April 2025
April didn’t start too well for me, I managed to break my wrist playing football with one of my friends at the local park. This meant that I couldn’t compete in the first round of the PFI club championship, which we had scheduled.
Sitting the round out, although disappointing doesn’t have a big impact on my championship position as I’m allowed to drop one round from the championship. It does however, mean that if I have any further poor results or miss a round it will have a bigger impact. That said, I was lucky and only had the cast on for 3 weeks, and two days after I had it removed, I was back at Shenington to compete in the 4th round or their club championship.
I still took a trip to Whilton Mill to support the cadet team in the British Championship whilst recovering.
Shenington Easter Spectacular 17-19th April
I decided not to compete on the test day on the 17th, hoping to give my wrist an extra day out of the kart so I could race at my best on Sunday.
Jade had updated the livery on the kart and it was looking stunning.
Saturday test day was just an opportunity to see how I felt in the kart, I felt good and with 7 sessions to get the kart ready for race day we had plenty of time to try some different setups, the weather was amazing, warm and dry, perfect for fast laps.
I spent the day running in the top 3 with team mates Phillip and Will, setting a new PB time for the circuit and feeling really competitive, some of the issues with my practice engine seemed to have improved with a new carburettor.
Ending the day with a 48.15 second lap, I was very happy despite the tentative approach I was told to take to protect my damaged wrist.
Sunday morning started well. Great weather again. We started off with a 5-minute warm up, teammate Allesandro Sarlas had joined us for race day, there is no doubt about his speed and skill at Shenington and would definitly be the one to challenge for a win. Practice went well, coming in 3rd showing good speed but 0.6 off Rex and Alessandro, I was a little surprised given the pace I had the day before. Back in the awning to setup the for heat 1, we fitted brand new tyres hoping that this would find us the missing few tenths.
Heat 1
With grid slots random, I drew P6 for the first heat, it was sure to be challenging from there to get to the front, I got a great start and by turn 1 I was in fourth, a quick pass on novice, Harry Whitehouse saw me pushing Allesandro hard, I passed Will Heynes for 3rd and found myself in P2 with just Allesandro in front. We had a great race with me coming in second and setting the fastest lap, my best ever heat finish and a new PB as well.
Heat 2
I started P3, but a bad start and a forced spin saw me drop back in the order, I just couldn’t move forward, I was racing hard with Rex Pooley but I couldn't seem to get away from him to catch the main pack. I ended up coming a disappointing P6, loosing 3 places and some important grid place points for the final.
Heat 3
Now we are into the summer evenings it means we can fit in a 3rd heat, hoping this would help me improve my final grid position I had everything to play for. Starting P4 was good, It turned into a 4 way battle with the Jade team all trying for the win, a great heat and interesting race where the top 4 kept changing, I was quick setting the fastest lap time, until the very last lap when Will just beat it by 0.01s . I did manage to claim a fastest sector time, sector 3. The extra heat allowed me to claim P3 for the final, behind Will Heynes and Allesandro Sarlas. A Jade front row lock out.
Final
Starting P3 I got a great start, and we all held position for the first lap, the kart seemed to have lost some of its earlier pace and I found both Allesandro and Will pulling away from me in the 6th lap and I wasn’t close enough to really mount a challenge for the top spots, but I held 3rd and eventually crossed the line, I did pick up a fastest sector time but even my fastest lap wasn’t the same as the earlier heats. I think it’s because I dropped out of the strong tow I was getting, but it still my best result since owning the kart and I was really happy to be on the podium.
Up Next
Trent Valley Kart Club Championship Round 3
P F International Race Circuit
30Th April -2nd May
