BNL Karting Series 2015 round 1

Karting Genk hosted the first round of the BNL Karting Series in the weekend on the 18th and 19th of April. Again many European drivers participated in this high classed championship. By this, the level of racing became much higher than a normal National championship. As we are leaving the track, we will for sure remember the big amount of nice overtakes and fights on the race track!

Pictures: Kurt VDV & Michael Melis (Kartphoto)
Text: Philippe de Roeck
Text as found on bnlkartingseries.com.

Micro Max
The young Micro Max drivers were first do drive their qualifying on Saturday morning. ThomasMartens was fastest in the field of eight drivers. Martens had an advantage of almost three tenths on Senna Kortman en Bjarne van der Linden. The first race was won by Kortman after a nice battle between him, Martens, who became second and the English driver Zak O’Sullivan, who finished in third. Thomas Martens took victory in race two, but again, the difference was very small. Zak O’Sullivan finished in second in front of Kortman. Bjarne van der Linde became fourth in less than a second of the winner so also he was challenging for the win!

On Sunday morning, Thomas Martens, again, was fastest in qualifying. The GKS driver had a small lead to Kortman in second and O’Sullivan in third. In race one, Martens had a great start. Behind him, O’Sullivan and Lieven Rutten made contact which forced both drivers off track. They both lost much time while Martens had a lead which was big enough to end the race in first place without being thread for the win. Senna Kortman became second after a nice fight with van der Linden. In race four of the weekend and the second of the day, Martens made the best start but couldn’t fight for the win. He didn’t seemed to fight the pace which he had before and saw O’Sullivan, Kortman and van der Linden coming by. A moved rear axle forced Martens to retire. O’Sullivan took his first win of the weekend in front of Kortman en Van Der Linden. In the weekend results, Kortman took victory in front of Martens and Van Der Linden.

Mini Max
Dutch driver Glenn van Berlo participated for the first time in the BNL but didn’t seemed to be impressed by taking a nice pole in front of Xavier Handsaeme and Ilian Burynseels. Van Berlo immediately took victory in race one in front of Dylan Cleeren and Nick Cuppens who both managed to pick up some places during the race. In the start of race two, van Berlo made a small mistake which pulled him back to P10 in the end. Dylan Cleeren managed to stay in front, take the lead and was even able to finish in P1 in front of his teammate Ilian Bruynseels and Thom Nelissen. The gap between the pole of Van Berlo and the second time of Handsaeme in qualifying was more than half a second. Ilian Bruynseels managed to get P3. The great pace in qualifying wasn’t a lucky shot.

Van Berlo dominated the second day and won both races. In the first one Handsaeme stayed in second place while Dylan Cleeren and Thom Nelissen were fighting for P4. The man in third, Bruynseels, made a mistake in the chicane and crashed in the tire walls. Rick Bouthoorn was driving a great race and took P3 after passing by Cleeren en Nelissen. Cleeren got a time penalty and was put back to P8. In the second race, the gap between van Berlo and Handsaeme was even bigger. Nick Cuppens drove a fantastic race, coming in in third place after Handsaeme who became second again. Bouthoorn, Nelissen en Cleeren were fighting behind Cuppens for the last podium spot, but the trio became fourth, fifth and sixt. Dispite to his ‘bad’ second race, Glenn van Berlo was able to win the first round of the BNL in front of Cleeren en Nelissen.

Junior Max
From this year on, Jordan Brown-Nutley is a well-known name in Belgium racing.The Brititsh driver already showed his great speed and also took pole on Saturday morning. The American driver Darren Keane was only 0.004 seconds slower than Nutley and took P2 in front of Dutchman Dylan Buys. Danny Kroes drove a hell of race in the first race of the weekend. He stormed to the lead and took a very nice win in front of Kay van Berlo and Tyler Sullivan. Many things changed as you see. Nutley finished in fifth, Buys became seventh and Keane had to retire. And again everything changed in the next race which was won by Dylan Buys in front of Danny Kroes and Tyler Sullivan.

On Saturday, Lars Olofsen showed to have the speed but not the luck on his side. Sunday morning he took a well-deserved pole position in front of Nutley en Buys. After a very good start, Olofsen managed to stay out of troubles, meanwhile Rens van Pelt, Eric Stahl en Kenzo Aerts were involved in a start crash which divided the field in some smaller groups. After Olofsen, Kroes picked up some places and was fighting for second place with Buys and Nutley. Nutley seemed to be able to close the gap to Olofsen but again got under pressure of both Dutch drivers. After a great last lap. Buys took P2 in front of Kroes and Nutley. At the start of race two of the day, Olofsen got a little touch in the first corner and had to go a bit wide. Buys, Leroy Jagesar who made a great start and Danny Kroes got past Olofsen. Kroes couldn’t fight anymore as in the races before and when Olofsen was making his way up to the front again, the battle for win wasn’t over. From the back of the field, Rens van Pelt was coming closer to the podium spot but ended in P4 behind Jagesar in third and Olofsen in second. Dylan Buys scored a nice win and took also the overall win in front of Danny Kroes and Lars Olofsen.

Senior Max
In a completely filled Senior field, Leonard Hoogenboom was fastest in Saturday’s qualifying. With a time of 54.2 he was almost three tenths faster than Alana Taylor and Dave Blom in third.After the heats, two for every driver, it was time for the first final of the weekend. Max Timmermans made a great start and took the lead in front of Hoogenboom who way faster but stayed with Timmermans to create a gap to the followers. After leading the whole race, Timmermans got easy passed by Hoogenboom who won in front of Timmermans and Dylan Lahaye.

Hoogenboom again was fastest in the qualifying on Sunday. Louis Ferdinand Simmenauer en Dave Blom became second and third. After the heats, where the first one was the most thrilling, Max Timmermans took P1 for the final. In the final, a start crash where in Dylan Lahaye was involved, divided the field in some small fields. Max Timmermans stayed in the lead and got never threated for victory. Oliver Askew made a good start while Dave Blom couldn’t find the speed from before anymore. Blom felt back while Hoogenboom was making his way up to Askews’ second place when suddenly his engine blew up at the end of the start finish straight. An easy win for Timmermans in front of Askew and Richard Verschoor. Timmermans took victory in the first BNL in front of Ferdinand Simmenauer and Vincent Jewell.

DD2 & DD2 Masters
A nice field of 23 DD2 participants started in the qualifying on Saturday morning. Barrie Pullinger, well knew from the past years took P1 in front of Ferenc Kanscar and Jules Cousin. Christophe Huibers was the first Belgian driver in P4, Jordy Lievens was fifth. Starting from P6, Lorenzo van Riet was winner in race one in front of Ferenc Kanscar and Tamsin Germain. Barrie Pullinger got disqualified due to a non-conform engine. In the second race of the day, Kanscar took victory in front of Jordy Lievens who drove a very nice race. Also Huibers managed to pick up some places again and finished in third.

After a bad day on Saturday, Barrie Pullinger again started with pole position on Sunday in front of Jordy Lievens and Jules Cousin. Cousin wasn’t able to find the pace from qualifying during the finals and felt back. Also Lievens dropped some places during the first part of the race but was able to retake his lost positions in the second half. Ferenc Kanscar was closing the gap to the leader, Barrie Pullinger when Pullinger suddenly had to retire with a fuel leak. Kanscar seemed to take victory but an incredible fast driving Lorenzo van Riet was able to catch and overtake him. With one lap to go, Kanscar again retook the lead to win in front of van Riet and Erwin Montfoort who was well driving as well.

Kanscar took the lead in the second final in front of Huibers and Montfoort. Van Riet took P3 after not a very good start. Jim Ringelberg, Master Driver, was fighting very hard and picked up one place after the other. He got past van Riet for P4 while Tom Meijer was closing the gap to the leading group in P5. But just like Huibers, Meijer felt slightly back. An impressive Barrie Pullinger climbed up to P7. Behind winner Kanscar, Montfoort, van Riet, RIngelberg, Huibers and Aaron Sherlock.

Kanscar took the class victory in front of van Riet and Lievens.

DD2 Masters
Tamsin Germain was fastest in the Masters in front of Ringelberg and Christophe Adams.

See you all at the next race in Ostricourt! The track is a good kept secret for most of the drivers. There are only a few organisations who go to this wonderful track.
You must visit the track to understand it’s beauty.
See you all in 6 weeks!

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