CKC Winter Champs - The conclusion
Team
Hondas: Toby, Sam, Luke and Jack
Junior: Ben
Racing made possible by: -
The support team: Matt Perry, Ethan Perry, Matt La Rosa, Roger, Nigel, Russ, Jay, Mark and Jez
Veneno Racing thank the Supporters:
Cummins and Pope Ltd - www.cummins-pope.co.uk
Walker Bros Electrical Engineers – www.walkerbrotherselectrical.co.uk
eam Pelfrey – www.team-pelfrey.com
With the Met Office having forecast a dry race day for over a week it was no surprise to see ice crystals falling during the morning prep ay the historic Surrey circuit, thankfully they were right however and with the clouds parting before 0900 the day was set.
The winter series has overall been a good battle between all the regular cadets and each of them have had some great races, with James who has been running with Shark leaving for cars and Ruben moving up to Minis the front end has been opened up for the next generation and a lot of the familiar names are ready to step up.
The team arrived with Bambino’s #JP7 and #HP44, the Hondas of course saw Jack, Luke Sam and Toby and with Ben on Juniors we had a good mix of racing to monitor.
The team took delivery of the latest 2016 BRK chassis for Toby as soon as they got in and Matt set about putting it together, a lot of interest surrounding the new modified ride height which will ease the summer grip so for BRK another step forward.
With the new Tommy Motorsport rebuilds on both Bambino’s both lads were quicker all round and collected 2nd and 3rd in class for the day, still on a learning curve the Bambinos are improving every time they run out and now have the times down to within 1.2 which they should close down soon.
Ben looked very much in control despite this being his first session on the dry in the new chassis, the setup was gauged well by Ben and Nigel and they ran a commendable 2nd and 3rd for most of the day taking fastest lap in H2 and finishing 4th overall, a great day Ben who is running another Matt Charters DK motor for 2016 and is pleased with the performance improvement and very optimistic of more to come as he progresses, Ben will be running at the front consistently very soon.
This day was of course about the Honda’s and with two team mates having battled so hard it was always going to be a difficult day to see only one win, Toby having already sealed the IAME Championship was concentrating on the Honda and with Luke looking for his first round and Championship win the nerves were clear to see, as a team manager and someone who prides himself putting the drivers first I was having a difficult time knowing that the end of the day would be marred by the trauma of losing and at the same time trying to celebrate a win - it could have easily been either lad, everyone In the team knew the efforts both had applied to be successful so the day was becoming equally stressful for all involved.
Jack and Sam have been practising hard at CKC and both are doing really well, with Jack getting his fastest lap this weekend and now approaching the 31’s he has been fine tuning his lines and is confident enough now to race at the front, a smooth and focused driver we will be seeing Jack on the podium this year without a doubt. Sam has been learning steadily but his commitment to Shenington means he has less track time to play with but has been progressing well.
H1 saw Jack recovering from a contact and pushing hard to make ground came across Sam in the ‘bus stop’ with slightly differing brake points and the whole novice experience thing the race concluded for Sam right there, with a visit to Frimley for X-rays now being part of Sam’s day he returned to applaud Jack on winning the Novice cup and overall Novice Winter cup, a little sore but fine Sam plans to be back in the seat at Rissington next weekend determined to have a normal day, the lads remain great team mates and have discussed the bus stop line and brake point in earnest
Toby’s IAME sessions were a simple demonstration of his Camberley prowess, taking control of the heats and final he never let the opposition cause any issues and made it look really very easy, much the same as he has all the way through the Winters.
With three points between Luke and Toby it was a case of keeping in front for Luke, With James and Josh having strong drives in the heats and a random visiting novice driving around in the top 4, Luke and Toby both had to work hard, the grid was busy and with more contact between all the karts than usual it was probably a scruffier meeting than usual, Toby having to contend with a new kart and the traffic complexities was ‘lucking’ out but continued to push knowing that one mistake by Luke could open the door.
Overall the right karts were battling at the front even with the visiting novice involved and between the two teams it could have gone either way for the meeting.
The final saw the Global kart arrive on inters which looked like a strong tactic and as Luke managed to get ahead for turn one it was clear we were going to have to wait for the inters to overheat, the Global driver passed using the inters grip quite quickly during lap 2 but aware of the tactic Luke knew it was just a matter of time so latched on and held his breath. With turn one having been a little ‘busy’ after the start James, Josh and Toby were getting stuck into each other but some way back from the breakaway pair, eventually the inters started to give and with two laps to run Luke got a clean run to turn 1 and broke away, just behind however Toby had clipped a kerb and lost his chain…….. the Winter series sadly finished there for Toby in the ‘complex’ before the flag fell while Luke carried on to take his first outright race win and the Winter Championship -heartbreak and jubilation at the same time. It’s a testament to Toby how well he dealt with the day, a tough ask on a brand new chassis with new settings to learn and dial in, his laps in the final were just 1 tenth off Luke but it wasn’t to be. 2nd overall in the Honda Winter Champs and 1st in the IAME Winter Champs with Shark is still a fantastic result.
Luke has been on the edge a win for a while now, so it was a great result for him to grab the win and the championship on the same day. This sets Luke up well for the S1 series and we look forward to seeing him in the podium again very soon
Both Toby and Luke are tremendous drivers, equally matched in this Championship it was never easy to predict and of course Shark fielded a strong paring in Josh and James as well, but our two lads left as good friends and they both look forward to battling with each other again, that for me is probably the greatest achievement given the tense circumstance of the Championship position.
Those out there who know the author of this know that I am way too passionate about the promotion of youngsters in karting, the Club Champions having originated from the team and its courses are way too numerous to mention but after all the day’s discussions (of which there were many!) it came down to the fact that these two lads had some great racing and while Toby didn’t get the double which we hoped he would they both got just reward for the effort in both classes. We manged to keep them with .12 of each other through the whole series and that takes some doing with some of the variables that we experienced.
If I have an admission it’s a simple one, this weekend I forgot myself what this is all about, swallowed up by the moment it becomes easy to get out of control and of course at the end of the chain are some young kids trying to have fun, just goes to show how easy it is to become consumed, as I say only those that worked with us on the foundation and advanced courses and know me personally would understand how hard that moment of realisation was to deal with.
We move on to the Summer season, good luck everyone and Keep It Flat!
