Matthew Bell (Morpeth) held on to his lead of the ICA Championship after rounds seven and eight of Renault-backed B4 Group/MSA British Karting Championships at Larkhall yesterday.

Thanks to his earlier domination of the series, winning the first four races on the trot, a third and a sixth place finish in the two finals were enough for Bell to protect his lead by a comfortable margin.

During a weekend when the top British karting drivers faced bombardment from the weather as well as the usual close competition from each other, two typically hectic ICA races produced results that have closed up the middle ranks of the championship table.

An eventful first final had three different leaders: Daniel Rowbottom (Kidderminster) for the first six laps; then Adam Batch (E Yorks), and finally David Batch (North Ferriby, E Yorks) who comfortably led Danny Cruttenden home for the final 12 laps. Cruttenden (Wilmington, Kent) rose from ninth on the grid to take second place. A disappointing heat left Matthew Bell sixth on the grid for the first final, although he recovered to a podium finish.

The South Lanarkshire circuit was hit by high temperatures on Saturday, followed by heavy rain storms on Sunday morning, but by the Sunday afternoon finals karters in the Group 4/MSA Karting Championships took to the track on slick tyres.

In the second final David Batch led for seven laps before slipping down to fourth place. Danny Cruttenden, meanwhile, improved on his earlier final result, to win his second race of the year and consolidate his place as number two in the championship.

Alongside him on the rostrum were two karters making their first appearance on the ICA podium this year. Third placed Marc Wood (Oxfordshire) charged hard from ninth on the grid, reaching second place by lap 10, but was re-passed by Tom Armour (Hornchurch) a lap later.

Formula ICA action continues when the Renault-backed B4 Group/MSA British Karting Championship goes to Rowrah in Cumbria, on 30th/31st July.

ICA Provisional Driver Standings:

1st Matthew Bell 382 pts; 2nd Danny Cruttenden 340pts; 3rd Daniel Rowbottom 326pts;

4th Tom Brown 306pts; 5th Jonathan Walker 303pts; 6th Richard Kent 302pts.

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