Karts back on track at Boyndie Drome as 2023 season gets under way
Kart racing returned to the Boyndie Drome circuit at the weekend for the first race meeting of the 2023 season.
Grampian Kart Club had to cancel its March round due to snow covering the track.
All the 2023 meetings will be run under MSUK Clubman except the Super Series in June which will be an MSUK Interclub meeting.
The feature trophies in the opening round were the Dickie Bent Cup voted by the marshals, Cadet Cup and the Kildonan Shield.
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16 / 16In the Prokart Light section Daniel McRae took a comfortable victory on his first outing of the season.
Matthew Payne had a clean drive for second. Daniels Roberts and Sean Kelman swapped places in the final few laps with Roberts taking third.
Kelman was fourth by a tenth down. Fifth was Josh Stewart and Liam Stephen was sixth.
In the Prokart Heavy category Josh Orr won a lights to flag victory. Martin Stephen and Roger Broughton swapped places for second several times.
Scott Robert Bruce climbed to second but dropped back. Stephen took the second podium spot with Broughton third.
Elvis Sinuks was fourth and Bruce was fifth. Sean Duncan and Peter Morrison completed the grid.
In the Bambinos final Munroe Stephen and Louis MacDonald were close throughout.
A touch between the two resulted in a five-second penalty handing a victory to MacDonald. Jordan Broughton took third.
In the Honda Cadets sitting on pole was Thomas Jackson who led away and was never headed taking the chequered flag by six seconds.
Jacob Jack, Darren Bain, Vinnie Lewis, Finlay Smith and William Alexander took up the chase.
Lewis and Smith touched to Lewis’s advantage and Smith got the place back. Smith later spun at the top of the circuit.
Jack held on to take second from Lewis, Bain and the recovering Smith. Alexender locked up and went straight on at the end of Boyndie Straight.
Theo Ingram was sixth and collected the class novice trophy. The top 10 were completed by Luca Bicocchi, Alexander and Hamish Gordon.
In the Micro Max section from pole position Lewis Kirkaldy took the lead and was never headed taking an eight-second win at the chequered flag.
Sophie Ingram slotted into second ahead of Cooper Earsman and David Hiorns. The trio remained close throughout the 12-lap final.
Ingram took second but there was a last chance when Hiorns made a dive to the line to take third by four hundreds over Earsman.
With a new class at Boyndie a new lap record of 43.787 seconds was set by Lewis Kirkaldy.
In the Junior Max category after false starts a red flag was called and the clerk of the course spoke to all the drivers.
At the start pole-man Alex Hallcut took the lead and was never headed taking the victory.
Eilhli Smith had an engine problem and dropped down the order. Aiden MacDonald and John James Buchan exchanged places several times for second which was resolved in favour of MacDonald.
Several driving standard and bumper time penalties were issued which changed the order of drivers as they crossed the line.
Therefore Smith was fourth ahead of Mark Paterson, Duncan Ingram, Bella Brown, Leo Massie, Jude Fraser and Darci Morrison completing the top 10.
In the Senior Max 162kg /177kg final Jonathan Edwards took a comfortable lights to flag victory.
Craig Coutts was second throughout the final. Owen Cruickshank and Chris Waddell had a competitive battle which came out in favour of the former.
In the KZ gearbox class Jack Simpson lead. Gary Williams drifted wide onto the grass at Seafield and retired.
Robert Strachan took the lead on the second lap which he retained to the chequered flag. Simpson took second.
Results
Prokarts (Lights): 1 Daniel MacRae (Elgin); 2 Matthew Payne (Westhill); 3 Daniel Roberts (Pitmedden).
Prokarts (Heavy): 1 Josh Orr (Inverurie); 2 Martin Stephen (Peterhead); 3 Roger Broughton (Thurso).
Bambinos: 1 Louis MacDonald (Fyvie); 2 Munroe Stephen (Peterhead); 3 Jordan Broughton (Thurso).
Honda Cadets: 1 Thomas Jackson (Fife); 2 Jacob Jack (Kirkcaldy); 3 Vinnie Lewis (Westhill). Novice - Theo Ingram (Peterhead)
Micro Max: 1 Lewis Kirkaldy (St Andrews); 2 Sophie Ingram (Banff); 3 David Hiorns (Tillicoultry). Novice - Lewis Kirkaldy (St Andrews).
Junior Max: 1 Alex Hawcutt (Portlethen); 2 Aiden MacDonald (Fyvie); 3 John James Buchan (St Fergus). Novice - Jude Fraser (Inverness)
Senior Max 162 kg: 1 Jonathan Edwards (Cornhill); 2 Craig Coutts (Fraserburgh); 3 Owen Cruickshank (Peterhead). Novice - Craig Coutts (Fraserburgh).
Senior Max 177 kg: 1 Chris Waddell (Falkirk)
KZ2 UK (Gearbox): 1 Robert Strachan (Turriff); 2 Jack Simpson (Fraserburgh); 3 Gary Williams (Ellon).
Dickie Bent Cup – Robert Strachan (Turriff).
Cadet Cup – Thomas Jackson (Fife).
The trophies were presented in the clubhouse after the meeting by club secretary Hamish Bruce.
The next racing at Boyndie will be the forces meeting on Saturday, April 22.
The second round of Grampian Kart Club Championships will be on Sunday, May 14.