• FKS Cadet Honda racers serve up fantastic weekend at Ellough Park.• Elliott Harvey and Danny Harrison claim first FKS Challenge titles.
The Cadet Honda class arrived with a four stroke bang at the opening weekend of the 2012 Formula Kart Stars season with two days of racing that was of the highest quality and that trend continued at the second weekend of the year at Ellough Park in Suffolk in front of interested onlookers from MINI Challenge team Lohen Ltd..
With several local hotshots joining the season-long entries for the third and fourth Challenge events, the Cadet Honda racing was once again one of the highlights of the weekend that also saw the host club go to every effort to make the drivers and their teams feel welcome.
Physically demanding with tyre chewing tarmac, Ellough Park gave some of the youngest drivers in the Formula One Management Ltd backed Championship a real workout but all 13 competitors admirably stood up to the test.
Formula Kart Stars Cadet Honda Challenges
Danny Harrison (Chris Rogers Motorsport) was the first of several drivers over the course of the weekend to fall foul of the ‘white line violation’ rule and lost his pole position in Saturday’s timed qualifying session to Keaton Samra (Zip All Stars).
Both Saturday heats were thrillers with the top four finishers in heat one separated by three quarters of a second and the top three in heat two separated by less than three tenths of a second. Elliott Harvey (Next Gen Motorsport) crossed the line first on both occasions, beating Ronan Graves (Forza Motorsport) and double Kimbolton Challenge winner Rory Hudson (Project One) into second and third places on both occasions.
Saturday’s Challenge final was equally exciting with the top nine taking the chequered flag within two seconds of Harvey, who fought tooth and nail with Graves, Hudson, Harrison, Samra and newcomer Sam Fitzpatrick to score his maiden FKS Challenge victory by a kart length from Graves and Hudson.
Graves took pole position for Sunday’s heats but was blighted by a late race puncture in heat one and a five place penalty for contact in heat two. Harvey continued his rich vein of form, winning both races but again he could never relax as Harrison chased him home in heat one and Hudson did the same in heat two, Harvey’s winning margin of four hundredths of a second over Hudson standing as one of the closest of the weekend.
Sunday’s Challenge final saw four drivers, Harvey, Hudson, Harrison and Fitzpatrick, break away from the rest. Fitzpatrick led briefly in the early stages of the 19-lap race and Hudson also nosed ahead on several occasions but every time someone passed Harvey the young Oxfordshire based driver quickly reclaimed the lead and crossed the line half a second ahead of Hudson and Harrison.
However after the race Harvey was given a three place penalty for contact, which promoted Hudson into first place, although his joy was short-lived when he failed scrutineering. This promoted a somewhat surprised Harrison to the top of the podium with Fitzpatrick and Chris Lulham (Ambition Motorsport) completing the podium.
Results
FKS Cadet Honda Challenge 31. Elliott Harvey 2. Ronan Graves3. Rory Hudson4. Sam Fitzpatrick5. Danny Harrison
FKS Cadet Honda Challenge 41. Danny Harrison 2. Sam Fitzpatrick3. Christopher Lulham4. Elliott Harvey5. Ronan Graves
