Ben, Harry, Sam, James & Jamie @ CKC

Ben, Sam, Harry, James and Jamie

An exciting day saw the team do its track walk with two new licences in James and Harry, the eager youngsters have been working with the team since the summer of 2015 and today was to be their first race day. With Sam returning to improve on his previous 3rd place finishes and Ben out for a win in the Junior Rotax we were hopeful of a great day, the forecast was a mixed bag of showers later in the meeting but the teams’ strong setups in those conditions were to prove invaluable.

James and Harry had a simple task, being the first ever day they simply had to go out and enjoy the moment, Camberley has some great racers across the classes and the club itself generally provides a really good atmosphere, I say generally because of course this is kart racing and you don’t take part in the sport without accepting the bad days which will happen for all of us, the excited ‘newbies’ stood looking up the hill and admitted that it felt different and those first race nerves were very evident.

Ben Huntley our Junior Rotax racer has come on immensely since joining us in January, his tenacity has been a key factor in an incredibly competitive class, making ground all the time we felt that following his podium trips at CKC in recent rounds we were ready to take the ‘top’ step and Ben fresh from finishing his exams was happy that we could continue the procession.

Sam Hawthorne is proving to be a fine example of how the team works, having been with us for a year now from a raw novice he is driving at the front now, at his main circuit he is making strong progress through the field and is in the competitive area, with two 3rd places at CKC over the last two rounds he is very able to mix it with drivers with nearly double his experience, if Sam was going to win we all wanted it to be today, he has been through the plateaux and every round now is becoming stronger and more mature.

The race day for our rookies was a simple affair, both lads changing places and enjoying being involved from time to time, James did not have his usual engine power but was able to hold on and provided us with some great racing, James has improved so much since we met last year at Rye he is no doubt going to get to the front, Harry generally remained with James all day sometimes in front sometimes behind but had a great day like James taking it all in, make the most of it boys…the hard work starts now!

Ben had a mixed day, CKC is generally a test base for him but he enjoys the track and while they are happy to race there it can always be difficult knowing what the day will hold dependent on what Nigel and Ben are trying out, the changes planned mixed with the weather and an unfortunate contact, that Ben held his hands up to, gave him a rough ride to the final but dialling the kart in the fancied the challenge of a low order start, we had front running pace and Ben displayed that by appearing in 4th at the end of lap 1 and then P2 by end of lap 3, finishing in 2nd we had a 10 sec penalty for the nose so ended up 4th, a great drive and a cracking drive in the final.

Sam delivered in the Heats with two 3rds and a second, with a PB of 31.3 as well we knew he had winning pace but had to convert it from a P3 grid start.

Some tactical moves by the front runners proved to be the important side as the track dried from an earlier shower, as the front three drove off it was clear that Sam had pace to win, he drove better than ever and his battle with Josh and Neo proved to us that he has arrived, Josh suffering from overheating tyres left a gap that Sam grabbed and the race finished nose to tail with all three around 8 secs up the road, a thrilling final driven really well by all the lads, James and Harry finished up having a great day and went home looking forward to the next meeting.

Jamie was also having a great day in Honda Cadet Novice showing strong pace against the other novices. A spirited drive in the final saw him take the novice trophy - great job!

Within the team we refer to it as ‘The Journey’, it happens in many different ways for so many different drivers and this was Sam’s day, his continued effort and perseverance is now paying off and he goes forward to Rissy with a new confidence, this confidence will help him as he tries to move forward there and also as he progresses at Shenny.

We do not set out to win World Championships but to create a foundation which could eventually help someone like Sam achieve that, we have done that with so many people over the years and continue to provide a level of moral support, the team itself now sees a huge level of change over the forthcoming months, the change is a clear indication of our response to what we believe the sport needs, you will find us mentoring at the back of the cadet grids at many locations as always, we will continue to support our drivers going through the grids but we are there for the novices and will continue to do so into 2017 despite the difficulties that surround the learning process, this remains to be about the driver.

The team sends its regards to Mark for a speedy recovery following the incident at Super One this last weekend.

Keep it flat out there and good luck wherever you are.