At the mid-point of 2022, the competition across all British Championships is heating up. This week we take a look back at some of the Championships from the last two weekends including the Wera Tools British Kart Championships, British Drag Racing Championship and British Rally Championships.

What’s been on?

Wera Tools British Kart Championships – Rissington, 2-3 July

Whilst eyes were peeled on the open-wheel action of the British Grand Prix, the stars of tomorrow’s single seater racing were also competing in some wheel-to-wheel action as the Wera Tools British Kart Championships headed to Rissington. The 970 metre Burford-based circuit has tight apexes as well as a tight chicane in sector two, making it a challenging and technical track.

The early July weekend saw IAME, KZ2 and TKM all compete in round 4 of the BKC. In IAME Cadet class, Kit Belofsky took home first place, with overall championship leader Jesse Phillips taking home second and being closely followed by Jenson Graham.  Leo Robinson took home first place in the Junior X30 class making his way to third in the overall driver standings. The Senior X30 class had a surprise podium in which none of the podium placers are in the top three of the driver standings where Sam Shaw took home first place. Accompanying him on the podium was Sam Heading and Khali Atkins.

The KZ2 Championship saw James Glenister take home first place with Charlie Cole and Morgan Porter finishing second and third respectively. Gelnister is currently championship rival in the overall standings and will be battling Charlie Turner to take the championship this season.

The TKM Championships had an exciting weekend at Rissington as well with Liam Frost taking home a win in the Junior TKM class followed close behind by Dara McInerney and Ollie Rands. Frost is currently leading the Junior TKM championship. Lastly, TKM Extreme were also challenged at Rissington on the early July weekend with championship leader Chris Whitton taking home the win.

British Drag Racing Championship – Santa Pod, 2-3 July

Bobby Wallace led the field in qualifying, securing his first Pro Mod pole position at 5.934sec, and advanced to the final. There, third qualifier Andy Robinson (6.088sec) beat Wallace by inches on a holeshot, 5.932sec to Wallace’s quicker 5.930, to edge into a slender championship lead over Nick Davies.

Previous points leader Michel Tooren slipped to third place after Davies beat him in a heavyweight opening-round match-up. Robinson’s semi-final 5.924sec was the event’s low elapsed time and Wallace’s losing final-round 246.39mph its top speed.

The next round of the British Drag Racing Championship is 22^nd – 24^th July at Santa Pod.

British Hillclimb Championship – Harewood, 3 July

The British Hillclimb Championship continues to be an exciting one where Wallace Menzies re-took the lead at the second visit in to Harewood in the 2022 season. With Alex Summers failing to make the start line for the first run-off and then taking fourth place in the second run-off, Menzies took full advantage. His twenty point Harewood haul now gives him a two point lead over Summers moving into the Channel Islands double header.

Matt Ryder’s brilliant second run-off outright record and maiden run-off win takes him up to fourth place in the BHC overall just one point clear of Trevor Willis, in what is turning into a titanic BHC Championship battle between the two of them. Third place overall is Scott Moran, who was probably a little disappointed with his second and fifth place run-off finishes.

The first run-off saw Wallace Menzies (Gould GR59M) take a tenth of a second off his existing record to take eleven precious BHC Championship points. Six tenths of a second adrift in second was Scott Moran (Gould GR59J) who in turn was a further six tenths clear of an on form Trevor Willis (OMS 28 – RPE V8). Matt Ryder (Gould GR59J) was just a quarter of a second behind in fourth. A great run by Richard Spedding (GWR Raptor 2) placed him fifth ahead of Dave Uren (Gould GR55B) in sixth. Jonathen Varley (GWR Predator) was fully committed to finish an excellent seventh, nearly a second clear of Lee Griffiths (OMS 28 – Hayabusa) in eighth.

Graham Wynn (Gould GR59) would have been encouraged to score two important Championship points in ninth, ahead of a delighted Nicola Menzies (Gould GR55B) who took the last point for tenth. Nicola was particularly pleased as she had broken the outright ladies record on her first qualification run, leaving it at an impressive 50.74 seconds. As previously mentioned, Alex Summers (DJ Firestorm) was an unfortunate non-starter due a broken fuel pump as was Paul Haimes (Gould GR59) who broke his differential on his first qualification run and was out for the rest of the day.

Nicky Grist Stages – British Rally Championship and Welsh Rally Championship, 9 July

There was a bright atmosphere in Builth Wells in Wales during the Nicky Grist Stages.

Osian Pryce and co-driver Noel O’Sullivan won the Quinton Stages section of the event for the first time in their Polo GTI R5. Matthew Hirst and co-driver Declan Dear took victory of the Interclub stages in their Ford Fiesta R5+.

The drivers and co-drivers were challenged by the 44.38 stage miles which were held on the Natural Resources Wales and Defence Infrastructure Organisation Wales forest gravel roads on and around the Epynt military range.

The next round of the British Rally Championship is the Grampian Forest Rally on the 13^th August.

Looking forward:

Drift Pro Championship – Oulton Park

The Drift Pro Championship is travelling to Oulton Park for Round 5 of the championship, which will be coinciding with Tunerfest on 16 July.

The Drift Pro Championship became recognised by Motorsport UK as the official British Championship for drifting in the UK back in 2021 and has continued to grow as a sport with a large number of spectators at every event.

For more information and tickets to the event, please visit the website here.

British Hillclimb Championship – Bouley Bay and Val De Terres

Wednesday 13 July sees the British Hillclimb Championship (BHC) make its annual visit to the scenic and challenging Bouley Bay Hillclimb on the Island of Jersey. The Jersey event is part of the BHC Channel Islands ‘double-header’, with a Championship round also taking place on Saturday 16 July at the technical Le Val des Terres Hillclimb, located in Saint Peter Port Guernsey.

Bouley Bay was one of the original venues chosen as part of the first British Hillclimb Championship back in 1947. The inaugural Championship consisted of just five rounds at Bo’ness near Falkirk in Scotland, Prescott in Gloucestershire, Shelsley Walsh in Worcestershire , Craigantlet on the outskirts of Belfast in Northern Ireland and last but not least Bouley Bay. Of the original five venues, only Bo’ness does not currently host a round of the BHC.