June 2018

Super Karts at the Melbourne Hairpin

Donington Park BARC Sunday 3rd June 2018
The 40th anniversary of the British Superkart Grand Prix was the headline act at Donington Park on Sunday 3rd June. The BARC organised meeting saw a mixture of Superkart and car action with the various kart races supported by Mazda Max5, Mighty Mini, MG Owners Club, Clubmans, Kumho BMW & Classic FF1600 championship races to form a 17 race schedule on the Sunday of the 2-day meeting.
The CIK-FIA European Superkart Championship made a rare appearance on British soil and German driver Peter Elkmann not only dominated the pair of European races, he also went on to win the Division 1 British GP plate race in his Anderson kart. F250 National karts competed for overall British Superkart Championship points along with a handful of F450 karts. Australian Jordie Forde taking the GP victory. Not to be out done by their larger engined counterparts, the F125 Open karts always provide spectacular racing and Liam Morley added to his list of GP victories with winning the GP Plate on Sunday afternoon.
As for the car racing element, there was a 16 car entry for the MG Owners Club double header. With the MGCC having their annual MG Live event at Silverstone the same weekend, this was yet another clash that could have been avoided. The MGF of Martin Wills and the MGzR of Steve Darbey sharing the wins.
The best race of the day came from the ever reliable Mighty Minis. With both Super and Mighty classes sharing the same grid these days, the action was always frenetic. The second race of the day saw an epic 9 car lead battle that Alex Comis thought he'd triumphed against to win. A 5 second penalty applied post-race though saw him slip to 4th overall and Dave rees officially taking the spoils to repeat his race 1 win.
If the first Mazda Max 5 race of the day was poor, the second race of the day was exactly the opposite and saw plenty of action throughout. The BARC Mazda championship is a catch-all one that caters for all marks of the Japanese sportscar. Therefore the 2 Mk4 versions raced ahead from the squabbling Mk1 & Mk3 versions behind with Paul Roddison taking both races.
Just the one Classic FF1600 race on the Sunday that saw the safety car deployed following a 2 car off at Coppice. Benn Tilley's Merlyn Mk20 finishing ahead of the newer Van Diemen RF80 of Ben Tinkler.
A large 25 car entry saw an entertaining Kumho BMW race, the multi-class championship still popular despite a plethora of one-make BMW series arriving on the UK scene in recent years.The E46 M3 of Piers Reid leading home the similar car of Garrie Whitaker in the race.
Last but not least saw a pair of Clubmans races. The Mallock dominated field saw Clive Wood win both Sunday races. Finishing 3rd and then 2nd behind Wood was the 17 years old Swedish driver, Monika Arvidsson. Making her debut on UK soil she was highly impressive and her charges through the field were impressive to watch. She had to make up places as these were her first attempts at standing starts as rolling starts are used in Sweden!
Always an unusual meeting to pit Superkarts with cars but all in all not a bad meeting at Donington. The use of the GP loop is always a gamble but the racing was good and improved somewhat after lunch.
Silverstone BRSCC Sunday 10th June 2018




















Donington Park VSCC Sunday 24th June 2018



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