KARTING: Metheringham team drivers secure top three places in English Superkart Championship

Saturday was the final round of the English Championship and Sunday the King of Cadwell (a non-championship event). The team had seven drivers in action for the English championship: Jack Layton, Tom Hatfield, Mark Gellatly, Adam Edgecombe, Stu Haywood, Mark Newton and Andrew Johnson, and five entered for the King of Cadwell: Hatfield, Gellatly, Haywood, Newton and Johnson.

Heavy rain set in early Saturday morning and continued throughout the day. The drivers took to the track for qualifying with Layton setting the early pace. But Hatfield put in a stunning lap towards the end of the session to snatch pole with Layton third, Gellatly fourth, Edgecombe seventh, Johnson eighth, Mark Newton ninth and Stuart Haywood 20th.

As race one got underway, pole man Hatfield took the lead with Layton shortly behind. But unable to make a pass and knowing second place would win him the championship, he sat comfortably behind to take both second place and the English Championship. Edgecombe was third, Johnson was the top Honda in sixth, Haywood seventh and Newton in ninth.

Hatfield took his second win of the day in race two, ahead of Layton, with Gellatly third. Edgecombe finished ninth to secure third in the championship behind Layton and Hatfield to complete a Parker Motorsport ‘lock-out’ in the English Championship.

Day two’s race one got underway and once again it was pole sitter Hatfield throwing down the gauntlet. A great start saw him take the lead, but Gellatly was close behind. Hatfield however, drove a faultless race yielding nothing, and passed the Division One Superkart to not only take the class win, but the overall win on track.

Race two was the King of Cadwell final and again it was Tom Hatfield who broke away to become embroiled in a tense battle with the Division One Superkart. Although in different classes, they put on a fantastic display for the crowd.

Gellatly, still feeling ill, drove fantastically in second place, managing to gap the other competitors, but a faulty ignition caused Newton to retire in the early laps. It was however Hatfield’s weekend as he finished first in class again, just missing out on the overall win. Gellatly came home in second place and Haywood came home to win the Honda class, but more impressively finish fourth in the 250 class with Johnson seventh.

This gave the team King of Cadwell award in two classes with Hatfield taking the 250cc Evo award and Haywood taking the 250cc Honda Cup award.

Team spokesman Stuart Parker said: “What a fantastic weekend we had at Cadwell, winning the English Championship and two King of Cadwell titles. We would like to thank all the drivers and mechanics for all their efforts, but more importantly all of the sponsors and supporters including Parker Motorsport, KPPMS, The Dyno Centre, ICS, Slipstream UK, Absolute 360, Tengtools, Steve Addison Photography, EIS, NGK, Orion Tools and Moulding, Anderson Karts, DEA, Dunlop, Spaldings.”