British Championships

This is the page about my first year in the Super1 British Championship.

I think it has being a good first year in it for me, I have enjoyed taking part in the event and I love working with HRS Motorsport.

HRS Racing Team have brought me on a lot. I have learnt so much whilst I have being with them.

So far I have done the 2rounds. The first at Whilton Mill. And the second at Rowrah. Rowrah was much more succesful for me than Whilton Mill. In the final at Whilton, I came off on the grass on the first corner, did a 360 and carried on going. Although this may sound pretty cool, a 360 on the grass is not the quickest way round a race track! Therfore, I came out, last. I worked my way back up the field, it was very hard to keep my pace consistent and not to get too mad and overdrive the kart. In the end I finished 19th after dropping down to 30th position at the first corner. Here, to explain more I have got this graph for you to look at, I have edited it to black and white then made my line stand out, my race progress is the bright yellow line. What it explains is that when the line goes down, that is me doing the 360 and going down to last position, then when the line goes up throughout the race, that is me overtaking and gaining places as much as I can…

Now, moving onto round 2. Rowrah.

This was a much more succesful event for me. I finished every race in the weekend and early testing during the week before showed consistent results at the 2nd round of the Britsh Championships at Rowrah.

Although I have being testing at Rowrah, this was still a very very hard, competitive race weekend. Qualifying did not turn out too well for me, I just didn’t seem to settle down and be fast and put the lap times needed in. In the end, I qualified 26th out of 45. This was a very dissapointing result for me. But now was not the time to give up! I kept my head up high and kept on trying.

In my first heat, it was raining very heavily. Here, my testing did not come as an advantage for me, because when I was testing it was dry. This was my very first race at Rowrah, in the rain. It took me a while to get used to the track and to get to grips with all the new racing lines I had to take. I started 14th and worked my way up to 9th position. This was an average result and I knew I had to get my head down to get better results.

In my second heat, the track was now bone dry. Once again, a change of racing lines and overtaking places. It took me a couple of laps to get used to the grip and stay out of the wet patches. Again, I started 14th and finished in 7th place. Still, I really needed to get my finger out for the pre-final then a good position for the grand final.

Now, the pre-final,I started 15th on the grid, I was confident I was going to have a good start because I was on the inside of the two trains. The lights went green, it was all going well, I made up a lot of places, I was half way round the forst corner, the chicane, and suddenly, the backend of my kart kicked out. It was a great shock. I have being shunted from behind. Then I noticed a high pitched noise, like a chain had come off, my kart slowed down, my foot was planted to the floor. I wondered what had happened, then, a kart flew over my nassua panel from behind. This driver was Lee Bourner. He bent my steering column, my track rods and other things. When all this happened, I cut half of the chicane out, and was jammed with another kart. This dropped my position right back to the end of the field. In the end, I finished 21st. This knocked my confidence. Just knowing that if that was the first corner in the pre-final, I daren’t think what it was going to be like for the grand final!

Now, after a long wait. It was time for the Grand Final! I was very excited to do this race, starting 21st on the grid after a very bad pre-final race. After a slow but successful start, I gained about 4 places just in the first corner. Another 3 just in the first hairpin. Throughout the race I kept gaining places with Bill Cowley, seeded number 6 in the country, following me, in the middle of the race Bill got me, then I followed him through the field, we both worked together to make up 20 places! In the end I finished 8th position after starting 21st on the grid. This was a successful result in the end!

I am looking forward to the next round at Buckmore Park Circuit. Let’s hope my result is better than my other rounds!

I look forward to participating in these events.

Below, I have some pictures of me in the British Championships …