Mallory Park - April 08

The first round for the 125 Open British Long Circuit Championship was held at Malloy park on the 13th of April. The weather was bright but chilly in the morning and when the Karts hit the track for qualifying it was Paul Platt who topped the time sheets ahead of Louise Collin and Damien Sleep. Alex von Ehrheim was next, ahead of Jason Kitchen who returns to the series from the Isle of Man.

As race 1 got underway the lead group consisted of Platt, Sleep, von Ehrheim and a very quick starting James Irvine, who had started some rows back on the grid. Going into the fast Gerrards right-hander the bunch was split as Damien Sleep span from second place, giving Platt the break and finishing Sleeps race. Alex von Ehrheim then succumbed to flat tyre leaving Irvine to chase down Platt and eventually take the lead after a good dice. The rest of the field was strung out and the finishing order remained the somewhat the same with Irvine marking his return to the series with a 0.67 win over Platt, Louise Colin a distant 3rd.

As race 2 began the rain started to come, however the field went out on slicks. The stricken kart of Jason Kitchen on the tight hairpin called out the redflags and a reduced nine lap restart. A notable absence from this was Platt who had suffered mechanical problems just before the flags came out. At the single file restart it was Irvine, Sleep and Lee Morgan who led the way having a good dice. Coming through from the back at the restart was von Ehrheim who had made his way up to 4th with the battling Danny Edwards and Louise Colin behind. Through the intermittent conditions Damien Sleep came out a popular winner and was more than happy with his first win for some seasons. Irvine and Morgan crossed the line in very close attention just tenths behind the winner, with Edwards the next over the line after von Ehrheim fell down the running order, admittedly just pushing too hard to try and catch the leaders. Lousie Colin and Lee Smith finished 5th and 6th respectively.

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