JUNIOR KARTMSA BRITISH JUNIOR KART CHAMPIONSHIP

The MSA permitted experienced 12-year-olds into the Junior Intercontinental A (JICA) class for the first time in 2005, and this provided a huge boost in entries. One of the youngest drivers, Oliver Rowland, was in the hunt for the title all the way and just missed out at the end. He had won the Super One Cadet title and came third in the British Cadet championship in 2004.

But it was the slightly more experienced Will Stevens, with a year of junior racing under his belt, who prevailed. He got off to a great start with two wins at the first meeting, whilst Rowland had to fight back after a spin. Rowland took his first win at the next round, Stevens on the back foot this time.

A new winner appeared at the third round, Clay Pigeon in Dorset, in the shape of Scott Jenkins, who mixes this with an extensive European campaign.  Stevens bounced back in Scotland with a double victory. He and Rowland shared the victories at the penultimate round, despite Stevens having to come back from a thrown chain in timed qualifying. After the early jostling for position in the first final at Shenington, Stevens’ lead was cut by Nigel Moore’s victory, but Stevens’ second was enough to clinch the title without him racing again. Rowland’s challenge was thwarted by an ailing engine, although he managed to hang onto fourth. Bradley and Jenkins tangled out of the lead in the second final then, with a replacement engine, Rowland caught and passed Moore to win. Matt Truelove stormed up from 11th on the grid for third place, and seventh in the series.

CHAMPIONSHIP:1. Will Stevens 476pts2. Oliver Rowland 474pts3. Scott Jenkins 461pts4. Ollie Millroy 444pts5. Lee Bell 419pts6. Ben Cooper 399pts7. Matt Truelove 391pts8. Nigel Moore 389pts

2005 British Junior Kart Champion Will Stevens:“This title was my main objective this year and havingachieved that we now need to focus on some of theautumn races in Europe we have planned beforeannouncing our programme for 2006.”

Championship Co-ordinator Sonja Game:“I am looking forward to seeing some of the JICAdrivers move up to Formula A for 2006 and giving aboost to that class.”

CADET KARTMSA BRITISH CADET KART CHAMPIONSHIP

The MSA British Cadet Championship was a fought out over seven rounds. The season started at Rowrah in Cumbria, where it looked like James Godbehere was the man to watch after a particularly convincing win over Chris Warburton and Mackenzie Taylor.

However, coming in ninth and setting the fastest lap of the race was Sam Jenkins, who in just his second season of Championship cadets, had thrown down the challenge. Over the course of the next five rounds Jenkins was to produce fastest lap of the day twice more and gradually moved up the placings until at Round 3 he was to pull it all together in particularly bad conditions at Larkhall in Scotland to take his first-ever major championship win and by doing so moved to the top of the placings. This win was particularly good for the Jenkins family as older brother Scott had won the JICA race.

For the remaining rounds Sam was always on the podium. We are now looking forward to seeing him receiving his BritishChampionship trophy at the Autosport Awards in December. This will be very special as we believe that at ten years old, Sam is the youngest champion ever. Only a handful of points separated the next places of Mackenzie Taylor, Nick Cristofaro and Warburton.

CHAMPIONSHIP:1. Sam Jenkins 959pts2. Mackenzie Taylor 917pts3. Nicholas Cristofaro901pts4. Chris Warburton 881pts5. Ben Palmer 855pts6. Shaun Pirie 848pts7. Ashley Jones 825pts8. Spencer Barrow 775pts

Championship Co-ordinator Carolynn Hoy:“We have had a very successful season, with closebut fair racing and the ‘double header’ format that weexperimented with on one weekend was enjoyed byall and it will feature again next season. We will alsobe taking the Championship overseas for a round atGenk and this has caused a great deal of excitement.For the past three years our entry numbers haveincreased and I am anticipating that in 2006 numberswill again increase.”