SUPERKART CHAT by Gary James, Freelance Superkart Reporter & Commentator
RACE REPORT
SILVERSTONE INTERNATIONAL 5TH APRIL 2025
BSRC SUPER SERIES ROUNDS 1, 2 & 3
TIRELESS HARPHAM TAKES EARLY GRIP ON SUPER SERIES
Despite not having any new tyres or picking up a win, Lee Harpham left Silverstone at the top of the Super Series Division 1 points. It looked like Liam Morley was going to be a triple winner until a stone punctured his chances and left him at the side of the track. Paul Platt has taken an early lead in the F250 Mono class after some very close racing with Lee Plain while Ella Stevens was unbeaten in the combined F125 Open and KZ LC class.
After a delay of just over an hour due to communications issues at the circuit, Superkart qualifying got under way. The 15 minute session saw 46 drivers trying to secure a clear piece of track and set a decent lap time. Ollie Holmes was keen to get out first on track in his Anderson AK with new colour scheme and set the first time before the quicker Division 1 drivers took over. On the third lap reigning champion Lee Harpham posted a 1m 04.501s before pitting to make adjustments. While Harpham was stationary Andy Gulliford put in two quick laps, the best being 1m 04.372s before he too went into the pits. Jack Tritton was the first driver into the 63s bracket and posted a 1m 3.022s lap to take provisional pole. Harpham was back on track and reduced the time to 1m 02.851s but ten seconds later Dutch driver Richard van de Nes clipped a tenth off to go top of the times. With the clock ticking down to zero, Harpham put in a great final lap of 1m 02.646s, inside the existing lap record. Could van de Nes respond? Unfortunately not. Momentarily help up by traffic, his final lap was 0.762s off his best, but he still secured a front row slot alongside pole man Harpham.
Tritton’s earlier time was good enough to head row two as he pitted with a lack of brakes. After numerous issues in testing the day before, Matt Robinson was still off the pace in the first part of the session. But after a pit stop his times tumbled to a best of 1m 03.44s to complete row 2. The next three places on the grid were all taken by drivers from Northern Ireland. Aaron Newell beat Ross Witherow by 0.043s with Brian Jones a further 0.367s back. This demoted early pacesetter Andy Gulliford back to 8th spot. Carl Hulme and Kosta Kyritsis rounded out the top ten just ahead of Chris ‘Chippy’ Wesemael making his Superkart debut.
There was keen competition in the F250 Mono class with the top spot switching between Samantha Hempshall, Paul Platt and Kirk Cattermole. Despite nursing a sore wrist following a snowboarding accident, Hempshall put in a 1m 07.316 to go quickest before Cattermole bettered that with a m 06.911s. Platt took control with a 1m 06.789s but had two slower laps dealing with traffic. He then improved to 1m 06.636s and was on another quick lap until he came across Lee Plain at Club Corner. With both drivers wanting the same piece of tarmac an irate Platt ended up in the gravel trap and out of the session. Fortunately, during the final laps nobody improved on his lap time so he secured the Mono class pole and 14th overall. Cattermole ended up second quickest in class from Hempshall while Plain was struggling for pace and wound up 4th.
Ella Stevens had shown good pace during the test day and this was carried over into qualifying. The Jade team decided to run the Birel IAME without the rear wing and this provided better straight line speed. Ella was never headed in the combined F125 Open and KZ LC class and secured pole position and 24th overall with a 1m 09.286s, inside the lap record set by Lee Harpham 10 years ago. Ollie Holmes was nearly a second adrift on 1m 10.252s with Alan Crossen third in class on 1m 11.674s.
With Ronan McClintock stuck in the paddock with a KTM engine that wouldn’t fire up, Nick Flint was quickest of the F450s on 1m 11.852s.
There were several Division 1 drivers that should have been nearer the front. Sam Moss was down in 25th overall, Ross Allen had a gearchange bolt break and wound up 27th. It was unusual to see Liam Morley struggle in qualifying and despite several visits to the pits to try and cure a rotary valve issue he failed to set a time and ended up 43rd on the grid. That was just in front of Mark Edwards who collected a puncture on the opening lap.
The weather was perfect for Race 1 with Harpham and van de Nes bringing the field around Club Corner for the start. When the lights went out Harpham got the best launch to lead into Abbey followed by Robinson. Hulme had been late to the dummy grid and started from the pit lane after the pack had swept through the first corner. Harpham was already stretching his lead down the hangar Straight for the first time and completed the opening lap just under a second ahead of Robinson and Tritton. Aaron Newell was next before van de Nes headed a train of karts consisting of Gulliford, Kyritsis, Jones, von Gerard and Wesemael. Platt led the Mono class with Morley on his tail and already up to 12th spot. Holmes was the lead 125cc driver in the middle of a pack of twins and singles with Stevens three places behind while McClintock and Flint ran nose to tail in the F450 class.
Robinson’s chance of challenging Harpham ended on lap 2 when his arm went in the air along the Hangar Straight and he pulled into the pits with an ignition failure. That gave Harpham a 1.989s lead over Tritton while Newell and van de Nes squabbled over third place. But all eyes were on Morley. On lap 3 he broke the lap record as he moved into 5th place splitting Gulliford and Newell. On the next lap Harpham, Tritton and van de Nes set their personal bests but Morley set another lap record. On lap 5 he was on Tritton’s tail with a great lap of 1m 01.389s and another lap record. There was a gaggle of slower karts ahead and Harpham was 2.249 s clear. That increased slightly as Tritton and Morley negotiated the backmarkers. Tritton held Morley off for another half a lap but the Anderson driver got the perfect slipstream down the Hangar Straight to take second place into Stowe Corner. The chase for the lead was on. Morley took 1.583s out of Harpham’s lead on lap 8 when the MS Kart driver got held up by back markers and then snatched the lead on the next lap before the safety car was deployed. Andy Waite had a front hub break which locked the front wheel and sent him off at Vale. While being attended by the marshals Gary Potkins lost control and struck the stricken kart. With both karts in a precarious position there was no alternative but to get the car on circuit. It picked up Ollie Holmes and Richard Connick who were just ahead of Morley and Harpham and effectively put the 125cc driver almost a lap behind Ella Stevens who was at the back of the snake leading the F125 Open KZ LC class. The marshals did their best to remove both karts but the clock ticked down to zero. The safety car pulled into the pitlane and Morley led the field across the line to take the win. Not the ideal way to end a race that was building up nicely.
Platt had held a buffer of about three seconds over Plain in the Mono class but from lap 4 onwards the reigning champion reduced the deficit. When the safety car was deployed the gap was down to 0.699s and we were denied an exciting finish. Kirk Cattermole had dropped back to 7th on the opening lap but picked his way through demoting John Reader and John Busby. Ben Ardern was having a great run in third place but Cattermole was ahead on lap 6 and with the safety car out couldn’t mount a challenge.
Ella Stevens passed Ollie Holmes on lap 3 to take the lead in the F125 Open KZ LC class and then set a new lap record of 1m09.151s. Her lead was up to 7.482s before the safety car came out and went on to get the class win with Holmes stuck behind the car and unable to challenge.
Ronan McClintock led all the way in the F450 category from Nick Flint and they finished a lap behind the leaders.
Race 1 Results
1st Liam Morley Anderson VM
2nd Lee Harpham MS Kart Harvey VM
3rd Jack Tritton MS Kart Harvey VM
4th Andy Gulliford Anderson VM
5th Richard van de Nes Anderson VM
6th Ross Allen Jade IAME
13th Paul Platt PVP Gas Gas (F250 Mono class winner)
16th Kirk Cattermole Raider CAT TM (F250 Mono Cup winner)
22nd Ella Stevens Birel IAME (F125 Open & KZ LC class winner)
25th Ronan McClintock Anderson KTM (F450 National class winner)
As is usual, grid positions for Race 2 were based on a driver’s fastest lap from the previous race. Morley had pole position with Harpham alongside while Allen and van de Nes occupied row 2. Lee Plain headed the Monos on row 8 with Cattermole alongside and Platt just behind. Ella Stevens was the lead 125cc driver on row 13 with McClintock on row 14. At the back were Ross Witherow, who had a clutch issue on the opening lap of race 1, Fletcher Hurn who had the chain came off on the warm-up in the previous race and the luckless Robinson.
After one warm-up lap the lights went out and Morley and Harpham charged down to Abbey side by side with Harpham gaining the advantage around the outside. Further back John Reader couldn’t get his DEA engine to clear and parked the machine just past the start line about 15 feet from the track edge. With the marshals unable to remove kart, it meant the section after Club Corner would be covered by yellow flag. With a touch of deja vu, Harpham completed the opening lap with a lead of just under a second but this time it was Morley and Allen that were chasing. Tritton was 4th with Jones next holding off van de Nes. Hulme, Gulliford and Edwards occupied the next three positions. Cattermole had made a great start from row 8 and led the Mono class from Platt and Plain. Ollie Holmes crossed the line in 23rd spot to lead the 125’s from Ella Stevens who was tucked up behind the F450 leader Ronan McClintock. Chris Wesemael’s race ended when he crawled out of Club Corner and parked his Anderson VM against the pit wall and almost opposite Reader’s stricken machine.
On lap 2 Harpham made a mistake exiting Stowe Corner and this gave Morley a chance to close in. Under braking for Vale the Anderson driver took the lead and they flashed across the line separated by 0.26s with Allen just behind. Tritton was still 4th while Robinson from the back of the grid was up to 10th spot. Morley started to stretch his lead as his new tyres came on. By half distance, the gap was 4.801s over Harpham who was held up through Club Corner negotiating the traffic. This allowed Allen to latch onto the MS Kart bumper. They ran side by side through Abbey but Harpham just held on to 2nd spot. But he was lacking the pace from race one and Allen got ahead on lap 9.
Up at the front Morley was putting on a masterful display as he weaved his way through the slower karts. After 15 laps he crossed the line to take win number two by 12.414s. “It was a case of keeping my head down and making use of the new tyres.” Allen edged away from Harpham by a few tenths every lap and despite his brakes starting to fade towards the end took second place by 2.312s with Harpham regretting a change in chassis settings that didn’t work for him. Tritton held 4th spot but was caught by van de Nes on lap 6. These two ran nose to tail for the remainder of the race with the Dutchman getting past on the final lap to secure the place by 0.414s. Robinson had been closing on this pair but coming into Vale for the final time his VM motor flooded and he lost 15 seconds, dropping back to 8th place. Gulliford should have inherited 6th place, but on the last lap the front piston in his VM cried enough possibly due to fuel starvation and his motor cut out. That elevated Jones and Newell to finish ahead of the ailing Robinson.
In the Mono class Cattermole held onto the lead for 2 laps before Platt set the fastest lap and edged ahead. Cattermole didn’t give up the fight until lap 6 when the water pump shaft snapped and he pulled off to retire. Plain took up the challenge and closed on Platt taking the lead on lap 8. But contact was made between the pair as they came around Club Corner at the end of the lap while negotiating backmarkers and Platt was back ahead. The lead swapped a couple more times as the flying Morley lapped them. On the final lap Platt got his nose ahead to take the win by 0.246s but was deemed to have gained an unfair advantage by the officials and was handed a 5 second penalty dropping him behind Plain. Samantha Hempshall had kept this pair in sight for the first half of the race but a broken ignition wire put her out on lap 8. Ben Ardern stepped forward to claim third place after a good drive safely clear of John Busby. Richard Connick was the best Mono Cup runner in fifth place while Arran Maile completed the top six.
Ella Stevens passed Ollie Holmes on lap 2 and consistently lapped in the 69s bracket close to her earlier lap record. Her lead in the F125 Open KZ LC class grew steadily and for good measure set a new lap record on the final lap as she benefited from a bit of a tow from one of the Division 1 drivers. The Anderson AK of Holmes was lacking grip and he collected second place over 30s behind. Alan Crossen initially held third in class until his front bumper dropped causing a lack of grip on the rear. Suspecting it was a flat tyre he pulled off. That elevated Aston Baker into third spot.
Ronan McClintock was the only finisher in the F450 class after Nick Flint dropped out on lap 8 when the chain came off.
Race 2 Results
1st Liam Morley Anderson VM
2nd Ross Allen Jade IAME
3rd Lee Harpham MS Kart Harvey VM
4th Richard van de Nes Anderson VM
5th Jack Tritton MS Kart Harvey VM
6th Brian Jones Anderson PVP
12th Lee Plain Anderson DEA (F250 Mono class winner)
18th Ella Stevens Birel IAME (F125 Open & KZ LC class winner)
19th Ronan McClintock Anderson KTM (F450 National class winner)
20th Richard Connick Jade Honda (F250 Mono Cup winner)
Race 3 of the day was the final track action which went out 45 minutes late after various delays in the earlier car races. Morley was on pole position again with Allen alongside. Harpham and Gulliford lined up on row 2 ahead of van de Nes and Hulme. Platt was the lead Mono on row 9 with Plain right behind him and joined by Hempshall. Cattermole should have been on row 11 but he couldn’t get the TM fixed in time. Stevens headed the 125s on row 13 and McClintock headed the F450s on row 15.
When the lights went out Morley made the perfect start to lead into Abbey followed by Allen and Harpham. Two corners further on at Village, Tritton lost 7th place when he spun out. Fortunately, he kept the engine running and rejoined at the back of the field. Harpham passed Allen into Stowe to take second place but at the end of the lap Morley was already 1.179s clear. Hulme was 4th from Gulliford and Robinson while Jones, Moss and Witherow had all made up places to be the next three through. Van de Nes had dropped back to 13th place just ahead of Platt leading the Mono class from Busby Ardern and Hempshall. Plain was struggling at the back of the field with a slipping clutch. Stevens led Holmes in the 125s with McClintock ahead of Flint in the 450s.
Morley set the fastest lap on the third circuit and looked to be cruising to another victory. But on lap 8 at Village with a lead of 2.609s he pulled off. A stone had punctured the radiator and the VM engine overheated and seized. Moments later he was joined by Tritton who’d worked his way up to 12th place. He was about to pass Fletcher Hurn when his VM engine seized. Adding to the retirements were Moss who’d dropped out on lap 4 with a flooded carb and Jones a lap later with no 4th gear.
Harpham inherited the lead with a margin of 1.831s over Allen. Closing in fast was Robinson who was now the quickest driver on track. A deficit over Allen of 2.302s shrunk dramatically and on lap 10 he moved into second place. On the next lap Harpham was held up by backmarkers through Club Corner and Robinson was on his tail. They flashed across the line separated by 0.043s. Harpham held on to the lead until the Vale when Robinson saw a gap and took the lead under braking. But Harpham wasn’t giving up. He retook the lead around the outside at Abbey but his tyres were well past their best. The Harvey Motorsport MS Kart twitched and was off the circuit as they headed through Farm. Fortunately, there was a lot of tarmac run off and Harpham rejoined the circuit at Village in second place. Robinson continued unaware of what had happened to his rival. The chequered flag came out a lap early, possibly due to the track curfew having passed, and Robinson took a well-deserved win by 3.661s. “I’d almost settled for 5th place but the kart came good towards the end and the tyres worked perfectly.” The opposite could be said of Harpham whose Dunlop’s were completely shot. However, with the demise of Morley the reigning champion left Silverstone with an 8 point advantage in the Super Series.
Allen had been heading for third place but his exhaust broke with 2 laps to go. Van de Nes took advantage to claim third spot having beaten off Gulliford a couple of laps earlier, with the Jade driver slipping back to 5th. Hulme had a steady drive to complete the top six.
With Plain retiring with a slipping clutch and Cattermole non-starting Platt had an easy run to victory in the Mono class. At the flag he was 5.773s ahead of Hempshall who was lucky to finish when the chain snapped on the slowing down lap. Nursing a sore wrist, she was ahead of Ardern and Busby by lap 4 and managed to open up a small gap. Ardern was looking good for third place until lap 12 when the fuel pump on his DEA packed up and he retired into the pits. Busby took over in his Parker Motorsport prepared kart to get his best result in the Mono class. He was well clear of John Reader whose engine performed a lot better this time and Mono Cup winner Arran Maile.
Ella Stevens completed a hat trick of wins in the F125 Open KZ LC class after some brilliant driving. The lap record was broken again with the new mark established at 1m 08.737s and she finished a massive 41.32s ahead of Ollie Holmes. The Anderson AK driver was still baffled at the lack of pace and grip. Third place in class saw a close scrap with Aston Baker just holding off Toby Vincent by 0.343s.
Ronan McClintock was also unbeaten in the F450 class. Nick Flint lost power in his KTM after lap 4 and was unable to mount any sort of challenge.
Race 3 Results
1st Matt Robinson Anderson Redspeed VM
2nd Lee Harpham MS Kart Harvey VM
3rd Richard van de Nes Anderson VM
4th Andy Gulliford Anderson VM
5th Ross Allen Jade IAME
6th Carl Hulme Anderson VM
11th Paul Platt PVP Gas Gas (F250 Mono class winner)
16th Ella Stevens Birel IAME (F125 Open & KZ LC class winner)
17th Arran Maile Birel Honda (F250 Mono Cup winner)
18th Ronan McClintock Anderson KTM (F450 National class winner)