CKC Winter Round 1: Harry, Jack, Toby, Luke, Bambino’s Jonathan and Henry P

The team had been looking forward to the first winter round at the historic Surrey circuit for two reasons, the first Bambino meeting and the arrival of Luke Preston and Toby MacDonald to join Harry and Jack in a very determined attempt to get success during the colder months racing.

With a damp track looking to make Inters the tyre choice for the day, a happy group of drivers wandered off for the track walk leaving the team and dads to discuss the setups, with Matt and Ethan on site it wasn’t long till the banter began to dominate the teams temporary base and with Luke on form as well the laughter was becoming infectious. The Bambino’s needed a little help with paperwork but the Club were ready to get them involved. Seeing such young eager drivers at CKC is a reflection on the Club’s enthusiasm to invest in the younger driver and they are certainly getting it right, once the usual paperwork hiccups had been ironed out for the new arrivals numbers were issued and we all settled down for the day’s events.

The Hondas had a good cross section on site, with Jack on his first MSA novice race and the rest as front runners, tactics were discussed with the lads and Jack had the combined guidance of Ethan’s experience around the track and much coaching, coaching and….coaching by all to give him the best chance of a great finish.

The Shenington practice taking place at the same time was going well, with setup advice coming from the team at CKC Will, Henry and Sam were beginning to make good progress at the wet and windy Oxfordshire track, with simple pressure adjustments the lads were enjoying some middle order testing (which of course is racing to a cadet isn’t it on test day!) and despite some light contact between each other! Everyone were progressing really well and spirits as always were high.

Back at Camberley, Luke was in fine form sharing experiences from this year’s Super One championship and giving tips out to the younger drivers, Toby of course has been a reasonably well kept secret and his arrival in the Honda grid was a talking point, with testing at Clay and CKC having shown strong times we knew that Harry, Luke and Toby were not going to play games any more, this was the real deal and all the lads were hungry to get the results. Standing in the way of course was Ruben who on his last ever Honda meeting was not intending to let the Veneno train get in the way for the win on his home turf and not for the first time the two teams found themselves having a great mental battle to get the advantage – the atmosphere at the club all round was great with the Bambino’s being welcomed and the Honda grid ready for some great racing.

Everything would be about tyres and as everyone went out for practice this was clearly evident, a few adjustments to the karts and we were ready for the heats, first time out for the Bambinos of course who attracted a hoard of spectators aghast at these very small but able 6 year olds, with Henry and Jonathon up against a more experienced lad they can only learn but the lap times were really strong and having a huge amount of fun, the bigger grids are expected in the new year but for the first time this was an ideal situation for both drivers and club.

Honda H1 saw Harry, Luke and Toby dominate the top 5 for the first 3 laps and then the two Shark lads arrived, some great racing for position saw both teams sharing the top two places and some excellent overtaking, Tony clearly owns the pit entry corner but with all 4 dicing they continued to swap positions throughout the heat but with the last lap came some great clean moves and Luke and Toby took 1 and 2 with Ruben and James coming in 3rd and 4th, Harry still in the mix and following a real battle with Sam got himself a 6th so a truly great race but being third fastest lucked out in traffic.

Jack was at the back but learning quickly and his fluid driving had not gone unnoticed by onlookers, better was to come.

Bambinos saw Henry 2nd and Jonathon 3rd on the timings, young and inexperienced but all the lads having a great time.

Honda H2 and the boys pushed out for the front again, Ruben and Josh grabbing the early lead and setting a strong pace left Toby and Luke working hard to catch them from weak grid positions, Harry and Toby at first were in the top 4 and strong but contact in turn 1 left Harry too much to recover from although he had managed to avoid Toby in the melee. Tony suffered from a lack of grip so drove well to secure 5th with Luke 3rd and Harry 7th, Jack now mixing it with the pack was fastest novice and had been racing a lot more experienced racers on the way.

In the middle of all this Toby was also racing in the Iame heats but his dominance was shattering the opposition and had “poled” for the final having won both heats comfortably with significant leads.

Bambino H2 saw Henry 2nd and Jonathon 3rd but still gaining time…and having a great time taking part, the lads of course can only do timed laps but you could tell there was a little battling going on!

After some further coaching and Ethan giving Jack a few more pointers, we set out for the final.

With Luke on Pole for the Honda Final and Toby in 3rd the start was going to be lively especially with the teams friendly rival Ruben off P2. It took two restarts after Jack was helped off the track in the formation lap by some daft driving and another kart spun out, but the green light came on and the boys crossed the line determined to finish the job. It was a tense moment as all 4 drivers took the 1st corner but they all came out the other side and both Luke and Toby looked strong for the first lap or two then we realised Toby had probably not got the correct tyre pressures and the Iame winner started to go off the pace, a sad situation for Toby as he continued to push hard and became as wide as the track to keep the points.

With Ruben and Luke sticking to each other for the duration of the race they crossed the line with less than a tenth between them. Toby showed his experience and skills that even with a lack of grp he was able to keep it straight and fast ahead of the chasing pack and grabbed 4th but was six secs away and Harry grabbed a close fought 7th, a place not reflecting his pace and amazing efforts, just a little more luck but a new found determination showed he will not be left behind for long!

Jack found himself playing catch-up and as a new driver this can be difficult to deal with especially on the first race when he could have shown his pace well, being so far back at the start through no fault of your own often leads to more mistakes and while he tried it was clear that he was experiencing that moment we all have and the burger van was feeling like a better option, that said Jack had a fantastic Heat 2 and his testing efforts show that he is a winning driver in waiting, a little knocked we helped pick him up with a bar of chocolate and a drink and out feisty young novice started smiling again – this is karting for novices of course and these days happen.

The Bambinos concluded much as they started but all a little quicker, a little more tired but having had a great day they will all be back to be the club’s mini stars again for the day – well done to CKC for committing to these lads, it’s going to be a great addition to the club program.

Luke having grabbed 2nd was complimentary about his adversary who’s win marked the end of a long successful Honda career and sealed the Summer CKC Championships.

“It was close, I had the pace but the tyres came in a little late allowing Ruben to make a great move early on and all I could do was keep letting him know I was there in the hope he would drop a wheel and I could go by, it wasn’t worth the risk considering the circumstances, I really enjoyed the final but it’s a shame that we couldn’t get Toby up there as well – it could have been really lively then, I hope Ruben has a great time in Mini’s, we have had a few really good races and it couldn’t have ended any better for him – well done”

A great day for all the boys saw an invigorated Harry, a very quick Jack, a quick partnership in Toby and Luke and some very happy Bambinos.

Well done to Toby for winning the Iame outright without any clear competition today, a great drive from a very strong driver and a welcome acquaintance to the team.