E Plate has the X Factor

Easykart UK ‘E’ Plate Round-Up

That ‘Jedward’, the two Irish lads with limited talent were able to stave off the ‘challenge’ from Lloyd Daniels, a Welsh lad with the personality of a potato caused much conversation throughout the country last weekend (14/15 November).

It’s enough to make you sigh, because had the nation been able to tune into the first ever Easykart Open Championship, then they’d have witnessed something genuinely exciting and truly worthy of discussion.

A compact but quality field delivered some absolutely enthralling racing – without ever hitting a bum note.

After pulverising the opposition in the Cadet pre-final to win by over nine seconds, Ronan McKenzie was made to work hard for his eventual victory in the main final. He was pressed hard throughout the 17-lap encounter by a trio of drivers – the impressive newcomer Kyle Forgie, the ever-improving Jordan Sanders and his season-long rival, Will Stowell.

The latter waited until lap seven to lead the chase down of McKenzie, who momentarily looked like he was going to repeat his earlier dominant performance.

Two laps later and Will had slipped through, but found Ronan in no mood to settle for second. As they battled, Forgie and Sanders edged closer.

McKenzie managed to re-take the lead and open the merest of gaps, whilst Sanders cleared Forgie and set about catching Stowell. At this point, backmarkers were coming into play and Ronan had a big moment as he went to pass the novice, Matthew Round-Garrido through Billy’s Blind. His loss of momentum saw Stowell halve the deficit and pile on the pressure through the remaining few corners. He survived, just, to take a deserved and historic first E Plate victory.

The Junior encounter produced high-quality drama with Christopher Waldock leading home Easykart UK champion, Patrick Lay. Poleman Brad Fairhurst had been leading a four kart train after re-taking the advantage from Dean Clayton. Recovering from a poor start, Christopher Waldock had worked his way through and, after wriggling past Clayton, latched onto Fairhurst’s bumper. William Davison made up the quartet, sitting right on Clayton’s exhaust. As they barreled through Billy’s, Fairhurst moved off the racing line and went to defend into the sweeping right-hander. As he braked on the damp part of the circuit, he appeared to catch Waldock unawares, and with nowhere to go Waldock clipped Brad’s rear bumper and sent him spearing into the barriers. Thankfully, he was unhurt - but his kart was less so, forcing him out despite a valiant attempt to rejoin the fray.

Just inside the top ten, William Hill, Tiernay Oliver, (Cadet champion) James DeHavillande and AJ Morris thrilled the spectators with a monumental scrap. Repeatedly swapping places through every turn.

At the front, Waldock began to look increasingly comfortable as he stretched away from the hard-charging Clayton. Having maintained a watching brief in fourth place for seven laps, the newly-crowned 2009 champion, Patrick Lay demoted Dean Clayton with an eye-wateringly brave move, with Davison following him through as Clayton recovered from being forced off line. Waldock deservedly claimed the victory, although a stewards’ enquiry into his earlier biff into Fairhurst made him sweat for several anxious minutes.

"I think I've wet myself!" was how one lady rather graphically described her reaction to the excitement and tension of the thrilling Heavy final. Throughout the first eleven laps, William Smith duked it out with Barnaby Pittingale in a fascinating display of different styles. Pittingale's flamboyance in stark contrast to Smith's smooth, press-on manner. Knowing that William had superior speed, Barnaby’s game-plan was to defend resolutely, slow the pace and try and back the Suffolk ace into the clutches of the pursuing pack. Wise to this, Smith threw everything he’d got at the Londoner’s rear bumper and once he had finally wriggled past, found Pittingale returning the favour. This was racing at its very best as the pair’s markedly different styles fought for supremacy. All this played into the hands of 'Sir' Tim Hill, who maintained his rich vein of recent form by joining in the fun. A tangle between Hill and Pittingale settled matters in Smith’s favour and another spill saw Barnaby retire with three tours to go. Having come through from the fourth row, Gary Poynter saw his chance and pounced for second place. He held it for just a single lap as Hill recovered and scythed past him and established a cushion. In turn, Poynter was untroubled for his thoroughly-deserved maiden Easykart trophy.

Five drivers took turns to lead the breathtaking Light final with one of the youngest competitors, Elliot Rice eventually sealing his first senior class win.

An amazing start saw Owen Jenman lead the field into Turn 1, but by the exit of the Esses it was Kieran McCullough who held all the aces. Pole-sitter Sam Dimlow quickly recovered from his sluggish start and slotted into second behind McCullough. Kieran crossed the startline leading, but a hefty clip from Dimlow span him down the order as they hit the braking zone for Turn 1. McCullough narrowly missed the tyre wall and tore off on a sensational charge back up the order.

In the confusion, Elliot Rice assumed second place with Jenman breathing down his neck in third. Almost for fun, the duo launched moves on Dimlow, and it was the latter who briefly prevailed whilst Rice and Dimlow ran wheel to wheel, with neither willing to give an inch. As the race wore on, Sam’s tyres began to go off and he found himself unable to handle the pace of Elliot and Owen. At the first clear opportunity, Rice seized the initiative and made short work of opening a margin.

Rice’s former junior sparring partner Jack Sales briefly found himself running in third but the ‘Crockett Rocket’, Adrian Crockett, pushed him back to fourth. In turn, Adrian’s hold on the last remaining podium place wouldn’t last long. McCullough, still miffed from the earlier incident, dived down his inside at the hairpin, leaving Adrian, Jack and Ben Yeomans to slug it out for fourth over the remaining few laps.

It capped a terrific event and once again illustrated that karaoke singers with varying degrees of ability may not actually possess genuine star quality but a great many of Easykart UK’s competitors really do possess the X Factor