MSA - Round One - Shenington.
Entering its 28th season of competition in 2010 Britain's Super One Championship continued its renaissance that began when John Hoyle took the helm at the start of 2009 with what has to be considered one of its best media and sponsorship packages yet.
New title sponsor Stingray RV jumped aboard to cover all three S1 divisions, MSA, Rotax and TKM while Alan Taddei's PSC Productions Company promised its most extensive TV package to date on satellite channel Motors TV.
With former S1 Champion and 2009 Formula One World Champion Jenson Button starting 2010 in style by presenting the 2009 awards to much fanfare in January Hoyle and his team, which included several ex Formula Kart Stars personnel including new championship race director Nigel Edwards, had good reason to be buoyant ahead of the season. Although the entire S1 umbrella attracted more than 400 entries across its three divisions these were not equally spread leading to several disappointing class sizes.
The MSA arm of the championship for Cadet Comer, KF3, KF2 and Super KF (formerly KF1) started its season at a wintery Shenington circuit near Banbury in mid March. Right in the centre of Britain's motorsports hub Shenington has been a mainstay on the S1 calendar since its inaugural season in 1983 and while the grid for the British Junior Karting Championship undoubtedly contained the strongest KF3 grid anywhere in the UK, less than a dozen contenders lined up in Super KF, which was most disappointing since the drivers will be competing for the honour of being the British Senior Karting Champion, the most prestigious domestic karting title in the UK.
As usual a high quality Cadet field found themselves perfectly suited to Shenington's long fast straights and it was the RL Race Team Tonykart driver Max Vaughan who won both finals, beating Tom Harvey by fractions on each occasion. In the second final Harvey led until the final corner when Vaughan spied a gap and dived through to complete the double.
Connor Jupp was third on both occasions with Jordan Gilbertson, fourth in final one, the only driver to finish in the top six in either final who isn't contesting the MSA British Cadet Championship (run by Formula Kart Stars) in 2010.
Since morphing from JICA into KF3 at the start of 2008 the cream of British Junior Karting talent has never disappointed and the 2010nseason looked set to be no different despite reigning Junior Champion Alex Albon deciding to focus on racing in mainland Europe this year.
The two finals were a tale of the two Jake's, Dennis and Dalton and it was Dennis who triumphed on both occasions. The Racing Steps Foundation backed youngster, who ran Albon to the wire in 2009, had his work cut out for him in both finals as Dalton pushed him to the limit but he was able to repel the threat from behind. Sennan Fielding claimed a brace of podium finishes with Ben Barnicoat and Jacob Stilp taking a fourth place finish apiece.
The KF2 class was joined by Danish sensation Jacob Nortoft but even with the addition of the highly rated 16-year old Ricky Flynn Motorsport driver the class could only muster 14 entries. However even with a field packed full of British talent nobody could prevent Nortoft from taking a pair of wins as he proved he was a very quick learner on what was his first visit to Shenington.
After coming from sixth to win the first final Nortoft dominated the second final to win by more than a second over squabbling duo Steven Napier and KF3 graduate Callum Bowyer. Sam Snell and Alex Walker claimed a fourth place finish apiece while Rob Foster and reigning Asia Pacific KF3 Champion Jordan King completed the top five in each final.
Quadruple British champion Mark Litchfield got his 'drive for five' off to a winning start in Super KF against opposition that was meagre in quantity but plentiful in quality. One of the most consistent presences at the pinnacle of British Karting for more than a decade Litchfield took advantage of reigning European KF2 Champion Jordan Chamberlain suffering two DNF's in the finals to beat Freem UK agent Jonathan Walker by eight tenths in final one and one and a half seconds in final two.
James Godbehere claimed third place in both finals but while Elliott Burton edged out Tom Grice in heat one Grice, returning to British shores after spending the past couple of seasons racing mainly in Italy, redressed the balance in the second final.
