Buckmore Park played host to the sixth round overall of the Super One British Karting Championship.
Clayton Ravenscroft, Jonny Edgar and Ben Burgess lined up in the Minimax class, delivering the 5th, 8th and 12th fastest times in qualifying in a difficult session.
Ravencroft and Edgar finished line astern in 3rd and 4th in the first heat, before a front fairing infringment demoted Ravenscroft to 6th. Burgess finished a seasons best 6th but was also given a penalty, leaving him in 11th position.
Heat 2 saw two out of the three drivers retire from the race, Ravenscroft and Edgar both taken out of the race with a couple of laps to go. Burgess survived and finished the heat in 12th position.
Edgar lined up 7th, Ravencroft in 10th and Burgess in 11th for the Pre-Final.
Burgess was knocked to the back of the back by a rival driver at the start and had to make up for lost ground. Edgar and Ravenscroft managed to come through the field, finishing 5th and 10th after the latter received a 10s penalty.
The final was difficult for all drivers, in a closely faught race, Edgar finished in 6th position, Ravenscroft 8th, and Burgess gaining three places to finish 15th.
Tyler Chesterton was quick off the mark in Junior Rotax, setting the 4th fastest time to be just 0.17s off pole position. Chesterton translated this into a 5th place finish in the opening heat, following up with victory in the second heat. Sadly this was taken away from his, as a non-compliance cruelly excluded him from the results.
This gave him a 17th position start for the Pre-Final. Determined to fight back to the front, Chesterton put on a great race to come through to 7th position at the flag, gaining ten places on the way.
Starting from 7th on the grid in the final, Chesterton made a demon start and was in 3rd position by lap 2. A fight for the lead ensued between the top three, before Chesterton broke free fully on lap 13, holding the lead to the end of the race, taking his maiden British Championship event victory after a brilliant comeback through the two finals!
Senior Max saw Josh White, Josh Skelton, Morgan Rose, Stephanie Le Vesconte and Tom Croydon take 4th, 6th, 12th,13th and 14th respectively in qualifying.
White battled through to 2nd position in the opening heat, with all drivers gaining places through the race. Skelton finished 5th, Rose 9th, Croydon 10th and Le Vesconte 13th.
Heat 2 saw White take 3rd, Skelton finished in 6th, Rose in 9th, Le Vesconte rising to 10th position and Croydon finishing 13th after being denied by a nosecone infringement.
The Pre-Final saw White taken out of contention after the opening lap, meaning a back of the grid start for the championship leader for the Final. Skelton came to the fore and finished a strong 4th position. Rose delivered another solid performance to come home in 8th position. Croydon and Le Vesconte once again battled well to finish in 10th and 11th.
The Grand Final saw Skelton fight for the lead throughout the race, battling for the podium which he just missed by 0.5s in 4th position. Rose was denied a consistently strong set off finishes by a nosecone infirngment, dropping him down to 15th. White succumbed to the same fate, after fighting through the field and finishing in 8th position, he was demoted to 13th, thwarting his run of podium finishes. Croydon and Le Vesconte both endured tough finals, finishing in formation at the end of the 20 lap final in 11th and 12th positions.
Buckmore overall was a difficult weekend for the team, with fate seemingly conspired against all drivers, with none of the drivers able to get a clean rub of green. However Chesterton ensured Coles Racing kept up it's podium scoring record in 2016, and we would like to congratulate him on his maiden victory at British Championship level!
The next round of the Super One Series is at Fulbeck at the beginning of July (8-10th), where the team will be itching to get back into the hunt for more wins in all Rotax Classes.
