2025 SGMW Sue Baker Memorial Karting GP: Annual Karting Event Proves to be Another Thriller

The 2025 Southern Group of Motoring Writers’ (SGMW) annual Sue Baker Memorial Karting Grand Prix was held on 8th May at Team Sport, Crawley. In line with prior years, the 2025 instalment proved to be a thrilling race with plenty of competitive driving.

Now in its eleventh running (in twelve years), the SGMW Karting GP has raised over £32,300 for charity. For the past three years, the event has been held in honour of Sue Baker, the long-standing SGMW former chairman and member, who sadly passed away in November 2022 after bravely battling motor neurone disease. 

For 2025, the SGMW teams up with WOMAC

For this year’s race, the SGMW has again teamed up with Woman On The Move Against Cancer (WOMAC). This amazing charity raises funds for those affected by cancer, funding a different project each year. WOMAC counts a number of female motoring journalists and PRs among its patrons, including members of the SGMW.

2025 SGMW Sue Baker Memorial Karting GP: everything you need to know

The 2025 SGMW Sue Baker Memorial Karting GP pits motoring PRs against each other in an endurance race lasting two hours. The venue was Team Sport Karting in Crawley, where the teams faced the formidable 750-metre-long indoor circuit that spans three floors.

With the petrol-powered karts now long retired, the drivers would again be driving the BIZ EcoVolt GT, a fully electric go-kart. In the 2024 race, Andy Jenner from the Toyota team took the honours for the fastest lap with a blistering time of 46.316 seconds – 1.3 seconds faster than the previous petrol record lap time sent by Sean Ward in 2023.

The race: flags, position swapping, and hard-fought racing to the end

Eight teams entered this year, with a very competitive grid. Last year’s winners, Honda, returned, alongside entries from Hyundai, Kia, Toyota, Lexus, and Performance Coms. With the remaining two slots on the grid completed by the WOMAC team and the BMW/SGMW team (nicknamed the SGBMW) featuring group members Tim Pitt, Stu Bird, and Phill Tromans.

In the 20-minute practice session, Honda, Hyundai and Performance Coms led the standings with lap times in the high 47 seconds mark, while WOMAC, BMW/SGMW, Kia, Toyota and the Lexus teams were just behind with lapping in around 48 to 49 seconds.

With practice over, the race started with Honda quickly setting the early pace with a fastest lap of 47.994 seconds. Performance Coms were a few tenths behind in second, with Hyundai behind by a further second in third spot. Making up the rest of the standings were Toyota, BMW/SGMW, WOMAC, Kia, and Lexus.

By lap 17, Honda had established a 6.7-second lead over the Performance Coms in second place, while the BMW/SGMW team had climbed the rankings with some spirited driving to reach third spot. At the front of the pack, Performance Coms had set a fastest lap with a scorching time of 47.114 seconds, with Honda a shade behind with a time of 46.944 seconds.

With 23 laps completed, Honda were holding onto first place, with Hyundai 8.5 seconds behind in second, while SGMW/BMW were a lap adrift in third. The remainder of the standings saw Toyota in fourth, WOMAC fifth, Performance Coms in sixth, and Kia in seventh, with Lexus now three laps adrift at the back of the field.

However, it was all to play for at this early stage, with each team giving their all.

By the 64th lap, Honda were cementing their lead in first place with a gap of 12.27 seconds over second-placed Hyundai. The WOMAC team had put in some stellar lap times to reach third spot. At the back of the field, meanwhile, the BMW/SGMW team had fallen to seventh spot, followed by Lexus – both of whom were seven and eight laps, respectively, behind the leading Honda team. 

After 85 laps the top three of Honda, Hyundai and WOMAC remained unchanged. Honda had also made their intentions clear with a new fastest lap time of 46.786 seconds, while Performance Coms had moved up from sixth to fourth spot and were now hot on the heels of WOMAC in third place. 

At the 100-lap point of the race, the leading Honda team had again set another fastest lap time of 46.055 seconds. Hyundai was a lap behind, with very little between WOMAC in third and Performance Coms in fourth. At the back of the field, Toyota were now four laps away from the leaders, while the BMW/SGMW team were languishing nine laps behind, with Lexus some fifteen laps off the leaders pace.

As with previous years, there was some late drama to come. After 121 laps, the Honda team received a penalty that saw Hyundai take the lead from them before quickly establishing themselves a one-lap cushion at the front. Meanwhile, WOMAC continued to hold third spot, fighting off the Kia team in fourth.

In the final laps of the race, there was yet more late position swapping to come. As with four laps left to go, the Kia team sprinted past WOMAC to take third spot – while at the front of the field, Hyundai fought to hold onto their single-lap advantage over second-placed Honda.

As the chequered flag fell with 142 laps completed Hyundai finished in first spot, followed by Honda in second place and a resurgent Kia team in third place – some four laps behind the leading pair.

The Final Standings:

Despite finishing second, the Honda team did win bragging rights for the fastest lap of the race, with Bradley Beningfield setting a time of 46.055 – a lap time that beats the 46.316 seconds set by Andy Jenner for Toyota in the 2024 Karting GP. The Honda team also committed the highest number of infringements during the race. A feat that earned the team the now traditional wooden spoon awards. 

At the end of the race, the SGMW’s David Ward handed over a cheque for £1,535 to the Chair of WOMAC, Georgia Fox. 

After the race, SGMW committee member Ben Hodges said: “Again, the SGMW membership is hugely appreciative for the amazing support we’ve received from our friends and colleagues in the automotive industry for this year’s SGMW Sue Baker Memorial Karting GP. Everyone had great fun, in what was another thrilling race with a nail-biting finale. On the night, £1,535 was raised for WOMAC. So we’d like to say a massive thank you to everyone that took part and those who made a donation and congratulations to the winners. We look forward to welcoming you back for the 2026 race.”

To learn more about WOMAC’s fantastic work visit https://womac.co.uk/en-us/.