Last weekend (21 – 23 August) the British Kart Championships visited the most southern kart circuit in the UK. Lydd hosted the second event in the calendar and the first round of the Rotax and Honda championship. Despite being based in the only UK desert, the weather was less than favourable with high winds all weekend – but this didn’t stop the fierce competition across the five classes.
Honda Cadet driver Connor Duncan was dominant in Saturday practice, as he topped two of the four sessions. However, it was Joshua Graham who was victorious and took pole position after the timed qualifying.
With close competition during the heats, Scottish drivers Graham and Zac Drummond made up the first row of the grid of the pre-final, followed by Timo Jungling in third place. Qualifying in fourth, Duncan stormed through the grid and took the win, putting him on pole position for the final.
After leading a few laps, Connor was overtaken by Drummond and Jungling. Timo climbed his way to the front of the grid to claim a race victory, followed by Conor Duncan in second place and Jensen Graham in third.
A stellar performance from Harry Linden throughout the weekend saw the current GP plate holder win the Minimax class with a five second lead, with by Pierson Bullock-Carter in second place, and Steven Duncan in third.
New to the championship in 2020 but making their mark, the Argenti Motorsport team achieved a host of victories over the weekend, including a win in the Senior Rotax class with Morgan Porter, ahead of KR-Sport driver Tom Edmunds and DHR driver Nelson King.
The smaller yet competitive grid for the Rotax 177 class still provided world-class entertainment for the thousands of spectators watching on the live stream. Oliver Appleby performed well over the weekend and qualified in pole position for the finals and winning the first and second heats, placing him in prime position for the pre-final. Ben Davis was ultimately victorious in the pre final, with Appleby in fourth. Close racing between the top four drivers on the grid during the final saw Appleby finish in third place behind Davis. However, it was Matthew Easton who lifted the first-place trophy at the end of the day after a flawless performance during the final.
Welsh driver Matthew Higgins claimed pole position during the Junior Rotax timed qualifying session and proceeded to win the second and third heats on Sunday, placing him in first place for the pre-final. Despite finishing third as the chequered flag was waved, a penalty in the pre-final for Higgins meant that he finished the race in 13th position.
After a hard-fought race by Harrison Collings during the pre-final, he climbed six places to claim pole position for the final grid, but a close battle between the top 10 it was Archie Walker, Kieran Kay and Mattie Hingley who ultimately made up the top three after the exciting final race of the day.
All the action can be rewatched on the British Karting Championships Facebook page and full race results are available at HERE
