The Motorsport UK Wera Tools British Kart Championships will burst into life for the IAME, TKM and KZ2 classes this weekend (28-30 May) as Shenington Kart Circuit in Oxfordshire plays host to their opening counter of the 2021 season.
The 1018 metre circuit near Banbury, affectionally knowns as `Sheny`, provides the perfect backdrop for the bumper list of over 230 registrations across the seven classes to battle it out for a perfect start to their championship aspirations.
The impressive entry will ensure grids of up to 34 karters taking on famous corners such as Cafe Corner, the Bruno Chicane and the high-speed Hanger Corner. Shenington’ s fast and flowing but narrow layout is famed for its spectacular nose to tail racing, a common sight throughout Britain’s premier karting series.
Two track layouts will be in use over the weekend too. With the impressive KZ2 class using the longer configuration to the second of the Stratford Hairpins, certain to produce exciting, close racing and tense on-track battles.
Sadly, due to ongoing restrictions spectators will not be permitted to attend the circuit but the championship will once again be providing unrivalled all-action live coverage of the weekend. As proved with last weekends opening meeting of the season, the live footage provides the perfect place to catch the ultra-close racing, paddock news, features and updates and will be broadcast on the British Kart Championship’s Facebook page. New for 2021, the popular Motorsport.TV platform will also host the race day action.
The entry lists for this year’s BKC are packed with new names and returning challengers, each one aiming to get their season off the perfect start, with another three rounds in store before the series concludes at PFI in October.
IAME
In IAME Cadet the five and six plates of Zac Drummond (Fusion Motorsport) and Lewis Wherrel (Oliver Rowland Motorsport) look to take home the title this year but will face strong competition from drivers such as Noah Wolfe (Fusion), who arrives of the back of winning the Honda Cadet class just a week ago at Clay Pigeon.
Like all classes across the BKC, the Mini X30 class provides ultra-close racing and Leo Robinson returns with Fusion Motorsport as the top seed this season thanks to Vinnie Philips moving up to Junior X30. Macauley Bishop (PMR Driver Programme), last year’s IAME Cadet champion, moves up to the category and must be seen as a title contender after an impressive show of strong performances.
Junior X30 boasts a grid of 53 entries this year all with their eyes set on top spot. Mick Barrett Racing’s, Bart Harrison returns as the highest seeded driver from last year with the number 3 plate, with Luke Watts (Kato Motorsport) and Sam Shaw (Premium Karting) also returning from last year’s top ten. Consistency will be key for this class as any number of drivers from this packed grid could be finishing as champion this year.
Multiple British champion Danny Kierle heads the grid in Senior X30 for 2021 as the Jade Racing Team squad member looks to take a fourth title in the class at national level. But with a grid of 54 drivers containing an impressive list of race winners such as Clayton Ravenscroft, Thomas Turner and Reggie Duhy, the title battle will be hard-fought. Joining the grid this year is 2019 Senior Rotax British Champion Guy Cunnington, who will almost certainly be one to watch throughout the year.
TKM
Junior TKM sees a wealth of experience return with privateer Alistair Cresswell looking to go one better than last year after securing runner-up spot in the hard-fought 2020 championship. Klaassen Motorsport’s Reece Lomax and privateer Alfie Garford are the other returnees from the top ten of last year and are sure to be in the mix with this quality assembled field for 2021.
The impressive TKM Extreme class once again enjoys a packed grid and will see many returning drivers and champions head for the season opener. Privateer Adam Sparrow will look to retain the top placement for another year but will have intense competition all around. Klassen’s Joe Fowler and privateer James Pashley, TKM Extreme champions of 2018 and 2019 respectively, start another title campaign with the goal of scratching their names on the championship trophy for a second time.
KZ2
Last year’s champion and privateer Joe Charlton looks to retain the number one plate for another year but will be faced with from all but two of last year’s returning top 10 seeds. The KZ2 championship this year welcomes new faces to the class such as Sodi Vitesse’s Bradley Barrett and the 2018 British Rotax Max champion Charlie Turner (Rush Performance), who have both moved into the category from the Rotax Class.
Registrations are still open for the 2021 Wera Tools British Kart Championships, to register, visit: https://kartinguk.alphatiming.co.uk/register/series
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