KARTING: CASTLE Eaton's Richard Hughes opened his Winter Series Championship bid finishing in second place in Shennington.

His 16-year-old Arrow kart teammate Peter Blakeney from Devizes was also in form, finishing fifth.

The meeting attracted a full grid of 24 entrants in the 125 Rotax Max class, but the weather was not kind and thick fog descended on the circuit, delaying racing for two hours.

Eventually organisers decided to run just two races of 10 laps with a combined score deciding the overall winner.

Hughes drew two middle starts and worked his way through the field to third in both.

Blakeney had to start on the back row in the first outing and had a storming race up to seventh.

In his second heat, Peter started near the front, but was delayed on lap one by someone else's accident.

He fought his way back to sixth by the finish, an excellent result in the more challenging Senior class.

"We didn't quite have the pace to beat defending champion Karl Haxton," said Richard after the meeting.

"However, the Arrow kart was good and there is more to come.

"Peter's best lap time was identical to mine, so we can work on the data from both karts to find further improvements during the season."