Musical chairs, returning drivers and enforced absences highlighted the dozen strong entry list for the fifth and sixth rounds of the 2010 Formula Kart Stars KF3 championship at Glan Y Gors in North Wales.

The only class in the KFS umbrella to have crowned four different final winners in the four rounds held to date was shaken up prior to signing on when current points leader Xavier Warburton was forced to withdraw for financial reasons, opening the title battle up to the group of drivers directly behind him.

Making things even more interesting was the fact that several of those drivers were wearing the colours of different teams to the ones that they started the season with and, combined with the fact that GYG’s Dragon Kart Club doesn’t host regular club meetings for KF3, few drivers had much testing knowledge of the demanding 1100-metre circuit that sported one of the most spectacular backdrops in British karting.

Mick Barrett Racing had lost the services of Irishman Alex Hamilton in the period following Whilton Mill with Hamilton bringing Ricky Flynn Motorsport into the FKS paddock for the first time in a little while. Hamilton’s place in the MBR awning, which was already missing Warburton, was filled by English domiciled Scotsman Charlie Robertson who, whilst driving for Fusion Motorsport, had amassed enough points to run fifth in the standings.

Elsewhere in the paddock Dylon Phibbs had left Blitz Racing for Global Karting while M-Sport, who began the season with no drivers, ran two karts for the first time this year with the addition of Dubai based driver Edward Jones, who ran several FKS rounds for the same team in 2009.

With the weather set fair for the day the KF3 contenders headed out for their ten minute timed qualifying session safe in the knowledge that the weather-beaten track surface would be at its best during the early minutes.

Robertson struck first, taking his maiden KF3 pole position at his first attempt with his new team. Stopping the clocks in a time of 41.82-seconds Robertson comfortably outpaced round four winner Matthew Graham. Like Robertson, AMT Racing’s Graham set his best lap of 41.97-seconds on his third flying lap, just two hundredths faster than Robertson’s teammate Sam MacLeod.

Ben Barnicoat went fourth fastest on his MBR run Tonykart, equalling MacLeod’s 41.99-second marker but losing out on third place overall by virtue of having a slower second-best lap than his teammate.

Ricky Collard led the depleted Fusion attack in fifth place, one hundredth slower than MacLeod and Barnicoat while Jones took no time in acclimatising himself with his new surroundings and took sixth place on the grid for the two heats a mere two tenths of a second slower than Robertson. Jacob Stilp, who effectively became the championship leader in Warburton’s absence, was only seventh fastest but lost out on sixth in the same manner than Barnicoat lost out to MacLeod.

Phibbs, Hamilton and the second M-Sport kart of Jacques Morley completed a top ten separated by just half a second with independent runner Alex Gill and the MBR machine of Oliver Norris rounding out the field.

Far from being overawed by starting from pole position for the first time in KF3 Robertson made a solid getaway and slotted into the lead as Barnicoat ducked up the inside of Graham to take second half way round the first lap. From that point Robertson was a sitting duck as Barnicoat cut away as his teammates early lead, passing with ease on lap four and beginning to build an advantage.

Graham, who was Barnicoat’s closest threat at Whilton Mill, followed Barnicoat passed Robertson several laps later, by which time the leader was more than one second up the road. Despite setting the fastest lap of the race on lap six though Barnicoat’s lead wasn’t secure as Graham somehow continued to coax more and more grip out of his tyres and began to close in as the 19-lap heat entered its second half.

Despite pushing his kart to the limit Graham could only snatch a tenth here and there as Barnicoat lapped consistently and refused to be put under any pressure. Going into the final lap Graham was just half a dozen kart lengths behind but it wasn’t enough to force Barnicoat into defending and he crossed the line with half a second to spare.

Even with the red hot pace at the front the rest of the field were by no means left behind with Robertson staying within one and a half seconds of the leading duo throughout the remaining laps. He was kept on his toes by a very impressive Jones, who belied his lack of experience at the circuit by moving into fourth place during the opening exchanges and holding the position throughout despite the close attentions of MacLeod.

Robertson held on to third until the end with Jones and MacLeod just a couple of tenths further back before the first real gap of the race, six seconds back to Collard in sixth with Morley getting the better of Stilp in the closing stages to take seventh. Hamilton and Gill completed the top ten with Phibbs and Norris both retiring, the only saving grace for the latter two being that their tyres would be in marginally better shape than the rest of the field for the second heat and the final.

Phibbs retirement from heat one certainly didn’t give an indication of the performances that were to come later in the day although the rest of the field were served notice as heat two got underway. On this occasion Graham got the early jump on Robertson with Barnicoat muscling ahead of MacLeod and then Robertson to take second on an action packed opening tour.

One driver missing from the action was Stilp, whose kart didn’t leave the dummy grid leaving just eleven contenders to battle it out for the win and that figure became ten when MacLeod, in his efforts to regain the ground he lost on the opening lap, made contact with Hamilton as they entered the Spoon Curve, sending Hamilton into the barriers and out of the race.

By the time Hamilton was being ejected from proceedings Barnicoat was back in front, having passed Graham on lap three. But unlike the first heat Graham had no answer for Barnicoat’s pace and slipped back into a scrap for second that also involved Robertson and a charging Phibbs.

Showing a level of speed and consistency that has been lacking over a race distance so far this year Phibbs was a revelation as he calmly moved ahead of Robertson on lap 13 and Graham two laps later to take second. Although Barnicoat was well on his way to a second straight heat win by this point Phibbs wasn’t to be denied his best FKS finish to date and set the fastest lap of the race as he pulled enough of a gap on his pursuers to take an unchallenged second.

Graham had a lively race en-route to third, getting the better of Robertson but losing out to Phibbs in the closing laps while fourth represented another solid, consistent result for the poleman. Coming home in fifth place was Jones, who didn’t have the pace to match the frontrunners on this occasion but who had more than enough in hand to keep Collard, Morley, Gill and Norris at the bay. After his altercation with Hamilton MacLeod finished eighth on the road but was later excluded for making avoidable contact, leaving him to contemplate life at the back of the starting grid for the final.

Two heat wins made Barnicoat a lock-in for pole position for the 15-minute, 23-lap final with Graham alongside him on the front row. If the class was going to continue its run of having a different winner in each round then row two starters Robertson and Jones appeared to be best placed although Phibbs, starting on the outside of row three alongside Collard, had also showed a potentially race winning turn of pace.

Missing from the grid was Stilp, whose heat two problems couldn’t be rectified, which left eleven karts to complete the rolling lap. When the lights turned green Barnicoat narrowly held off an attempted move from Graham around the outside of Club Corner to take the lead.

The race began to take shape as a virtual repeat of the round four final at Whilton Mill with Graham relentlessly harrying Barnicoat, who continued to push himself to the absolute limit. However at the start of lap six Graham suddenly slowed as the two made their way down the Dragon Straight, pulling to the side of the circuit an d retiring with engine problems.

But Barnicoat wasn’t going to have an easy run to the flag for into the breach came Phibbs who, after moving past Jones and Robertson, grabbed second just as Graham retired and defied expectations as he closed in on Barnicoat. Hungry for his first FKS win Phibbs caught Barnicoat by surprise with six laps remaining as he dived up the inside of the leader going into Spoon Curve and briefly grabbed top spot only to see Barnicoat fight straight back on the run down to the Carousel.

Having survived that one fright Barnicoat wasn’t going to let his guard drop again and although Phibbs remained glued to his rear bumper he couldn’t manufacture another passing attempt before the chequered flag came out.

Barnicoat’s second win of the year helped move him into the championship lead and ended the class’ run of different winners in each round but even though he enjoyed a brief taste of the lead Phibbs was still delighted with second place, especially as he once again proved his ultimate pace with the fastest lap of the race.

Another driver satisfied with the end result was third place finisher Robertson while MacLeod redeemed himself from his earlier contretemps to beat Hamilton in a clean fight for fourth. Collard took sixth while Morley held off his teammate Jones for seventh. Norris was the final finisher in ninth with Gill joining a distraught Graham on the sidelines after nine laps.