BUKC 2009 is Go!

After several weeks of freezing temperatures, snowmen and flooding across many parts of the country, the BUKC is back to life for 2009 with Rounds 1 & 2 kicking off tomorrow at Whilton Mill, Daventry.

Whilton Mill has hosted the start of the BUKC since 2002 and more often than not the winner of Round 1 has gone on to win the championship. It didn’t happen last year though, but will it happen again for 2009? Or maybe the BUKC has grown so much since 2002, the competition become so much more fierce that it’s anyone’s guess who might turn out to be overall champion in just over 2 months time.

The BUKC has undergone some major changes for 2009. First of all there’s the upgrading of Club100’s 100cc 2-Stroke TKM engines to 115cc TKM-Extreme! It is a fantastic upgrade to the Club100 fleet meaning that average lap times across most circuits will be reduced by a second.

The 15% horsepower, I believe, will also make it slightly easier to overtake, as the 115cc are much less likely to bog down out of slower corners. You can now shove it up the inside into a hairpin and get back into the power-band much quicker than before.

The other major change to the BUKC 2009 is the introduction of regional qualifiers for the first time. The championship has literally doubled in size since 2002 with a total of 62 teams entered in the regional qualifiers. The top 52 teams have now qualified through to the main championship which covers 7 rounds over 4 race days between now and the 8th April.

The Northern Regional Qualifiers were a somewhat cold affair. They were held at a very icy Warden Law Kart Circuit near Sunderland. The whole day was run under sub-zero temperatures which resulted in a few unfortunate carb failures as the fuel froze and many spins on the slippery circuit. However it was won by 2008 BUKC Champions Loughborough A who showed everyone once again that they are the force to be reckoned with for 2009.

The Southern Regional Qualifiers had to be delayed by a day as Rye House was flooded under several feet of water. Unfortunately Rye House was still under several feet of water the next day, so the decision was made to move the event to Buckmore Park. Several teams couldn’t reschedule which was a shame but the day at Buckmore Park was a great one, though yet again, it was very cold and slippy.

The Southern Qualifiers were somewhat surprisingly won by a bemused Oxford A, who had no belief they had done a good enough job to get into the top 3 let alone top the results sheet. After looking like promising championship contenders last year they have had a few of their best drivers graduate, and even having received a few black flags over the course of the qualifier, they still managed to come out on top.

Maybe, they’ve recruited some talented freshers this year? Or maybe all the best teams were in the North? Oooooh, controversial!

Best of luck to everyone competing in the BUKC 2009! I am sure it’s going to be a great championship once again!

Will