RX250 Masters Cup (Warden Law)

Bank Holiday Monday marked the first ever RX250 race in the UK at Warden Law near Sunderland, when the opening round of the Sodi W Series 'Masters Cup' race took place.

There was a good turn-out in sunny weather conditions, where Karting Magazine was represented by my youngest son James, who took the speed of the faster RX250 kart in his stride.

From grid 5 in the second final, after being pushed off the track in the first final, he emerged in he lead after just the first corner, set the fastest lap of the race on lap 4, and pulled out a comfortable 5 second lead by the halfway mark. He then dropped into 'cruise mode' and throttled back, to win the race by just under 2 seconds. It was a remarkable effort from a driver in only his first season of racing, against some rather more experienced karting competition.

If future events are run with the same level of organisation, as that shown by Ben Hyland from the indoor karting centre PPiK in Leeds, then the future prospects for this new corporate karting venture looks very sound.

Fulbeck - 50 years and counting.

The Fulbeck circuit in Lincolnshire, which used to be a former RAF bomber base in World War 2, has since 1959 been the site of a demanding kart circuit. Which means that in 2009 it marks the 50th anniversary for the Lincolnshire Kart Club.

Historically Fulbeck is important to me, and not just because it is a "driver's track", as it was also the venue for my younger brother's very first kart race in August 1983, the scene of my own novice debut in 100 National in June 1984, and where my journalistic career started at 'grass-roots' level in June 1988, thanks to the then club secretary Pat Connelly.

I was proud to be invited back to cover the May event last weekend for the Club, for the next race report to appear in the edition of Karting Magazine due out on 8 July 2009, to celebrate the 50th anniversary event.

The weather was amazing with beautiful blue skies and warm sunshine, not to mention some exceptionally good racing. Pictured is young Alfie Brown in Comer Cadet, who took a fine victory in the final of his class.

The opening round of the 2009 BARC Formula Renault Championship takes place this Saturday at Oulton Park in Cheshire, where former karting champion David Sutton will be making his single-seater race debut.

Sadly owing to other commitments over the weekend we will not be able to watch David in action, although we are at the team base last night to take a series of photographs before they left for the track. Another important part for us though is the fact that David's newly liveried TeamAvago.co.uk racer will be carrying 'Hayden-Media' logo's on the cockpit side and nose section of the car this year.

We will be giving our close support to David throughout 2009 as he bids for this prestigious single-seater title in his maiden year.

His progress can be followed at http://www.davidsutton.info/ where we will be replacing his current site for a newly updated version in the coming weeks.

Warden Law - Star Cup (May '09)

Round 4 of the Sodi W Series survived the weekend monsoons, with a few hours on Sunday morning remaining dry.

The entry list was down to 17, quite a few less than in April, which the race official reckoned was down to the 'wusses' expecting rain!

'My' driver James though, with the new 'Karting Magazine' race-suit, was in fine form, again taking grid 5 for the final, after being let down by one poor kart draw in one of the three heats, but delivering a superb final dice with three of his closest rivals, Simon Levers, Marino Pili, and Dylan Atkinson. Less than 1 second separated the four of them at the chequered flag, in what was described as one of the best, cleanest, and sportsmanlike fight for position seen at the track.

And the images from the event were good too, so all in all it was a good day for 'Team Hayden' and Karting Magazine.

Anthony Davidson - Formula 1 driver

In an exclusive test for Tal-ko, using three different TKM karts, I arranged for F1 driver Anthony Davidson to return to his roots for an article due out in the July edition of Karting Magazine.

Anthony, which is often abbreviated to Ant, had last tested at PF International near Newark way back in January 1996, before he started his European karting campaign with Terry Fullerton, which culminated in him signing with the BAR-Honda F1 team on his way to Grand Prix stardom.

For how Ant got on you will need to get hold of a copy of Karting Magazine (July edition), which is due out on the second Wednesday in June, but needless to say he had a superb day, spoilt only slightly by the truly appalling weather until mid-afternoon when a brief, dry weather window was found.

TKM boss Alan Turney said it all after the test when he commented: "Isn't he a wonderful guy - so easy to work with and talk to, with no airs and graces..."

That's our Ant, a bloke who should be back full-time in Formula 1 with Brawn GP..!

Ready for the next round

The new Karting Magazine race-suit from MiR arrived this week, but with yours truly being out of racing action, the race-suit's new debut will be down to James, as he returns from Eqypt on Sunday morning, ready for round 4 of the Sodi World Series on 17 May 2009, at Warden Law near Sunderland.

The bright red and silver race-suit should make for a colourful set of pics from the event, and with James borrowing my Jon Lancaster Alpinestar gloves (which he wore when he finished as Vice-World Kart Champion three years ago) to match the suit, could a win be on the cards for James..? After that unjust penalty last time out he is determined to make a suitable amendment to his points total..!