As soon as the chequered flag dropped in November last year the long 2-month break allowed teams to recoup and prepare for the 2019 season. We saw a very different Winter Cup this year, many different looking teams as drivers move around the paddock – we would be in for a very different looking grid for March 2019!

31 teams would take part in the RHPK season opener this year. Raider Racing now called North Seventeen Racing confirmed that they would be RHPK Season Sponsors this year, enabling us to host an Alpha Live stream towards the end of the year!
The first driver change to be announced was Chris Bell who joins the Dorling brothers at GKD Racing. A perfect fit for an already strong team.
Renegade Monkeys enter the full 2019 season with previous Custom Rods drivers, Mark Beaumont, Steve Aldridge, and ABA Racing’s Ben Bishop. Ben Cook joins Custom Rods alongside Sam Read and Chris Orme.
Helicopter Services announced that Sammy Venables would be joining them for the 2019 season, however, he would sit out March due to a wrist injury.
Lee Kemp joins a newly formed CLM Lambo team. JND Racing would have a floating driver for a number of rounds this year, the first being Tor Ryan for March.
Atkins Motorsport would enter this year, with Matt Atkins, Sam Cassidy, and Reece Shephard

The Michael March: Round 1 named after RHPK’s dear friend Michael March would be once again tribute to his memory.

Qualifying

Custom Rods would take the first pole of the season with a time of 41.540, just on their toes behind was Renegade Monkeys just missing out with a time of 41.594. DAD Racing took 3rd with a 41.742, JND Racing 4th with 41.800 and 2018 RHPK Champions, Spectre Racing would settle for 5th place.

Despite Helicopter Services taking pole in the last lap of qualifying, they would have to start at the back of the grid, they arrived on the scales underweight. Lambo Racing would just miss out on a top 5, qualifying 6th place with a 41.893. GKD Racing would only manage 16th overall.

In Clubman Zingrae Racing would take pole with a time of 41.989, Universal Racing just missing out in a fantastically close push for pole – 41.999 would net them 2nd. Monkey Motorsport secured a fantastic 3rd place with a time of 42.159, March Racing would take 4th with a time of 42.173 and new team, 2 Bob Lambo round the top 5 up with 42.174.

KA Racing qualified just outside the top 5 in 6th and a little further down than they would have liked, Polish Lambo 10th in class.

Race

As the flag drops for the first race for the 2019 season! 30 Karts head towards Stadium bend! It’s Custom Rods who secure their first place for lap 1. North Seventeen Racing taking 2 places, GKD Racing now up in 10th after their disappointing qualifying session.

Helicopter Services now in 18th place after lap 1, taking 12 places! Euro Lambo sink to 29th after an incident.

Zingrae Racing lead Clubman, Universal Racing drop 2 places and find CLM Lambo, who have taken no less than 8 places on the first lap, in between them.

BHM Racing is on a charge, taking 7 places on the race start, they are now running 15th.

Disaster for CLM Lambo on the 3rd lap – Lee Kemp’s rear wheel detaches from the kart – A real shame for the team who showed so much promise in the morning, no doubt these guys will be running at the front of Clubman throughout the season but for round 1, it takes them out of contention.

Lap 11 Helicopter Services charging through the pack, now up to 5th place.

20 laps later, Renegade Monkeys, Custom Rods and Helicopter Services would fight for 45 minutes up until the first pit stops – separated by a tenth of a second! Fantastic racing by all drivers.

KA Racing now in 2nd in Class, a real charge for them despite qualifying outside the Clubman top 5. Zingrae’s luck will drastically change after an issue on lap 47 sees them plummet down the order forcing to pit. KA Racing is now leading the Clubman pack!

KO Racing are now 19th in between Polish Lambo and Team Eyrie Also. New team, Still Racing are a respectable 23rd.

As the race draws to a close, Spectre Racing are chasing down JND Racing in the closing stages – they are unable to close enough as JND steps up the pace for the last half an hour.

Renegade Monkeys take the first win for RHPK 2019. The hard-charging Custom Rods takes 2nd place. JND Racing secure 3rd, Spectre Racing take 4th and Lambo Racing finish 5th – a great start for Lambo Racing after a nightmare of a year in 2018 for the team.

Despite their mighty quick pace Helicopter Services could only manage 13th due to a clutch failure mid-way through the race.

Universal Racing take a fantastic win! What a start to the season for the team headed up by Michael Looker. March Racing take an incredible 2nd place, just one lap down – a real tribute in Michael’s memory. Monkey Motorsport take 3rd place, KA Racing and BHM are on the podium in 5th place.

Zingrae who looked certain to wrap up the race at the start managed a credible 7th in class – despite their issues. CLM Lambo finished 15th in class.

Both RHPK newcomers, Still Racing and 2 Bob Lambo finished 9th & 12th in class.

Round 1 - March 2019 Qualifying

Pos	No	Team	Class	Laps	Best
1	9	Custom Rods	SP	28	41.54
2	16	Renegade Monkeys	SP	34	41.594
3	6	DAD Racing	SP	27	41.742
4	11	JND	SP	34	41.8
5	1	Spectre Racing	SP	34	41.868
6	5	Lambo Racing	SP	31	41.893
7	14	North Seventeen Racing	SP	21	41.932
8	31	Zingrae Racing	C	19	41.989
9	40	Universal Racing	C	39	41.999
10	8	Polish Lambo V2	SP	33	42.012
11	20	Atkins Motorsport	SP	19	42.038
12	36	Monkey Motorsport	C	26	42.159
13	33	March Racing	C	22	42.173
14	57	2 Bob Lambo	C	28	42.174
15	17	Artifex	SP	23	42.184
16	7	GKD Racing	SP	19	42.233
17	4	Euro Lambo	SP	34	42.262
18	34	KA Racing	C	35	42.335
19	32	CLM Lambo	C	9	42.436
20	41	BMH	C	35	42.441
21	35	Burton Power Racing	C	26	42.533
22	30	Polish Lambo	C	34	42.57
23	38	Pelam Racing	C	30	42.666
24	37	Silverline Racing	C	34	43.038
25	52	KO Racing	C	15	43.137
26	42	HP Racing	C	16	43.145
27	39	Team Eyrie Also	C	35	43.375
28	56	Still Racing	C	26	43.38
29	45	Too Many Pies	C	30	44.197
DNS	58	Hocus Pocus	C	0
DNS	53	Burton Power MkII	C	0
DSQ	3	Helicopter Services	SP	31	41.508

Round 1 - March 2019 Race

Pos	No	Team	Class	Laps	Behind	Best
1	16	Renegade Monkeys	SP	340		41.401
2	9	Custom Rods	SP	340	22.946	41.375
3	11	JND	SP	337	3 Laps	41.717
4	1	Spectre Racing	SP	337	3 Laps	41.867
5	5	Lambo Racing	SP	336	4 Laps	41.532
6	7	GKD Racing	SP	335	5 Laps	42.08
7	6	DAD Racing	SP	335	5 Laps	41.714
8	14	North Seventeen Racing	SP	334	6 Laps	41.903
9	40	Universal Racing	C	334	6 Laps	42.202
10	17	Artifex	SP	333	7 Laps	42.154
11	33	March Racing	C	333	7 Laps	42.229
12	36	Monkey Motorsport	C	333	7 Laps	42.232
13	3	Helicopter Services	SP	332	8 Laps	41.308
14	34	KA Racing	C	331	9 Laps	42.055
15	41	BMH	C	331	9 Laps	42.222
16	38	Pelam Racing	C	328	12 Laps	42.591
17	8	Polish Lambo V2	SP	327	13 Laps	41.774
18	31	Zingrae Racing	C	327	13 Laps	41.825
19	35	Burton Power Racing	C	321	19 Laps	42.193
20	56	Still Racing	C	320	20 Laps	42.947
21	37	Silverline Racing	C	319	21 Laps	43.098
22	52	KO Racing	C	318	22 Laps	42.848
23	57	2 Bob Lambo	C	314	26 Laps	42.195
24	42	HP Racing	C	312	28 Laps	42.203
25	39	Team Eyrie Also	C	301	39 Laps	42.841
26	32	CLM Lambo	C	298	42 Laps	42.527
27	30	Polish Lambo	C	295	45 Laps	42.295
28	4	Euro Lambo	SP	194	146 Laps	42.036
29	20	Atkins Motorsport	SP	119	221 Laps	41.984
30	45	Too Many Pies	C	46	294 Laps	44.35