Superkarts Cadwell GRAND PRIX WEEKEND

Dan Clark had his lead reduced in the MSA British Superkart Championship after collecting his first non-finish of the year. The title is still up for grabs after a spectacular weekend of racing.

Qualifying

There was a better turn out than of late in the 250 Nationals with some familiar faces making a return. Ross Allen, robbed of the GP win last year was having his first outing since Silverstone, although not eligible for championship points. James O’Reilly was trying the new Viper SK250 motor and Division 1 driver Carl Kinsey was using the new THR engine. UK Cup winner Gavin Bennett was on track at the head of the field and on his second lap set a time of 1m 25.241s to secure pole position, despite the ignition setting being a bit out which left him down on speed along Park Straight. Paul Platt (1m 26.310s) was re-united with his Gas Gas engine and after taking it easy in the opening laps qualified second. Ex-Radical driver Allen (1m 26.795s) was third quickest and doing the Grand Prix meeting ‘for a bit of fun’. This was also his first time at Cadwell. Grand Prix holder Toby Davis (1m 26.854s) wound up fourth quickest using old tyres. A new set of Hoosiers would be bolted on for the first race. Championship leader Dan Clark (1m 26.985s) headed the third row with James Hassall (1m27.098s), another Cadwell rookie alongside. English Champion Trevor Roberts (1m 27.488s) was seventh quickest with O’Reilly (1m 27.669s) giving the Viper engine its best qualifying position this year lining up alongside. F250 Clubman Challenge leader Gareth James (1m28.477s) headed row 5 after replacing damaged bodywork when he went off in free practice carrying too much speed through Chris Curve. Completing the top ten was Mark Vaughan (1m 28.717s).

Race 1

When the lights changed Bennett and Platt went side by side along the straight and up through Coppice for the first time. Platt gained the upper hand on the opening lap and crossed the line with Bennett stuck on his bumper. Allen led Davis and O’Reilly with Clark and Roberts biding there time, not wanting to get mixed up at the end of Park Straight when Hassall went off.

Bennett took over at the front on lap 2 and pulled away from Platt setting the fastest lap of the race in the process. Clark had moved up to third and was trying to get the pack to work with him and tow up to the leaders rather than fight amongst themselves. O’Reilly pitted at the end of lap 4 with the det counter dancing all over the place. Later inspection revealed that the engine was running fine. Davis dropped out of fifth place when the big end failed just after half distance.

The speed of the DEA allowed Bennett to ease clear of his pursuers and at the flag he was 5.431s ahead. Clark towed up to the back of Platt and the fight was on for second place. Platt was starting to lose grip from the Hoosiers but held on. “I couldn’t hold onto Gavin and then the engine temperature started to climb.” Clark was only 0.221s behind at the flag. “I didn’t have the speed of the DEA or Gas Gas and was playing safe with the motor pulling 11,200 along Park Straight but I couldn’t pull out of Paul’s slipstream.”

Roberts had moved up to 4^th place at half distance and stayed there until the flag to get his best result in the championship. He couldn’t relax as Allen was still close, although the Jade driver wasn’t scoring points. Gareth James passed Aaron Sifleet in the closing stages to claim sixth place, but that position could have gone to Sam Moss who made up ground from the back of the grid only to have his Honda seize starting the last lap.

Results

1 Gavin Bennett Anderson/DEA

2 Paul Platt PVP/Gas Gas

3 Dan Clark Anderson/Redspeed Honda

4 Trevor Roberts Raider/PFP Honda

5 Ross Allen Jade/Honda

6 Gareth James Anderson/Honda

Race 2

Bennett took advantage of pole position to lead away. Platt was looking for a way to draw level but was boxed in by Roberts. At the end of the opening lap Bennett was still there with an advantage of 0.549s. Clark had slotted into second place with Platt and Davis nose to tail ahead of Roberts. Ross Allen led the next group of Hassall, O’Reilly, Moss and James.

Clark set the fastest lap of the race on lap 2 and closed onto the tail of Bennett, this pair having pulled away from Platt. O’Reilly pulled into the pits at the end of lap 2 to retire when the engine temperature soared after he lost the water. James went off at Charlies on lap 2 and Moss dropped to the back of the field when he had a massive off on the exit of the Gooseneck. For the next three laps Clark was glued to Bennett. “I knew where I was quicker than Gavin and could easily sit behind him.” But as Clark crossed the line at the end of lap 5 his hand briefly went in the air. Was that a momentary problem? Unfortunately not as he pulled off along Park Straight with a clutch failure.

This left Bennett with a useful lead of 4.423s at the end of lap 6. Platt was suffering from a slipping clutch on his Gas Gas and fighting to stay ahead of Allen. Roberts was holding fourth place with Hassall and Davis disputing 5^th.

Up through Coppice on lap 8 Platt and Allen were side by side with Roberts trying to close in. However, the man from Lurgan understeered off at the top of the hill and unfortunately collided with the stationary kart of James. The front of the Raider was severely damaged and bent an upright putting Trevor out for the rest of the day.

Bennett’s lead was up to 7.050s starting the last lap and he was heading for his second win with Platt just holding off Allen. But approaching the hairpin Bennett spun away his lead. Platt’s clutch was getting worse and he couldn’t get a good run through Barn Corner. Allen saw his chance and jinked to the inside and squeezed into the lead, crossing the line to win by 0.104s from Platt. Bennett recovered to finish third. “I didn’t know how big my lead was and pushed right to the end,” he said. Hassall and Davis were now disputing fourth place but exiting Barn Corner the top of the piston in Davis’s Honda broke off. That left Hassall to claim fourth place while Jack Layton and Mark Vaughan collected the next two places before Davis just managed to coast over the line in seventh place.

Results

1 Ross Allen Jade/Honda

2 Paul Platt PVP/Gas Gas

3 Gavin Bennett Anderson/DEA

4 James Hassall Jade/Honda

5 Jack Layton Anderson/Honda

6 Mark Vaughan Raider/PFP Honda

MSA British Superkart Championship 2014 – Positions after 8 rounds

1 Dan Clark 252 pts

2 Paul Platt 248 pts

3 Gavin Bennett 205 pts

4 James Hassall 182 pts

5 Gareth James 172 pts

6 Sam Moss 161 pts

BSA F250 Clubman Challenge 2014 – Positions after 8 rounds

1 Gareth James 260 pts

2 Steve Burton 208 pts

3 Jack Layton 176 pts

Grand Prix

After two exciting championship races, we were all set for another thriller in the GP. Once again Bennett led the field away at the start followed by Allen and Clark. However, Allen’s chance of winning the Grand Prix evaporated on lap 1 when the Honda seized. Bennett completed lap 1 at the head of the field with Platt on his tail while Clark held off Hassall, Davis and O’Reilly. Moss was holding 7^th spot until a brake problem on lap 2 caused him to run off at Mansfield.

Platt closed in on Bennett when on lap 4 the leader ran over part of a rear wing end plate. It was thrown up and hit Platt’s crash helmet and damaged his visor. Somehow he continued without losing a position to Clark and on lap 6 when Bennett made a mistake at Mansfield he was through into the lead. Clark then grabbed second from Bennett at the hairpin. On the next lap Clark set the fastest lap of the race as he reduced Platt’s lead to 0.103s while Bennett was losing a bit of ground. But Bennett wasn’t finished and on lap 10 entering Coppice he re-took the lead from Platt. The trio started the last lap locked together with the result still in doubt. Despite his vision being impaired by the damaged visor Platt made his move and at the flag he was ahead by 0.188s from Bennett with Clark a further 0.424s behind. What a fantastic race! “That’s one of my hardest races ever,” said a joyous Platt. “I have been chasing the GP title for five years in this class and now I have finally got it,” he added. Bennett was magnanimous in defeat, pleased for his rival and exhausted after racing in two classes over the weekend. Clark couldn’t have done anymore. “I didn’t have the straight line speed and had set up the gearing to get a tow. I was losing a bit of oil towards the end and then the temperature light came on and went up to 120 degrees. I made Paul and Gavin work for the result.”

The battle for the other positions was equally dramatic. Davis moved into 4^th place on lap 3 from Hassall who then retired on lap 5 with a split exhaust. Davis then had to fend off O’Reilly who was giving the Viper engine another good run. Unfortunately the water temperature started to fluctuate and rather than risk damage to the motor he pulled off on lap 9. It turned out to be a faulty sensor so an excellent result was ruined. Davis was then in a safe fourth place but he pulled off at the end of the pit lane starting the last lap when the top water hose came off. A troublesome weekend.

Into fourth place at the flag came Carl Kinsey using the THR engine. After retiring in the earlier race due to a detonation problem he kept out of trouble. Hats off to the new team for an excellent result. Gareth James was heading for fifth place but on the last lap he dropped back so Tom Hatfield claimed the place narrowly ahead of Mark Vaughan, who had a massive fuel leak, Jack Layton and James.

Results

1 Paul Platt PVP/Gas Gas

2 Gavin Bennett Anderson/DEA

3 Dan Clark Anderson/Redspeed Honda

4 Carl Kinsey Anderson/THR

5 Tom Hatfield Raider/Honda

6 Mark Vaughan Raider/PFP Honda

Words by Gary James & images by Nick Purdie.

Classifieds Archive

£410000

£54000

POA

SOLD

SOLD

$1000000

$3000

POA

$399500

$115000

$25000

$17000