Karting Championship: 1st Round
The town of Livingston is famous for many things. It’s a motorway junction on the M8, it’s twinned with possibly the funniest word in German, and every year it plays host to the opening battle of one of the most captivating sporting championships at Edinburgh University.
The opening round of the third Edinburgh University Motor Sports Club Karting Championship took place on 20th September at the Racing Karts venue in Livingston and, as always, proved to be a spectacular night of racing. The evening overall was won in impressive style by newcomer Yati Durant who triumphed in every race he started, a feat unheard of in recent EUMSC karting history. His stunning performance was in stark contrast to that of the reigning champion, Calum Hughes, who struggled to maintain his winning form throughout the course of the evening in the face of new competition.
The night started well for Hughes however, who raced to a flawless win from pole and set the fastest lap time in the opening heat of the round. That was to be one of two race wins of the evening for him as he spent the reminder of his race night fighting at the back of the field.
The early heats of the night were dominated by the karting veterans with Adam Corlett and Richard Crozier holding a firm grip on their respective races and taking three wins each and the fastest of lap of the entire evening, a superb 20.60 seconds, being taken by Crozier in the ninth heat. Second year karters Kirsten Dallas and Finn Moore took one race win apiece in the opening heats.
It was in heat four that Durant first revealed his spectacular race pace to the rest of the drivers, by charging through the field from fourth to take the win from unexpecting pole starter Sean Gibson who just couldn’t hold off the rapid attack. Durant would go on to win all of the seven races he started in, even when sat next to the experienced racers of the night.
Behind Durant the best of the rest of the karting Freshers was Ross Hughes, younger brother of two-times champion Calum, who pulled off a string of top three finishes in the heats including a win, a string broken only by a sixth place finish in the last of his evening’s heats. Freshers Max Warring and Marcus Murray managed to clinch a very close win each in the final heats of the night, with Murray taking his by only 0.05 seconds from the faster Andrew Clarkson who was unable to get past before the chequered flag fell.
The semi-finals of the evening saw a mix of Freshers and long-time karters shine in their races. Durant took another race win from a starting grid that couldn’t find a response to his blistering pace. Even seasoned racer Clarkson, despite a tremendous improvement in performance compared with his last season, had nothing more to give against Durant’s dominance.
The remaining semi-finals were won by experienced racers Crozier, Josh Knight and the older of the Hughes Brothers who finally had some luck after an evening of poor racing; but Freshers Nick Smith and Ross Hughes impressed by holding their own against the veteran drivers of the grid.
The first round of EUMSC Karting Championship has traditionally been tailored towards maximum enjoyment for the years Freshers and this round was no exception with two finals being held: one for the nights best Freshers and one for the returning club members. This didn’t mean there would be double standards in the racing though, both finals were full of action and closely contested.
The Fresher’s final was won by the ever dominant Durant but there was action aplenty further down the field as Smith, Murray and Jordan Kerr fought hard for 3rd, 4th and 5th place and eventually finished in that order, setting lap times to rival those of the second final’s participants.
The senior final played host to some superb racing and was an excellent showcase for the talents of the seasoned EUMSC drivers. Crozier had to fight hard to stave off a determined challenge to his pole position from Clarkson and Corlett, but in the end the scrapping of the second and third placed men allowed Crozier to pull out a comfortable lead in the fifteen lap race. By the time of the last lap Clarkson had drifted to 7 seconds behind the winner, with Corlett, Dallas, Nick Roberts and Josh knight following closely behind.
The weighting of the evening’s results in favour of the competing Freshers leaves the mind-blowing Yati Durant at the top of the championship table after an infallible night of racing, with the remaining finishers of the Fresher’s final following closely behind. The ease with which the newcomers were able to take the fight to the veterans demonstrates the accessibility of karting to people of all levels of talent. If this round is anything to go by, the remainder of the championship looks set to be as thrilling as last year’s down-to-the-wire title fight.
