The final round of the 2016 RHPK Championship and what a ride it’s been so far. Teams were looking to secure their place in the standings and most were looking to take vital points off of their rivals.

In Super, JRH Racing & ITS Racing were level on points, Focus Racing & Team JAM were both in striking distance. In Clubman, Polish Lambo, Team CET, Silverline Racing, KA Racing & NMA Racing were all separated by just 5 points!

This month we were joined by a number of new teams. The very successful Titan Motorsport who race at EPS, RPM Racing were in force with two karts headed up by RPM main man Roger Pitchford and March Racing joined their first race with RHPK as a practice for the 2017 Season.

With a number of new teams and a couple of regulars back – Artifex & ITS Racing the grid looked very promising for the last round of the season. In the week leading up to the race, It was confirmed on the day that we would have an incredible 31 karts on the grid. A big thank you to everyone who entered – a record in November for RHPK.

This months pace car was provided by Helicopter Services front man, Leon Smith. Leon races in the Midget Grand Prix Club, more information at gpmidgets.co.uk

What Are Midgets? Don’t be fooled by the word Midget because there is nothing inferior about these racers. The cars are single seaters using independent wishbone suspension, racing tyres and highly tuned engines to a capacity of 1427cc. Cars may be either front or rear engine, but the overall length of the car is restricted to just 130″, the wheelbase to 82″ and the track width to 66″ – hence the name Midget.

Leon attempted to put a couple of laps of the water logged Ryehouse track before the start of the race. His car, which is setup for left handed ovals proved to be a handful  with its very limited turning circle resulting in some off track action!

Qualifying

Due to the early race start this month Qualifying got underway at 11:30 on a very wet track. The wet conditions looked to stay with us all day.

It was Custom Rods who put in the pole position time of 50.543 towards the end of the session. Just a tenth behind was the mighty quick RPM Racing 1 and rounding up the top three in Super was the second RPM Racing 2 team with a laptime of 50.819.

2016 Season winners Helicopter Services settled for 6th place on the grid. New comers Titan Motorsport were on the second row of the grid in 4th. A very strong performance from Kiss my Hasse racing in 8th place.

In Clubman it was the 2016 Clubman winners Team Amigos on the top spot with a laptime of 51.689, mixing it with the Supers! (7th overall) The reformed Team Eyrie Also who have really stepped up their pace towards the end of the season takes 2nd with a lap time of 52.016. Third on the clubman grid was newcomers, March Racing! A fantastic result for them in their first qualifying session!

Clubman wet weather pros, Silverline Racing just missed out on 3rd with a time of 52.682.

This month the three Tom’s from Team Karting Magazine qualified a very respectable 10th place. The team getting the kart setup for the wet weather this month.

Race

 

As the green flag dropped 31 karts poured into Stadium, After Stadium RPM 1 & 2 Emerged 1st and second closely hounded by Custom Rods, Titan and ABA Racing. RHPK 2016 Championship winners, Helicopter Services had a coming together with Kiss My Hasse at Pylon which put them down to 14th place by the first lap.

After lap one, Clubman Championship Winners, Amigos are leading clubman and in the thick of Super plates with being 8th overall! March Racing in their first race were 2nd in clubman, mighty impressive considering this is the guys first race in RHPK. Biggest mover on lap one is Burton Power Racing taking 6 places on the first lap!

At the front RPM Racing 2 start pulling out a lead – Austin Munday clearly over a second quicker during the few laps of the race. Lap 8, Custom Rods  in 3rd have to avoid a collision by going off track ABA and Titan Motorsport make the most of this taking both Custom Rods and RPM Racing 1.

Lap 22, disaster strikes for ABA Racing who suffer engine problems due to the water logged track. Such a shame for the team who were running 2nd and shown so much pace in the early laps of the race. Lap 30 and Custom Rods take Titan Motorsport for 3rd place in a fantastic scrap! 5 laps later Titan would take it back.

By lap 60, Silverline Racing are on a charge from their Class 4th place on the grid, they are currently placed 2nd but a very quick Team Eyrie Also are less than a second behind. By lap 67 they take Silverline for Clubman 2nd and start to pull a gap.

Team Karting Magazine were looking strong as the race progressed, moving up to 8th – however disaster struck for the team as the front left stubaxle sheared off meaning a unscheduled pit stop to replace the sub axle, losing them over 15 minutes dropping them down to 26th place. They drove hard to bring the kart home in 19th.

A significantly improved wet setup from the team this round thanks to the work the team have put in with Biz Karts.

 

In the 15 minutes of the race it was clear that ITS Racing were catching JRH Racing, both teams were on the same points going into this round – whoever finished in front would take 4th place in the Championship! As the clock displayed 10 minutes left, just 6 seconds separated both teams. It was going to be close but no one had idea how close it would be until the last lap where the team were ITS was on the bumper of JRH’s kart! JRH blocked and drove a tight line into Pylon and remained tight for the last corner where ITS tried to make a move but ran out of room – In true sportsmanship, ITS Racing‘s Mark Palmer gave the place back and finished less than 0.02 seconds behind settling for 5th in the Championship.

As the chequered flag dropped it was a RPM Racing 1 & 2 first and second – a real tribute to the drivers who drove a flawless race in some very tricky conditions. Titan Motorsport took the 3rd spot on the grid after a very strong drive from them in their first race of RHPK.

Missing from the top 5 was Custom Rods who had an engine go down on them in the last hour of the race forcing them to retire. Team Lambo were back on form this round by taking the last spot on the podium with a 5th place.

In Clubman, Team Amigos took the top spot and 6th overall – a true indication of their Super pace for the 2017 Season! JAB Racing took second place and Silverline Racing take a fantastic 3rd spot on the podium, showing the Clubman grid they are not to be messed with in the wet weather!

A notable mention goes to Pelam Racing who took 5th place and the last spot on the podium – a superb result for the team to finish of the season.

 

Round 9 - November 2016 Qualifying

Pos	Kart	Team	Laps	Best	On	MPH
1	2	Custom Rods (SP)	23	50.543	22	42.047
2	25	RPM Racing 1 (SP)	7	50.556	7	42.036
3	26	RPM Racing 2 (SP)	6	50.819	2	41.819
4	24	Titan Motorsport (SP)	26	50.975	26	41.691
5	10	ABA Racing (SP)	24	51.302	22	41.425
6	6	Helicopter Services (SP)	22	51.61	20	41.178
7	32	Amigos (C)	21	51.689	17	41.115
8	21	KMH (SP)	28	51.737	16	41.077
9	5	Lambo Racing (SP)	13	51.761	12	41.058
10	17	Karting Magazine (SP)	18	51.78	18	41.043
11	12	Team JAM (SP)	24	51.823	24	41.009
12	4	JRH Racing (SP)	22	51.873	21	40.969
13	54	Team Eyrie Also (C)	21	52.016	18	40.856
14	18	Team Wraith (SP)	28	52.057	12	40.824
15	7	Focus Racing (SP)	13	52.206	11	40.708
16	60	March Racing (C)	28	52.376	25	40.576
17	35	Silverline Racing (C)	8	52.682	7	40.34
18	9	ITS Racing 1 (SP)	25	52.915	25	40.162
19	33	JAB Racing (C)	24	53.108	13	40.016
20	49	Burton Power Racing (C)	29	53.143	22	39.99
21	19	HRS Racing 2 (SP)	14	53.613	14	39.639
22	45	Artifex Racing (C)	14	53.808	13	39.496
23	37	NMA Racing (C)	21	54.115	18	39.272
24	51	Polish Lambo (C)	14	54.437	9	39.039
25	40	Pelam Racing (C)	8	54.51	6	38.987
26	31	KA Racing (C)	18	54.514	11	38.984
27	36	BMH (C)	2	55.066	2	38.593
28	38	Neptune Motorsport (C)	17	55.959	16	37.978
29	61	M&H (SP)	18	55.998	7	37.951
30	34	Team CET (C)	3	56.488	3	37.622

Round 9 - November 2016 Race

Pos	Kart	Team	Class	Laps	Behind	Best
1	25	RPM Racing 1	Super	283		48.786
2	26	RPM Racing 2	Super	281	2 Laps	49.977
3	24	Titan Motorsport	Super	280	3 Laps	49.692
4	6	Helicopter Services	Super	277	6 Laps	50.332
5	5	Lambo Racing	Super	276	7 Laps	50.121
6	32	Amigos	Clubman	273	10 Laps	50.273
7	4	JRH Racing	Super	272	11 Laps	51.14
8	9	ITS Racing 1	Super	272	11 Laps	51.269
9	7	Focus Racing	Super	272	11 Laps	50.858
10	33	JAB Racing	Clubman	269	14 Laps	51.72
11	35	Silverline Racing	Clubman	268	15 Laps	51.513
12	12	Team JAM	Super	268	15 Laps	50.74
13	19	HRS Racing 2	Super	267	16 Laps	51.52
14	37	NMA Racing	Clubman	266	17 Laps	52.088
15	40	Pelam Racing	Clubman	264	19 Laps	52.458
16	51	Polish Lambo	Clubman	260	23 Laps	52.874
17	49	Burton Power Racing	Clubman	260	23 Laps	52.464
18	36	BMH	Clubman	257	26 Laps	52.585
19	17	Karting Magazine	Super	257	26 Laps	50.914
20	10	ABA Racing	Super	256	27 Laps	50.415
21	45	Artifex Racing	Clubman	256	27 Laps	51.618
22	54	Team Eyrie Also	Clubman	255	28 Laps	51.28
23	31	KA Racing	Clubman	247	36 Laps	52.446
24	61	M&H	Clubman	246	37 Laps	53.54
25	34	Team CET	Clubman	245	38 Laps	53.247
26	18	Team Wraith	Super	244	39 Laps	50.544
27	2	Custom Rods	Super	232	51 Laps	49.972
28	48	ZJ Racing	Clubman	198	85 Laps	54.092
29	38	Neptune Motorsport	Clubman	190	93 Laps	53.503
30	60	March Racing	Clubman	185	98 Laps	51.295
31	21	KMH	Super	99	184 Laps	50.789

 

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