EasyKart UK - Round 1 - Whilton Mill, Northants

A bloke walks into his office on Monday morning looking really rough. A colleague asks him if he’s okay and the dishevelled man says: “Not really. I went out with my mates yesterday lunch-time and had about six yoghurts.” “Yeah?” says his friend quizzically. “And then after that, we found this brilliant bar and ended up having loads more in the evening - can’t even remember how many.” “Then what happened?” says his intrigued co-worker. “Dunno, I was Mullered.”

Which is exactly how some of the drivers leaving the opening round of the 2008 Easykart Championship must’ve felt.

Oliver George won the Heavy class by over 8 seconds – and there was a similar time gap for Elliott Rice’s historic win in the first ever Easykart Junior race in the UK, whilst reigning World Number 1. Barnaby Pittingale made comparative hard work of winning the Light class, pipping his nearest rival by ‘just’ 1.4 seconds.

The Easykart series is fast developing a reputation for clean racing and camaraderie amongst the drivers - and at Whilton, series promoter John Vigor added to the party atmosphere with his banging club ‘choons’ and lively commentaries. It was reminiscent of the last year’s World Championships at Mariembourg.

With 17 drivers entered for the inaugural junior race - including former Cadet stars Jack Sales, Luca Hirst and Brad Fairhurst - quality racing was assured.

Elliott Rice and Sales were the class of the field in the Pre-Final. The race was remarkable for the number of novices taking part, and in some cases beating the full-licence holders. Rice survived his 15-lap duel with Sales to take the win and seal pole for the Final.

With the lush green grass and bright blues skies, the view across the track resembled a Windows screen saver as the Cadets rolled out of the pits.

Sales got the jump on Rice, who took too much kerb on the left-hand kink after the start. Luca Hirst slotted into 3rd from 4th and looked threatening. Into the 2nd lap and Rice was pressing Sales hard. Behind them Liam Nolan, Brad Fairhurst and Hannah Cockill were beginning a superb scrap for 7th place.

At the front, Sales began to eke out a small advantage, with Rice clear of Hirst. On the following lap, Hirst clouted a kerb and launched his kart onto two wheels. As he tried to settle the kart, Christopher Waldock closed in. Approaching like ‘War Rocket Ajax’ in Flash Gordon, Brad Fairhurst had carved his way up the order and was now up to 7th.

Rice had closed the gap on Sales and the pair ran nose to tail before Elliott made his move at Christmas corner to snatch the lead. As the two leaders prepared to put on a great fight to the line, disaster struck as Sales’ exhaust became detached and he was forced to retire. He understandably punched his steering wheel with frustration.

This left Rice out on his own and able to take an historic and deserved first Easykart Junior race win.

Afterwards, Elliot who has switched from racing in Junior Max, commented: “I feel incredibly pleased with myself. I’m aiming to stay in front (of the Championship) and have a very big eye on that trip to Italy for the World Finals."

In the Heavy category, Firas Bilbeisi won a nail-biting Pre-Final with newcomer Oliver George to seal pole for the main race. Behind them, Winter Series winner Mark Lawrence beat Jack Bruce to third to make it an all Scottish second row.

At the drop of the Union flag, Bilbeisi held the advantage from George. Starting in last after a DNF in the Pre-Final, Ed Cockill passed 8 karts in the first lap to start what was arguably, the drive of the day.

Someone had taken a big old nibble at Bruce, who’s bumper had been banana’d and exhaust was blowing thick blue smoke.

George was pressing Bilbeisi for all his worth, forcing the leader to repeatedly glance over his shoulder. Bradley Sargeant had come from 6th on the grid to 3rd and was leading the chasing pack of Will Smith, Richard Friend and Glen Beard.

Cockill brushed aside the squabbling Friend and Beard with ease and soon separated Sargeant and Smith, prompting members of the crowd to wonder whether he had the pace and enough laps to catch leaders and ultimately take the win.

The gap between Firas and Oliver visibly appeared to be reducing as the race entered its final stages. Cockill swept past Sargeant on a completely different line and immediately powered away.

With 2 laps remaining, just as I noted that the race was in the bag for Firas - barring mistakes or incidents - he clipped the inside kerb at the first corner and immediately put his hand up and he passed the apex. His motor had let go. This left George with a commanding lead over the hard-charging Cockill, who in turn had put daylight between himself and Sargeant.

With 34 karts entered for the Light category, two groups were needed to be able to meet the maximum the number of karts permitted on the circuit.

In the Light A class, reigning World Finals Champion (in the Heavy class), Barnaby Pittingale was unbeatable. The Londoner topped he time sheets in qualifying and easily converted his pre-final pole into an dominating victory.

Behind him though, were his fellow pre-season favourites – Adrian Crockett, (defending British Champion) Harry Cockill, Owen Jenman and the ultra-smooth Terry Langley.

Pre-race banter in the paddock suggested that the Final would be a straight fight between Pittingale and Langley - and it certainly looked like it was shaping up that way, as Langley spring-boarded from 5th to 3rd in the space of two corners.

Jenman and Cockill were clearly in the mood to prove the doubters wrong, as they quickly fought back past Langley.

Pittingale needed no further invitation as the pack scrapped behind him and began to stretch his lead, taking up to a second of a lap out of his nearest rival’s times.

Marc Mercer resolved his battle with Tony Longstaff by taking 5th from him, whilst Steve Youle’s initial pace seemed to fade and he lost touch with the top 6.

AS the race hit the mid-way point, Pittingale turned over his shoulder, as to give a ‘come on you guys, catch up!’ look.

Jenman responded as directed and began to close the gap. Perhaps rattled, Pittingale started using every trick in the book to open the gap back up. Cockill was also on a charge, passing Crockett and pulling away.

Langley also slipped past Crockett, but surprisingly could make no further impression on Cockill ahead of him. Crockett fell into the clutches of Mercer who nerfed him wide, allowing himself and Longstaff through. The former instantly attacked back and re-established his 4th place with some fine driving and left Longstaff shaking his head in frustration.

From this point there was little further drama. Pittingale took the chequered over a second ahead of Jenman. Cockill never stopped trying and will have been grateful for the podium and valuable Championship points.

Langley was excluded after the race, when it was discovered that his airbox was missing. He put his hands up saying: “Unfortunately, we somehow oversaw tightening the airbox onto the carb! I also found that the sprocket was loose and was moving back and forward about 10mm before turning the axle. At least I can drop that round but can’t afford any more mishaps!!!”