The final version of the NRKL Sporting Regs are now available. There are some small changes for our first season as well as some new additions based on thoughts from the community.

Weight Classes Renamed

For the first championship, the weight classes will feature new names. While the weights will stay the same, the 65kg class will use the featherweight title, while the 80kg and 95 kg will adopt lightweight and heavyweight titles. During the full season, drivers may change their weight class any time before their first event without a penalty. If a driver wishes to change class after their first round, they will receive a 50 point penalty.

Introducing the North East Trophy

A 2 round mini-series running alongside the main championship, the North East Trophy will give drivers something extra to fight for. The opening round will take place at Teesside in May, before the finale taking place at Warden Law in August. Drivers who enter either round will be automatically signed up for the NE Trophy, while a special season pass is available for drivers who just want to enter these rounds, at a £10 discount.

Welcome to the teams championship

After running a pole on our Instagram page, there was a clear want for a teams championship for 2023, so we have introduced one. The teams championship will be open to teams of up to 3 drivers at each event, with teams allowed to field up to 6 drivers over the course of the season. This accounts for some drivers possibly not being able to compete in every round. Teams will need to nominate their drivers no fewer than 7 days prior to their first event, with any changes being made 7 days prior to the event in question.

Points will be scored using the same system as the main championship, the only difference being a lack of dropped scores for the teams championship.

3 different event formats during the season

The first edition of the NRKL will see the majority of rounds using the tried and tested heats format we saw at prologue, named 'Heats+'. However, at 3 rounds the formats will be shaken up slightly. Firstly, Whilton Mill will see drivers have just 2 heats to decide their qualifying positions for the finals, with the races running to a lap distance instead of time.

Warden Law and Teesside will see the biggest changes, with the introduction of the 'sprint' format. At these events, drivers will first have a 10 minute qualifying session before a pair of 20 minute sprint races. The grid for the first race will see drivers line up in qualifying order, while race 2 will use the result of race 1 to decide the grid.

The full racing regulations can be found here. The NRKL kicks off on March 25th at Rowrah.