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My 1st win

Joy for Barker in Junior Subaru UK.

Yet another bumper grid of 24 karts rolled out for the latest round of the popular four stroke junior class and a few surprises were in store during the day. Qualifying highlighted the closeness amongst the eager youngsters with just 1 second covering the top 21 on the grid! Charlie Blackman set the 1100 metre circuit on fire with a 50.78 lap time, good enough for his first pole position in the class and letting the championship favourites know that they were not in for an easy day in the sun. Just 0.020 seconds behind and next to him on the front row was Oliver Martynski, another fine qualifying effort. Joseph Knight proved that he is settling into the class well with 3rd on the grid, championship contenders – Katherine White and Leon Clark were 4th and 5th, Louis Barker and Poppi Stephenson were ahead of last month’s convincing class winner James Tomsett in 8th, Lewie Weaver was 9th and Red Beswick 10th.

Louis Barker took his Sonic Motorsport kart from 6th to 1st in heat 1, in impressive style and laid down a definitive marker to the rest. Joseph Knight overcame the front row drivers to claim 2nd, Leon Clark also moving up to 3rd. Lewie Weaver and Poppi Stephenson also managed to finish in front of Martynski and Blackman who had slipped to 6th and 7th. The In serve/On site safety/AMG financial accounts backed kart of Barker also took the Pre Final, only just from the Clark Motorsport kart of Clark, GMS driver Beswick 3rd, who had stormed his way to the front, teammate Weaver 4th, Martynski’s Clarke kart 5th and Knight in 6th.

Barker led away the 13 lap final and continued to drive confidently and assuredly out in front, so many times in the past he has been caught up in incidents / suffering from bad luck and it was good to see it all finally coming together for him. Clark ran 2nd until he was usurped by a determined Beswick who took the position on lap 10. Weaver had run 3rd over the early laps until he was passed by Beswick, on lap 4 and then Knight on lap 9, James Tomsett was also on the move in the final as he climbed up to 5th on lap 10. As his Dad watched eagerly on Barker took the chequered flag, celebrating in style, from Beswick in 2nd, Clark 3rd, Knight in 4th (his best result so far), 5th was the SAIT kart of Tomsett, further gathering points as was Clark towards their championship efforts. Martynski brought his Clarke kart home for a good 6th, Weaver took 7th, Charlie Hand 8th, Max Lee 9th and Catlin May a good 10th. The fastest lap was recorded by Joseph Knight, setting him out as now one to watch for the future.

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Win number 2

Junior Subaru.
DNL driver Ben Harper always flies around Lydd and so this proved on Sunday, he was however up against an on form Louis Barker, who was keen to keep, his winning momentum up, after winning at Bayford Meadows two weeks previously. Harper took both the heat and Pre final wins and therefore started the Grand final from the pole position. Barker had finished right on Harper’s tail in the Pre final so started alongside on the front row. It was Harper that led the final away as Barker lost time at the first chicane slipping behind a fast starting Marlo Cordell until lap 3 - when he set about closing the gap that Harper had built up ahead. Cordell looked safe in 3rd, ahead of some exciting dicing over 4th initially led by Joseph Knight, until Kieran Janali found a way past, Ollie Martynski was joining in the fun, as these three slipstreamed their away around the long flowing bends and long straights that make up this exciting circuit. Poppi Stephenson and Harvey Roffe were exchanging positions behind this group and trying to home in on those ahead. The last two laps were enthralling as Harper and Barker fiercely disputed the lead, it was like a game of fast moving chess as they tried to determine who would have the tow along the long back straight for the final time. Eventually the Sonic Motorsport kart of Barker claimed ‘cheque mate’ as he crossed the line victorious from a visually disappointed Harper, after what had been a fascinating battle. Cordell was under 3 seconds behind in 3rd, Janali took a well-deserved and confidence boosting 4th in his SAIT motorsport kart. Martynski took 5th from Roffe who made his way up ahead of an unlucky Knight, who picked up a 4 second nose fairing penalty, dropping him to 12th. Daniel Hughes finished 7th behind Roffe, Stephenson brought her Clarke kart home in 8th, Max Lee and Jayden Neal-Holder were 9th and 10th and Chloe Clarke recovered from a first chicane off in the Pre final to finish 11th. Louis Barker also collected the fastest lap on his way to victory. 51.57 lap record 

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