Another busy weekend - CKC & Shennington
CKC – James, Jack, Jamie , Jonathon, Luke and Toby
Well following the last weekend at Clay in the howling wind and bands of torrential rain on the Saturday we were quietly confident that this was going to be a more comfortable weekend.
As the team prepped to head for Shenington, Des found a new way to get from the Preston factory’s first floor offices to the ground, having now sprained his ankle carrying out a manoeuvre akin to an aerobatic display by Dumbo himself, his car was abandoned and Team Preston gave him a lift home, with the Shenington gang looking forward to a day of rain and wind it was beginning to overshadow the Clay Saturday and with Russ heading off to CKC to work with Toby on his transition to Honda for the winter we grabbed our luckless TP and headed east to Surrey.
The Shenington test day turned out to be a reasonably steady affair with Will Attreed, Will Forber and Sam Hawthorne all getting stuck into the showery weather, with setup advice and the sound ‘Aussie’ mind-set the lads had a good day lapping well and keeping the karts at the right end of the pack, having been lucky all year with the weather this was a great practice for the winter and we understand some competitive testing was also enjoyed!
CKC was a development day and with Luke and Toby there prepping a 2015 kart and motors together the atmosphere as always with Luke was a little ‘louder’ but as always full of laughter, Luke did the first walk round with the lads and with James looking forward to his birthday on the Sunday the chocolates were in good supply. Limping round on the track walk much to the amusement of the team Des managed to set the lads up for a solid days test and with eyes on all we enjoyed a day of progression in all areas, James still looking for a few seconds but his lines are tighter so with a little more confidence the speed will follow,
Jack joined the experienced group for a couple of sessions and held his own, Jamie still in need of some ‘smoothness’ has the pace but has to show more consistency to be competitive, Jonathon leapt into his Viper Bambino and drove round in front from session one till the end, still in need of the racing line the sound of his comer from trackside reflected his flat out attitude.
Luke and Toby achieved all goals and got the needed Honda practice in, producing some of the most consistent wet times I have ever seen Toby stamped his authority all over the historic Surrey circuit and made every effort to lap anyone on the track during the sessions, it is hoped that we will more news on this developing pairing as we move on but for now….
Shenington Race day was a dry affair and with the observation that we now had 4G at the circuit addicted ‘bookfacers’ were happy as well despite the stiff southerly breeze.
With Will Attreed getting in at the last minute from the reserve list the boys set off for practice and knowing we only had two heats and a final due to low light got stuck in quickly, the boys looked strong in the first lap but then the red flag went up and we returned to the pits.
The heats were a steady affair with #39 showing well although a P2 start advantage was lost following an unavoidable incident at Wilkins, we could have been a little quicker to get back on the track but Wills recovery from the back was great to watch and he got back to the pack with some ease, Will F #71, Sam and Zach were battling great guns for the novice cups and whilst Sam still needs a little more pace they all enjoyed some great racing moments leaving Zach and Will to fight for the order of trophies.
The final saw Will A get himself a middle order finish but only 2 tenths down on the P4 best times so we were happy with that, a gearing issue and binding brake saw Sam watching the race from the back of the pack, a disappointed Sam will pick himself up and be ready for the last round in two weeks.
Will F and Zach spent the final swapping places and crossing the line together saw them take the two novice cups with Zach the winner.
A busy weekend but everyone left with new experiences and a little more knowledge – well done guys.
The team’s drivers would like to express their thoughts and wishes to the people of Paris, our drivers are young and have an innocent level of understanding regarding the activities in France but all realised the sadness that was taking place.
