Jamie @ Clay rd 3 - Last of the Black Plates
With dry weather forecast for the Dorset circuit on race day Jamie sat out the first few wet sessions as his kart was prepped and the latest Matt Charters machine was bolted on.
With the next generation of Dartford Racing Engines now showing really well, Jamie was confident this was going to be a great weekend in terms of pace and development and having “Sabre” back from rebuild after some impressive times we felt sure of a good round.
Jamie was on his last novice plate round and his friend Edward Leader had turned out for his first MSA signature so it was not going to be an easy weekend to get the novice cup, Edward has done some training work with the team and he is a very natural driver, very fluid and full of tenacity so it was an all or nothing weekend.
Saturday testing was a straightforward task of finding the gearing which by the close we had settled nicely into the right side of the 41’s but more importantly consistently in there. If we had any problems it was the “gripping” up which was surprising a lot of the classes so tyres were selected accordingly and we set the kart for race day.
As we are leaving the back of the grid now for the usual first yellow plate outing on pole we decided that this round was going to be used to learn and develop Jamie’s overtaking and racecraft, a couple of teeth later and H1 saw Jamie running round in 12th mere 3 tenths off the front three, H2 saw Jamie avoiding an incident which left him on the grass but his chase to recover three places was a delight to watch and done with an axle alignment issue which was having a slight effect on his turn in. H3 and Jamie was 7th fastest but tripping over an Iame cadet but having a great time.
With Edward and Jamie alongside each other on the grid the final was a classic nose to tail affair with both lads changing positions constantly but passing traffic on the way lapping 3 tenths off the fastest lap, the end saw them cross the line together with a well deserving Edward taking the trophy and it was well deserved, the battle at the back was watched more closely by a number of people than the one at the front which was a testament to both lads efforts.
Jamie crossed the line in 14th, just 0.010 down on Edward, both closing in on P12 and interestingly ahead of a few much more experienced cadets on yellow plates, including the 2014 CKC Honda Cadet Champion who Jamie passed with a few laps to go. This weeked saw Jamie progress well, bettering his lap times every outing and showing that good setup, good coaching and a positive attitude all go to produce some great results
Well done Jamie, welcome to Yellow Plates.
