RICHARD WINS SHENINGTON.

Castle Eaton's Richard Hughes stormed to victory at Shenington yesterday.

Following on the back of his second place at the Midland Championships two weeks ago, Richard was determined to make it one better at Shenington!

Practice on Saturday did not go well, with both an electrical gremlin that affected power and also frequent showers, for good measure! The team finally traced the fault to the ignition switch and, once this was changed, the full power of Richard's BRT engine was restored. This meant, however, that the usual fine tuning of the kart set-up could not be done on Saturday and several adjustments were being made during the qualifying heats on Sunday morning. Nevertheless, Richard managed 6th, 4th and 2nd in the heats, allowing him to qualify third on the grid for the big race.

As the lights turned green at the rolling start, Hughes shot up to second and stayed there for a couple of laps, until current Championship Leader, Scott Allen, nudged through. By half distance, four karts were battling at the front, with several changes of position, but then Richard saw his chance at the Bruno chicane. With 3 laps to go, Allen went for the lead, with a pass on Dawson, but they both ran wide and Hughes popped out in front! There he stayed until the chequered flag and recorded a very popular victory.

'I would like to thank my team and especially our colleagues at BRT, who worked tirelessly to solve the problems yesterday,' said Richard at the trophy presentation. 'It feels good to be winning again!' he concluded.

RICHARD ROCKETS TO 2nd AT MIDLAND CHAMPS.

Richard Hughes demonstrated his driving skills to the full at the Midland Championships, held at Rissington on 3rd and 4th September.

With a grid of 29 entrants in the popular Rotax Max class, including many nationally recognised drivers, it was never going to be easy! Hughes made ground in each of the qualifying heats to start 5th on the grid for the big race.

He made a good start and kept out of trouble, despite a number of incidents on the first lap. He ran a close fourth for most of the race and when he spotted the pair in front starting to squabble, he was ready to pounce! In one daring move he went from 4th to 2nd, with 3 laps to go. Even though he was quicker on these last laps, he was not quite able to catch leader and winner Danny Russell.

"We have been having problems at recent meetings with the tyres going off towards the end of the race, so we went for a different set-up this time," said Richard at the trophy presentation. "This meant that it was quite difficult to drive for the first few laps, but it then got quicker and quicker, allowing my new BRT engine to really do its stuff. Unfortunately, by the time I got up to second, Dan had enough of a gap to prevent me catching him. Still, 2nd was a good result in this company!" he concluded.

Richard had an excellent meeting at Rissington yesterday, until the last race!

He stormed through the heats to score 96 points - equal with Championship leader Chris Thomas. However, Chris had a win against Richard's two seconds, so Chris was on pole and Richard alongside.

"We had been quick today and I had looked after my tyres, so I was very confident going in to the race", said Richard after the event. "I had a blistering start and was right with Chris for the first two laps, but then the kart would not come out of the slower corners and I dropped back. It got worse and worse as the race went on. When we stripped it afterwards, we found an enormous crack underneath the exhaust and a 2-stroke needs back-pressure to work! Anyway, I still finished 4th and scored good points," he concluded.

He will be racing again at Shenington in two weeks time - with a new exhaust!

Hughes gets 3rd at Rissington

Richard Hughes maintained his run of success with third place at Rissington on Sunday.

Qualifying fourth on the grid after a bizarre engine problem in one of the heats, he was immediately up to third at the start. After a superb overtaking move, he took the lead and held it for a few laps, but it was obvious that John Sweeper and Chris Thomas were slightly quicker. They eventually edged through, but it was still pretty close at the end of 12 laps, with John taking the win. It was great to see the three of them patting each other on the back at the finish!

Richard commented at the Trophy Presentation: "I couldn't quite hold on to the lead, but there was only about a tenth of a second in it. John and Chris just had the edge today."

ANOTHER PODIUM FOR RICHARD

Richard's form continued with another podium finish at Rissington on Sunday.

Having qualified in Pole Position after a 4th, 2nd and win in the heats, Hughes had high hopes of victory and certainly had the pace. But with a strong wind and high track temperatures, it was a bit of a lottery. 

Richard made an excellent start and Chris Thomas followed him through from 3rd on the grid, with Josh Collings being forced wide. Hughes led for the first 6 laps, but understeered in the Elbow, giving Thomas the run into Pits Bend. He stayed with him for the rest of the race, with John Sweeper in close attandance. That's how they finished.

"The problem was tyres!", said Richard after the race. We opted for older tyres than Chris and that worked well in the first two heats. However, as I was winning the third heat, I could feel them going off. You are only allowed one set for the day, so we were stuck with them. We turned them round on the rims and that was fine for the first few laps of the final, but then I got understeer and couldn't get the lines I wanted. Chris pounced when that happened and I just manged to keep with him until the end. Thankfully, John had a similar problem, otherwise I think I would have been down to third. Having said that, my BRT engine was superb and a match for anybody. We had the set-up just right for the conditions, but in hindsight we should have used newer tyres. Still, it was good points for the Championship".

ANOTHER GOOD RESULT AT SHENINGTON

Richard had another cracking race at Shenington yesterday. In a quality field, Dan Graham, Scott Allen, Daryl Henderson and Richard Hughes were locked in a 4-way battle for virtually all of the 14 laps of the Final.

There was nothing in it on lap times and the lead changed on numerous occasions, but as the chequered flag fell it was just Graham from Allen from Hughes, with Henderson just a few yards behind.

RICHARD GETS 2nd AT RISSINGTON

Team Leader Richard Hughes had a fantastic race at Rissington on 3 April to finish second, after starting 8th on the grid.

It was a close run race, with 3 or 4 karts all fighting for the spoils. Richard did briefly get into the lead with a few laps to go, but defended on a damp part of the track and slipped down to third. He was soon pressurising the leaders again and on the last but one corner he slipped into second.

WANT TO START KARTING?

Richard Hughes Racing is working in association with Rissington Kart Club and Shenington Kart Racing Club to help people to start in the exciting sport of Karting.

It can be quite bewildering to choose the right class, get a licence, buy a kart and check that you have got all the right equipment and tools to set-up and maintain it. On top of all that, you need to learn how to drive it! Most importantly, you need to know what NOT to do and what you don’t need to buy.

To help to guide you through that minefield, Richard Hughes Racing will talk you through it all with no obligation and completely FREE OF CHARGE! With 15 years experience in karting and a strong track record for training juniors and novices, Richard Hughes Racing are ideally placed to help you.

Various special offers are available on test drives, race clothing, driver and mechanic training, as well as making arrangements for the all-important ARKS test.

Give Team Manager, Bill Hughes, a call and discuss the details or visit us at any of the meetings we are attending. Our Race Programme is on the web site, together with links to the kart clubs for directions, etc.