and returning faces to Daytona Sandown Park for the first round of 2024’s final Inkart season. With two very populated grids it was set to be an exciting season.
Juniors
The first heat of the day was won by Jamie Warner, who demonstrated class in a victory of over ten seconds ahead of second-placed Leo Edger. Warner was particularly quick in this race, being the only driver with a fifty-one second lap time. Daniel Marutyak and Daniel Harman engaged in an intriguing battle for third place behind Edger, with Marutyak winning by three tenths of a second at the finish line. The second heat was very different however, as although Fabian Gandhok won, it was only by three tenths of a second over Ethan Critchley, who was unfortunate not to win given his faster lap time.
Gandhok could not keep up the winning form in his second heat. This time finishing two seconds off the lead – the heat being won by the impressive Leo Edger. Jamie Warner participated in this heat as well, however he was demoted below Gandhok after receiving a penalty. Meanwhile, in the last heat of the day, Felix Heywood prevailed by eight seconds over Ethan Critchley. Leger Dimitriou placed pressure on Critchley throughout the course of the ten minutes, yet in the end, Critchley prevailed to edge ahead by a fraction of second.
The stakes had been raised going into the B-Final, as this season's new rule states that the victor advances to the A-Final. It was unfortunate for Leger Dimitriou to not make it to the A-Final, as he drove brilliantly to win by four seconds. Alex Marcinko and Robert Wijnand fought it out for the remaining two podium spots, remaining very close the entire time. Additionally, both managed to ward off a charging Harrison McNally, finishing in that order.
Warner and Edger, the two main protagonists of the day, engaged in an exciting battle before the A-Final. They fought throughout the better part of the fifteen-minute final. But in the end, Warner was unable to break through. This gave Edger a well-deserved victory—albeit by just three tenths of a second. Some distance behind, Heywood and Critchley engaged in an equally thrilling race for the last podium position. But Heywood ended his day in spectacular fashion, finishing a mere tenth of a second ahead of Critchley in a drag race to the line.
Cadets
The cadet class was extremely competitive, with qualifying for the A-Final being the most sought-after for a while. Yet Sebastian Mejer's victory of more than thirteen seconds in the first heat seemed to have blown everyone else aside. Adam Telford came in second, and while he wasn't particularly sluggish, it did indicate that Mejer might set the standard for pace for the remainder of the morning. Sarah Telford prevailed in the second heat, although it was by no means as convincing a win. The top three were separated by just four tenths of a second at the line, while Marcus Cooper's winning margin was only eight hundredths of a second. It was an incredible race amongst the three drivers, with Ed Siberry finishing in third place.
In the third heat of the day, Cooper finished second once more, but this time his winning margin was only four tenths of a second, narrowly missing out on heat one winner Mejer. It was a significant accomplishment for both to make it safely to the A-Final, especially since the fourth heat saw a new winner for the day emerge and the competition became more open. Throughout the final heat, Arno Nurijanyan played excellent defence against Ed Sibbery, winning by a mere eight tenths of a second. The points from these heats were closer than ever, and both of them were comfortably ahead of Amanze Nwosu in third place. Thus the battle for promotion was going to be fierce.
In terms of promotion, Oscar Bradley emerged victorious in an exceptionally well-executed B-Final. Leo Falconer, who had his hands full fighting for second place the whole race, trailed him by four and a half seconds. Throughout, he and Milan Pillay were extremely close, with only two tenths of a second separating them at the finish line. With their opening-season podiums, both will be overjoyed.
While Sebastian Mejer's victory in the A-Final was not surprising given his strong pace throughout the day, the championship contender's journey was not without its challenges. Adam Telford, who actually completed the fastest lap in the race, was only a second and a half ahead of him, denying Mejer the first-round sweep. Marcus Cooper had a terrific drive and managed to secure a podium during the day's final race, even though all of the drivers behind him were so close in terms of pace.
This year’s last season of Inkart at Daytona Sandown Park got off to a great start, and we can't wait to see all the drivers again in a few weeks for another round of the always-popular heats format.
SuperChamps - Daytona Milton Keynes
DMAX
The sun was out for an early morning at Daytona Milton Keynes for the first round of the new season of SuperChamps. The format was the ever-popular D40 which consisted of a one shot qualifying to set the grid.
In the Lightweights Ethan Pritchard took the pole by a massive eight tenths over the rest of the field, Edgar Azevedo debuted alongside on the front row of the grid with the always consistent James King in third. In the Heavyweights Ashley Mayston-King took the pole by just a couple of thousandths from Myles Bates, with Scott Woosey close behind in third.
Drama was already being caused before the race had begun as Azevedo spun on the way to the grid causing him to start from the back.
Ethan Pritchard built a remarkable lead of thirty-three seconds over the rest of the lightweight field, averaging 1:04.654 lap time. James King finished in second place setting up yet another championship battle between himself and Pritchard. Azevedo had a stellar drive through the field to make his way from the back of the grid up into the final podium spot on debut.
It was domination in the Heavyweights, with Mayston-King taking the race win and being the only Heavyweight driver to not be lapped by the fast-charging Pritchard. Bates took second place and Seb Goldsmith took third after an impressive drive through the heavyweight field.
SODI
Freddie Jenkins took the Lightweight pole by two tenths of a second and was the only driver in the 1:13’s. Last season’s champion Jacob Csepreghi lined up alongside on the front row of the grid with Tudor Geanta just a further few hundredths back in third.
In the Heavyweights it was Charlie Fenton who took the pole (and sixth overall) showing his impressive pace over one lap. Current Thursday Night League championship leader Barry Morris was second in the Heavyweights just a further two spots back from Fenton with Christ Whiteman in third.
It was an epic battle in both the Lightweights and the Heavyweights for the race win with the battles going right down to the wire.
Jenkins drove exceptionally after building up a slight lead at the front of the field and managed to hold that advantage despite the mounting pressure from the drivers behind. Taking the race win in the Lightweights. The battle for the podium in the Lightweights came right down to the final few laps between the two Csepreghi brothers and Geanta, as they all looked to take the final two steps on the podium. However, it was Jacob who managed to just edge out the other two drivers with his brother Charlie taking the final spot on the podium just in front of Geanta.
If that wasn’t enough drama, it was even closer for the race win in the Heavyweights. It came down to the final corners of the very last lap between Fenton and Morris. Initially it was Fenton with a huge advantage of about eight seconds after Morris had been caught in some battles with the other category, but little by little Morris slowly started to catch up after having some help from Jimi Holder who was almost pushing Morris up the straights. This meant that in the final few laps Morris had made it all the way to the back of Fenton and on the final lap he tried to make his move.
The battle continued all the way until a mistake from Fenton on the penultimate corner on the last lap allowed Morris up the inside and took the position away, Fenton tried to send it back up the inside at the final corner, but it wasn’t quite enough with Morris taking the race win by just a few hundredths over Fenton who had to settle for second. Richard Danby took the final spot on the podium after an impressive drive, just managing to hold off Dom Zaremba.
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