LLANDOW Kart Club’s summer championship reached a thrilling climax on the coldest race weekend of the year, with titles being claimed across all classes.

The Bambinos opened the action with both Nathan Browning and McKenzie Douglas returning to pick up from where they left off in October. Both improved on their lap times and duly received their certificates and trophies.

The Cadet Field was split almost equally between Honda and IAME runners and produced some typically close racing. With Shay Keough holding a commanding point’s lead in IAME, the rest had been fighting over second in the standings for some time, and both Max Fenlon and Thomas Nippers spared nothing in their efforts.

Nippers claimed heats two and three after Keough had opened the day on top, but it was Fenlon who came through to claim the final by four-tenths. Nippers edged Keough by a similar amount to end the day second overall, but it wasn’t quite enough to claim the same position in the championship.

Things were a lot closer in the Honda category, with Ferguson brothers Stuart and Oscar doing battle with George Alp-Williams and Austin Maddocks for overall honours.

Although Stuart headed a Ferguson 1-2 in the opening heat, it was all Alp-Williams from then on as he claimed the remaining heats and the final, with Louis Harvey also in the mix.

Again, it wasn’t quite enough as Stuart garnered enough points to ensure that he added the title to his Celtic Challenge crown.

Brother Oscar also finished ahead of Alp-Williams in the final reckoning, with Maddocks, third on the road in the final, ruing dropped scores as he filled fourth spot overall.

With no Comer Cadet runners since August, Shayne Clarke was already champion, heading fellow IAME converts Fenlon and Connor Kearney in the end-of-season table.

Despite entering the final round with a comfortable points advantage, Kristian Prosser was in no mood to cut his rivals any slack and, after seeing closest rival Patrick Hill win heat one, went on to take victory in each of the day’s remaining races.

Hill finished second on the road in the other two heats before Ben Cutler beat him to the line in the final, but still had enough of a points cushion to finish as runner-up overall, ahead of Jack Bligh and Alex Wilkins.

With the Junior Max title already sewn up, Rob Ellis opted to sit out the final event in favour of an early taste of life in the senior category, and Tom Croydon and David Spiller duly took up the cudgels, battling at the front of the field in each of the day’s four races, with Tom Ford finishing third each time.

Despite Croydon’s four wins, however, Spiller prevailed in the battle for second overall, with Ford again the next man up.

Minimax was also bereft of its champion with Riley Phillips absent, and that allowed Ethan Ling to complete a clean sweep of victories.

Jem Hempworth provided some opposition in heat one, and continued to lead the chase throughout, ahead of Jack Fordham, Kieran Clarke and novice Liam Griffiths.

When the points were tallied, however, it was Clarke who had enough to claim third in the final standings.

Things were shared a bit more evenly in Junior TKM, where Alex Rees, Yousuf Ashraf and Ryan Edwards took the heat wins. The final, however, also went Edwards’ way, as he headed Rees across the line by a little over three seconds, with Hugo Holmes edging Ashraf for third.

Edwards’ intermittent appearances meant that he was not in title contention, however, with Rees coming out on top of a season-long battle with Ashraf. Sam Johns claimed third place overall, ahead of Holmes.

Danny Griffiths already had the Senior Honda crown in his pocket before the final round, but appeared intent on celebrating with a clean sweep of wins on the day.

He did not have things all his own way, however, and the warning signs were there in the heats as Cristiano Nardone finished within half a second of the lead each time.

Having made his point, Nardone then came out on top in the final by a similarly-scant couple of tenths, as his weekend haul - plus the dropped scores rule - proved enough to push out-going champion Paul Saunders down into third overall.

The closely-fought Senior Rotax class opened with three different heat winners in the shape of Gareth Taylor, Zach Jones and Morgan Rose, setting up an interesting finale with the title in the balance.

Rose, who only joined the class in October, wasn’t a threat for overall honours, but that didn’t stop him claiming another win in the main event, while Jones headed Taylor in the scrap for second.

Taylor’s points, however, were enough to confirm him as 2014 champion, with main rival Dilip Singh failing to finish the final. Sebastian Hutchinson was a slightly distant third overall.

TKM Extreme made a rare appearance in South Wales, bolstering the Rotax field as Nicholas Rees and Edward Gamble shared the heat wins. Rees was back on top in the final – on paper at least – as he and Gamble were credited with exactly the same race time! Pat Millman, meanwhile, kept a watching brief.

With the main championship now in the rear view mirror, the 2014 season will close with the annual Celtic Challenge on Sunday, December 7.

Craig Llewellyn

Results:

CADET HONDA

1. George Alp-Williams (Project One)

2. Louis Harvey (Shark)

3. Austin Maddocks (Project One)

CHAMPION: Stuart Ferguson (Project One)

CADET IAME

1. Max Fenlon (RK/Birel)

2. Thomas Nippers (Zip)

3. Shay Keough (Zip)

CHAMPION: Shay Keough (Zip)

JUNIOR HONDA

1. Kristian Prosser (7Kart)

2. Ben Cutler (7Kart)

3. Patrick Hill (Wright)

CHAMPION: Kristian Prosser (7Kart)

JUNIOR TKM

1. Ryan Edwards (Tonykart)

2. Alex Rees (Jade)

3. Hugo Holmes (Tonykart)

CHAMPION: Alex Rees (Jade)

JUNIOR ROTAX

1. Tom Croydon (Gillard)

2. David Spiller (Alonso)

3. Tom Ford

CHAMPION: Rob Ellis (Kosmic)

MINI MAX

1. Ethan Ling (CRG)

2. Jem Hempworth (CRG)

3. Jack Fordham (Kosmic)

CHAMPION: Riley Phillips (Kosmic)

SENIOR HONDA

1. Cristiano Nardone (7Kart)

2. Danny Griffiths (MS)

3. Paul Saunders (7Kart)

CHAMPION: Danny Griffiths (MS)

SENIOR ROTAX

1. Morgan Rose (Tonykart)

2. Zach Jones (CRG)

3. Gareth Taylor (CRG)

CHAMPION: Gareth Taylor (CRG)

TKM Extreme

1. Nicholas Rees (Tonykart)

2. Edward Gamble (Tonykart)

3. Pat Millman (Jade)

Best Novice: Morgan Cole (Cadet Honda)

Driver of the Day: Thomas Nippers (Cadet IAME)