Burn FM Sport’s Lead Motorsport Correspondent, Will Poyser was at Buckmore Park to witness UoB’s efforts in the BUKC sprint races in February.
The Sprint races held at Buckmore Park as part of the latest round of the Universities Karting Championship provided a mix bag of results for the University of Birmingham Motor Racing team. On a day that started with rain and ended in beautiful sunshine, the team looked to take many positives from the day’s racing.
It didn’t start too well for Birmingham as Andy Glencross, whom started fourth on the grid, struggled to get to grips with the wet track, which played a part in his crash 10 laps into the race. Glencross ended up finishing in 26th position.
Next up for Birmingham was the current club captain, Howard Mitchell, who started 10th, and ex-club captain Chris Grange who sat alongside Mitchell in 11th. The two drivers had opposing fortunes in the dramatic race. The current captain had a disappointing race losing many places which resulted in him finishing 28th. While his predecessor was successful in gaining places, at one point he was in 5th, he finished the race in 6th.
Will Whitelock, (pictured) who’s had a fantastic debut season in the BUKC, started the race on pole position and made the most of the dry track pulling away from the rest of the pack. Whitelock, who’s raced at the circuit before as part of a professional karting team, was suddenly slowed down by back markers. This then prompted the Hertfordshire driver in second to try and overtake the Birmingham driver; this was successful due to the sheer number of back markers surrounding him. He finished the race in 3rd position, a fantastic result for the team, who were ecstatic to be on the podium for the first time this season.
Graham Kirby put in an incredible driver in the fourth sprint race, starting in 34th and finishing in 16th. His aim was 15th, but speaking after the race he put down the sheer number of overtakes to the dry track and sunshine that covered the long track.
The most eventful race of the day for Birmingham included Sam Brown and Chris Brasset who sat next to each other on the grid, in 25th and 26th. Unfortunately Brasset’s race was ruined within the opening lap after being involved in a big crash, putting him in last place. Meanwhile for Brown, he was a man on a mission in his black helmet; he was successful with many of his audacious overtaking moves gaining 12 places. 
Brown’s attempts to gain 13th place was unsuccessful and led to all his early working being destroyed, a spin on the third corner put him back in 30th, where he finished. For Brasset he gained a place finishing 33rd. A shame for two of the team’s most talented drivers.
The final driver to represent Birmingham was Harry Brown who was determined to get up the field after starting 31st. He proved this within two laps after getting into 23rd. Brown relied on his offensive and defensive work throughout the race, bringing the kart home in 12th place.
Overall, there were many impressive and excellent performances from the Birmingham drivers. Harry Brown and Graham Kirby enjoyed a great deal of success with their overtakes, while Will Whitelock was unlucky not to hold onto first, he was still skillful in gaining the teams first podium of the season. Drivers such as Andy Glencross and Chris Brasset were unlucky in their incident packed races.
After the racing had finished, Mitchell the captain, had this to say, “I’m very happy with today’s performances, we’ve finished in some impressive positions in most of the races, we were just unlucky in the others, but that’s the nature of motor racing.”
If you’d like to hear the report from the day’s racing follow the link to hear Will Poyser’s account of the BUKC Sprint races.
BUKC Sprint Races at Buckmore Park – Birmingham Motor Racing by Burnfm_Sport on Mixcloud
