Category: News

Image: Niamh Hurley

The second round of the NRKL will see a capacity grid of 44 drivers heading to Three Sisters in Wigan, along with the 9 teams that form the teams championship.

Teams can enter the championship at no additional cost. Teams can have a roster of up to 6 drivers to choose from during the season, and must nominate 3 drivers to score points at each round. Heading into Three Sisters, a hand full of teams have decided to shake things up.

Firstly is Lancaster Motorsport, who enlisted the services of Connor Rathbone for the opening round of the championship. For Three Sisters, Ash Kandola and Harry Steele will be joined by Alex Horne who makes his NRKL debut. Team Capitan Kandola will be hoping that the addition of Horne can move them closer to championship leaders Paragon Racing.

Meanwhile, Rathbone has gone back to R Sport Racing, who were absent at Rowrah. The family run team is on the look out for drivers to partner with Rathbone for the season to try and mount a challenge for the title.

Another team with changes are Odd Squad1962, with Team boss Chris O’Connell enlisting the services of heavyweight championship leader Andrew Laister for the next round at Three Sisters. He will take the seat that had been occupied by Jack Metcalfe, who will still be supporting the team from the outside.

Meanwhile, Paragon Racing, W.E.R Racing and Ryder Racing head to Three Sisters with no changes to their line ups, with Endeavour racing currently not present for this round at Three Sisters. Team sign ups for this round are still open until April 19th.

Entries have closed and we now have our first grid of 2023, with just over 40 drivers heading to Rowrah in Cumbria for the first round of the NRKL. With 3 different weight classes in action over the course of the day, and all 3 winners from the prologue events back, it promises to be a great days racing.

The biggest class is the lightweight division, which sees 18 drivers line up for the opening round, so much so that they will have their own grid when we get to Rowrah. The Featherweight & Heavyweight class both have 12 drivers each, and will share the track for the opening round, with the featherweights starting ahead of the heavyweights.

This is also the first time that we see the team entries for 2023, with 5 teams currently signed up for the season, with a few more to come later in the season. Firstly is a pair of squads from Paragon Racing, with 6 very fast drivers in their roster, along with The Class of 97 fielding just 2 drivers at the opening round. They are joined by Ryder Racing, featuring 3 indoor specialists looking to impress on the outdoor scene, and Lancaster Motorsport, the BUKC team having a go at the NRKL this season.

The full entry list can be found below.

For anyone still wanting to join the grid, entries are still open for the rest of our races in 2023, including some spaces left to join our lightweight class at Rowrah.

While the 2023 NRKL teams championship was a late addition to the season, it has already attracted it’s first entries heading to Rowrah.

Having all competed in NRKL Prologue, the newly formed Paragon Racing will field a pair of teams, with a star studded line up, including all 3 class winners from our Prologue event back in November.

The first team features team boss John Paragon, the winner of the Heavyweight division at Prologue, team up with Featherweight winner Tommy Lee as well as BIKC front runner Jockey Wilson. All 3 of them head into the season opener at Rowrah, with Paragon & Wilson confirmed for the full championship.

The second line up is headlined by Lightweight Prologue winner Barry Lakes and NRG Sprint Pro Vice champion Ben Pickard who team up with Heavyweight podium finisher Cayle Simmons. Again, 3 drivers who have showed great pace, with Lakes taking home 2nd overall at his last NRKL event.

“I’ve wanted to sponsor a team for a while now and with a brand new race series launching in the north of England this year I figured this was a great opportunity to recruit some of my favourite racers and put together TWO teams!” Said team boss John Paragon speaking on social media.

Entries are currently open for the teams championship, and more information can be found here.

With the new year well and truely here, the 2023 NRKL Calendar is starting to take place, and we can confirm the venue for our opening round of 2023. Those who attened the prologue will already know, but we will be heading to Rowrah for round 1. We also confirm that our 2023 season will consist of 8 races over the North of the country.

Set into the side of a disused quary, the Cumbrian circuit is 1050m of challenging corners and massive elevation changes, this circuit is the perfect place to host our opening round. The circuit will also be receiving a new fleet of karts which should make kart parity even better when we visit in March.

The event itself will follow the same format as our prologue event, with drivers contesting in a 5 minute practice, then moving into 3 x 10 minute heats before contesting a 12 minute final. As our sporting regulations, drivers will score points at the end of the heats and for their finishing position in the final, meaning consistency is key.

The event will also see the first use of our licence system, with driving standards at the front of our minds. Just like a licence on the road, drivers will score points based on their (erm) indiscretions, with a scale employed based on what the driver’s found to be doing. These will be published after the event, with 12 points leading to a race ban. We are also looking to have a specific driving standards observer for each race.

As for the rest of the calendar, that will be released in the coming days, subject to finalising the last deals with host circuits for 2023.