Round 6 – Rissington – Midland Championships

A very decent grid entered for not only round 6 but also contesting for the Midland Championships and the Roger Powell Memorial shield. It was lovely to have Tom Whyte No.13 join the grid after a few years sabbatical and looking so much better. We were honoured in the pits with a few more familiar faces from the past, Mick Newman, Steve Hurst and Simon Quance. Could our current drivers persuade them to get their equipment out from under the dust sheets to come racing in 2026?? What a day we were about to have!!!

Heat 1 R. Perkins did an excellent job of striking out at the front followed closely by Stone. The front pair had opened up a large gap from Sifleet (now donning his coveted ‘E’ plate) Henry and D. Bury by lap 5. Hopes in 6th had J. Perkins hassling him for most of the race, these two having been up, close and personal all year.
R. Perkins 1st, Stone in 2nd, achieved fastest lap of the day, Sifleet 3rd, Henry 4th who kept D. Bury in 5th at bay throughout the race, Hopes 6th only just pipping J. Perkins to the post. To spectators delight J.Perkins with throttle stuck open continued straight onto the grass at
the end of the Start Straight.

Heat 2. It was Hopes that led the field on a very wet track followed by R. Perkins, Fowler, Stone and Henry. With all the field tightly bunched together Henry spun just after sector 1 Skull had nowhere to go and hit him hard sidelining them both.
Lap 2 under the Battenberg flag saw J. Perkins exit the wet track after the back straight into the long grass, without help followed by Hutton a lap later !!!
Lap 3 and out came the green flag. R. Perkins saw his opportunity and passed Hopes followed by D. Bury, and Sifleet. On the next lap a 3 way battle ensued between Stone now in 4
th, Hopes and Fowler.
As the flag fell on an eventful race R. Perkins won with two seconds to spare from D. Bury 2nd, Sifleet 3rd, Stone 4th, Hopes 5th, Fowler 6th.

Heat 3 Henry was missing from the grid as the damage to his kart from heat 2 was too extensive to race. However with all the drivers and agreement from the C of C he was given permission to use his Father in laws kart and the hard work began transferring the engine etc over to get out for the final. Sifleet got away well on a damp track followed by Stone but lap 2 saw Perkins grab the spot and by lap 4 was giving Sifleet some serious grief. D. Bury was up there with them in 3rd. Sifleet held onto his first place for a victory. Meanwhile Fowler was causing some hilarity with the spectators as he went off on many occasions but give him his due our Septuagenarian always gets going again. Just as lap 4 began a lightning strike took out the internet and therefore Alpha timing went down so only 3 laps were recorded. It took awhile to sort with a brief drivers meeting to ascertain who came where and of course in true 210 spirit we had 20 winners!!!!! 1st Sifleet, 2nd R. Perkins, 3rd D.Bury, 4th Hopes, 5th Stone, 6th O. Shelley.

Final The final race of the day wouldn’t escape any drama either. The track was considered still damp in places. The front row was hosted by R. Perkins on pole Sifleet and Stone. Sifleet made the best start, R. Perkins, D. Bury, Stone, Hopes and Smith (who’d had a great day to claim 7th grid spot) were the top 5 to follow through. As the front runners rounded the corner by Parc Ferme the 4 karts of Sloane, Hancock, Skull and B. Shelley were seen to be facing in all directions bar the direction they actually needed. Sloane did manage to get going but with damage pulled off 2 laps later. Lap 3 saw Stone pass D. Bury at the end of the Start Straight. Stone was on a mission and the following lap he passed R. Perkins at the end of the Back Straight to claim 2nd position. By now Sifleet was ahead of the field by the length of the Start Straight, Hopes, J. Perkins, Smith and Henry were in formation until Henry in 8th passed both J. Perkins and Smith on lap 4. R. Perkins in 3rd didn’t seem to be performing as we are used to seeing and had developed a misfire. He spent the rest of the race waggling (apparently a technical term according to his mechanic!!) trying to put off any advances from those behind. On lap 8 D. Bury was past R. Perkins to claim 3rd. Henry followed by J. Perkins had passed Hopes to claim 5th & 6th.
After 12 laps Sifleet romped home having commanded the whole race to become 2025 Midland Champion and to hold the Roger Powell memorial Shield once again. 2nd Stone, 3rd D. Bury, 4th R. Perkins, 5th Henry, 6th J. Perkins and first novice home, Hopes 7th, Smith 8th, O. Shelley 9th with Whyte completing the top 10.