NATIONAL COURT
Sitting on 21st November 2025 Guy Spollen( Chair), Dennis Carter, Peter Daly, Ken Potter Case No. J2025 / 41 INQUIRY – UKC ROTAX NATIONAL TROPHY 2025 Sian Woolley( Head of Legal) and Nick Bamber( Legal Counsel) appeared on behalf of Motorsport UK.
Ian Barry Dearing, Solicitor, appeared on behalf of Mark, Father of‘ Y’( a minor), and Sam Pollitt of Sam Pollitt Racing.
The essential facts in this matter are not straightforward and, according, they are set out below in some detail:
1. The Inquiry concerns Race 15 of the Mini Inter Final held on 12th October 2025 decision 68 of the Stewards to disqualify Competitor, 183, from the race pursuant to NCR Ch. 2 App. 8.
2. Prior to the disqualification Competitor 183,‘ X’( a minor), finished the race in second place and Competitor 126, Y, finished in 4th place having qualified in position 29 for the Race.
3. Daniel is the parent and legal guardian of X. In his statement dated 6th November Daniel states: a) X’ s kart was presented for scrutineering on 10th October 2025 in accordance with the standard event procedure and was inspected by the event’ s appointed technical officials. b) At the time of scrutineering the kart was fully assembled including the seat and transponder mount. c) The transponder was fitted to the rear of the seat in an upright position. No concerns were raised or noted by any official during or after this scrutineering process. d) The seat on X’ s kart was not changed or adjusted following scrutineering at any time during the event. The transponder position remained unchanged for all sessions, practice, heats, pre-final and final, and was always visible to competitors, officials and scrutineers. e) No concerns regarding the eligibility or transponder position of X’ s kart were raised at any stage prior to the Mini Inter Final.
4. Sam Pollitt of Sam Pollitt Racing was the Entrant of Y in the Championship and was present in that capacity at PF International Circuit on 12th October 2025. In a statement dated 10th November 2025 and confirmed in oral evidence Sam Pollitt said that: a)“ The Mini Inter Final was scheduled to start just after 3pm. Immediately before the start I went into the grandstand to watch the race. I did not notice anything about any of the karts in the assembly area before the start of the race or as they assembled for the grid.”
Revolution- December 2025 b)“ When I was in the grandstand Rob Holland, an employee of another entrant, Strawberry Racing, said that one of the karts in the race had its transponder fitted in the wrong place and that he had photographed it in case they wanted to protest it. I think that he mentioned the driver concerned – [ X ].” c)“… I took no notice of it because it did not affect me or, particularly, [ Y ] …” d)“ During the race [ Y ] drove extremely well and rose from 29th on the grid to finish 4th on the road.” e)“ At that point in time the( earlier) conversation with Rob Holland came to have some significance to me because [ X ] had finished in 2nd place in the race.” f) He appreciated and understood that if X’ s transponder was in the wrong place, then X was liable to be penalised and that, accordingly, this could affect Y’ s position in the final results, namely there could be an elevation to a podium position. g) After the Race he did see through the fencing that the transponder mounted to Kart 183 appeared to be mounted lower than on the other karts. h) A form of Protest was then written out, signed and submitted.
5. Records reveal that: a) Race 15 started at 15:11 and that Competitor 183 finished the Race at 15:26. b) The Protest form was submitted and filed by Sam
Pollitt at 15:32.
6. The Protest / Appeal form to the Stewards of the Event, besides recording by whom the Protest was being made, their licence number and competition number and race / class, otherwise merely states:
“ Transponder height of Kart 183”.
7. The Protest Hearing commenced at 16:17. The Chair of the Stewards was Rod Taylor who has provided two statements to the Inquiry as well as oral evidence.
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