Oakenhurst are pleased to continue sponsoring Matthew (Matt) Pearce and Dave Burns in the DM Racing UK Team in the recently started Daniel Ricciardo Karting Series that was delayed due to the effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
The first race weekend took place at Little Rissington, Gloucestershire on July 11-12 with a total of 16 drivers. On Saturday the practice session were dominated by Matt Pearce, who held an advantage of seven tenths over the 2019 karting champion Patrick Lay.
On Sunday, the qualifying sessions were close, with Matt Pearce taking pole position by just 0.021 seconds and Dave securing 8th only 0.328 seconds behind Matts time. The first race was going to be tough on the drivers, given that the first 5 positions in qualifying were only separated by less than 2 tenths of a second. Matt was pushed continually but held first the whole time, crossing the line 0.741 seconds ahead of Patrick Lay in second place. Dave meanwhile had a good battle for 7th, but eventually crossed the line in his original position of 8th.
The Pre Grand Prix race saw Matt and Patrick swap the lead multiple times in a battle at the front. Whilst Matt held 1st an incident on track caused a yellow & black flag and forced the grid to reduce speed and remain in single file. Matt lost the lead during the restart and, even after swapping positions a couple more times, crossed the line in 2nd.
Dave also had a tough Pre Grand Prix race and a small mistake early on in the tight section of the track cost him 4 places. He fought throughout the race and reclaimed the lost positions back up to 8th, but was later forced off the track by another driver, causing him to lose 2 positions and crossing the line in 10th.
When it came to the initial dummy grid start for the Grand Prix race, Dave Burns kart refused to start as the rest of the grid departed for the rolling lap. With what seemed like an electrical fault, he finally got started with help from the crank gun. But only 200m later, the kart cut out again, and he was out of the final for good.
When the Grand Prix started, Matt quickly pulled ahead into the first corner, turning his 2nd place start into 1st place and held onto it as the rest of the pack followed close behind him. Matt pushed throughout the race but couldn’t create a definitive lead from the rest of the grid. Matt continued to focus throughout each lap without looking over his shoulder and held his 1st place till he crossed the line, taking the victory in superb fashion.
We’d like to congratulate Matt on having such a dominant weekend, and look forward to seeing the rest of the season continue. We’d also like to congratulate Dave on the points he secured in the earlier rounds during the weekend. Matt now sits 1st in the season with a total of 322 points, whilst Dave sits in 11th with 268 points even with his unfortunate DNF in the final race.
