BEAMINSTER School entered two teams to compete in the local finals of the British Schools Karting Championship at Exeter Raceworld, and only missed out on qualification to the Regional Finals by three points.

The British Schools Karting Championship (BSKC) is run by the British Automobile Racing Club (BARC) and is an ‘arrive and drive’ Championship for teams of three school students between the ages of 13 and 18.

The championship comprises local, regional and national finals, and this year has attracted 120 teams from schools all over the country.

Eleven teams contested the local finals in Exeter, with each of the three drivers in each team racing twice.

All the drivers had taken part in a BSKC organised practice session at Exeter Raceworld to learn the 350m long indoor track and become familiar with the 200cc RiMO Evo-6 karts.

However, on race day there was no practice or warm-up, so it was straight into racing, with grid positions pre-allocated based on an average starting position. Schools were left to make tactical decisions on where to start their fastest drivers.

The King’s School in Ottery St Mary were worthy winners with a near perfect 119 points, and their B-Team also finished in fourth place, with the Beaminster team of Harvey Cullingford, Zac Withers and Kieran Park finishing just three points behind in sixth with 99 points.

The other two qualification places for the Regional Finals were taken by Uffculme School.

It was the first time that Beaminster School has entered the BSKC and after some close racing, their B-Team of Bertie Purkiss, George Denney and Louis Brown finished equal tenth on 81 points, but were relegated to 11th on best race finishes.

n The two Beaminster School kart teams were accompanied by Hugh Wycherley, who was a District Rotary Young Photographer Competition winner, and attended as the school photographer.