April 2026
If March was quiet then April was set to be the opposite. With Shenington and two trips to Whilton Mill, it was a solid 3 weeks of weekend karting, added into the mix a mid week test and it was a full program.
We headed to Shenington, firm in the knowledge that the job this early in the season is to just keep scoring points, to Whilton for test and setup for both their second club round and also the first round of the Wera Tools British Kart Championship that takes place on the first weekend of May.
We still had a fresh engine to develop and get to full power as well as tyres to test and a chassis setup to find, its been so long since we ran competitively anywhere other than Shenington.
Shenington Round 4 - Spring Showdown
Saturday practice
Frustratingly my new engine suffered from debris entering the bore and damaging the piston at Silverstone or Shenington last month, so I was really lucky to not suffer an engine failure at the last round.
Scott at Jade had to do a full rebuild and again we were back to running in, 5 sessions on the Saturday to try and get some hours back on the motor. Ater two slow speed tests to get the engine broken in, we went to full power and gearing to check the power delivery. It was still a little down on the best of my two, so for the last session we put on my spare and ran that as a back to back test.
In test 4 on the new engine I was half a second off Rudra, my real mission is to beat him and continue to work on championship points, changing to the other engine and the final test the gap was similar, but I think he was on newer tyres.
Sunday Race Day
An amazing warm and sunny day met me at the track on Sunday morning, my sole focus was on getting to the front and making points, not just against the championship leader but also my teammates; 1st to 4th is only covered by 5 points, every point is critical.
Heat 1
Starting mid pack for both races has its disadvantages but also allows me to miss some of the first corner incidents. Going off P5 wasn’t a bad start, unfortunately I didn’t get the best of it, getting into a half spin in turn one. Once recovered and back on track, I had dropped to 6th, but Im getting used to fighting through the pack at Shenington and so I set off to make up the places, by lap 6 I was up to P4, with only the less experienced Kody And Oliver to get past, I passed them both in lap 9 and then settled for P2 as the gap to Rudrah had grown to a point I couldn’t catch. It was Rudrah leading and it unfortunately it was him who hit me in turn one, after he had his penalty applied i just missed out on P1 by 0.3 seconds.
Heat 2
Mid pack start again, P5 this time, and a better start, moving immediately to P3 but I got hit by Kody and got dropped back to P5, I was struggling with the traffic on this heat, and I was wondering if the collision had given me some handling issues.
I pushed back hard to push past Kody on lap 5 and then managed to catch and get past Theo on lap 9, I caught up to Travis, he was just holding me up and without enough laps to pass him I settled for P3.
A P2 & P3 result was guaranteed to put me on the front row for he final. Kody received a 5 second penalty for the collision, aiding my position in the final.
Final
As predicted, a front row start next to Rudrah on the outside from P2. It wasn’t much of a battle and by far the easiest race for a while, a full 13 laps racing Rudra for P1 but I couldn’t keep his ultimate pace, the gap grew slightly and without any tow from the karts around me I started to slip back a little.
On the last lap I was hit by Travis going into the last corner, it felt deliberate and I eventually crossed the line in P3, I was so upset by the incident I went straight to the stewards to complain, I felt so relieved when thy told me they had seen the incident and a penalty was to b applied to him for the aggressive move. So eventually ending up in P2 and collecting those valuable points.
I am now up to P3 in the championship, with a slight gap on Theo, but I’m not complacent and know I need to keep working hard.
Whilton Mill Round 2 - 25th & 26th April
With the upcoming first round of the British Kart Championship, I felt it important to get some time back at Whilton Mill, I only visited back in 2025 so was a little rusty. I joined a test day on the Wednesday the week before and we put lots of time and laps on the engine, in fact over 100 laps of the UK most physical circuit, not only technical, but also rough and bumpy, its well known to be extremely hard on drivers.
My times improved during the day and where quite promising.
The race layout at Whilton is slightly different, just 3 practice sessions on Saturday followed by non timed qualifying and then timed qualifying.
The race itself was a great grid of 26 drivers, most also practicing for the BKC meaning the race would likely be a representation of the following weekend.
In practice I was mid table, P17 in the first 19th in the second in qualifying I didn’t get the best run and qualified P21. I was 1.1 seconds of P1, which was disappointing but wouldn’t really affect the start on the Sunday.
Heat 1
I knew it was going to be a challenge to go well in the race, but the speed was immense, starting in P21 was extremely challenging with so many karts around me, I did well to only drop 1 place and into 22nd, I started to push forward and up into 20th. My next target was Reggie Chandler as I was a lot quicker than him, trying to get past he pushed me onto the grass and into an unrecoverable spin, so that’s where my heat ended, I was lucky to get P23 due to others crashing and penalties, but it wasn’t a great start to the day.
Heat 2
Nothing to lose in the second heat so the plan was just to push hard. So with that in mind I was soon in the midst of the battle, up 2 by lap 3 and again battling with Reggie, this time, I was ready and managed to get past him on lap 7, he wasn’t giving up though and we fought all the way to the line, he just pushed me wide on the last corner and got down the inside so I finished 18th.
However that wasn’t the end, I missed my braking on the in lap and hit the back of Reggie in the pit lane, giving me an instant 5 second penalty! Back down to P20.
Final
The result meant I was on P21 for the final, exactly where I qualified. Things really were not going my way!
It seemed that it really wasn’t my weekend, I got a reasonable start, but the kart didn’t feel great and within a lap or two I was back to 23rd and not at all competitive, I just pushed on as hard as I could but I made a mistake at Christmas corner by Frank Morris put me off track and unable to rejoin.
So that was the end of a reasonably bad race day. I officially finished last, P25 and Frank had managed to rejoin and finished one place in front.
The positive, although difficult was that my lap times had improved and the whole weekend got my engine ready for the BKC, I learned the track and improved my lines, hopefully though my weekend in the BKC will be less dramatic.
Up Next
British Kart Championship - 1-3rd May
Shenington Round 5 - 16-17th May