CKC Winter Champs - Rd 1

Sam, Jaydan, Henry, Will and Joe(novice) Associates – Jamie and Olly(novice)

The Surrey circuit gates were swung open nice and early to see the first winter series begin, with the 18 cadets booked in it was going to be an interesting day, the overnight drizzle also left the track condition as open, a call that went down well in the Hawthorne camp.

With Sam and Jaydan’s performances recently we knew that we had a good chance of trophies here, with James beginning to show well in testing we were not leaving him out of the equation either, Will and Henry were confident walking out with Ben on the track walk and the mood in the awning was relaxed as unusually all the karts had arrived generally put together properly, the coffees were lit up and we set about fine tuning the machinery for timed qualifying.

Ben Huntley made a welcome return to karting but now as our lead mechanic, a popular face with our younger racers Ben brings a new fresh attitude and his personality will benefit the team no end…..as well as his prowess with Mychron 5’s after they have been savaged by technically unable dads!

The winter series brings with it a new layout to the program, timed practice/Qualifying, Heat 1, Pre final and Final, great for sorting the grids out and not compromising nervous pole sitters who have yet to experience being ‘loaded’ into turn one by an army of feisty 9 year olds, a quick chat with the lads and an agreed tactic was put into place, having 5 prime team karts and two associates meant we had to be aware of each other as well, the lads did exactly as asked and the boys qualified brilliantly: Sam – Pole, Will – 3rd, James – 4th, Jaydan -5 th, Henry - 11th, Olly – 12th, Jamie - 14th and Joe - 15th on his first ever visit without a practice, Joe was .2 quicker than a far more experienced novice so we were ecstatic for him plus he was on a brand new kart collected the previous night, nice and shiny and still with plastic wrap in some places!

4 karts in the top 5 is a real result for lads who are versatile over 4 circuits now, having only driven at most for 16 months it was a moving moment watching the flag go with Sam .75 of a second faster than Juan as the 2nd place qualifier, to see Will in 3rd was immense and then James turning up in 4th was a moment beyond all, James’s journey has now really begun and ‘Seaweed’ has arrived, Jaydan paid credit to him in the pit “awesome”

Pre final one went to Sam with some ease, while we had the gap of 8 secs Fergus was on a mission and picked up the fastest lap, Jaydan came in 4th but Will having battled hard found himself forced wide in a three way battle, what looked to be his best finish ever ended at turn 1 in the tyres, Henry suffering tech problems came in early, a problem that continued to haunt him for the day – his running times had him in the P10 area, Henry will return with shiny new nylocs! Joe was learning and unwatched by many outside the team was becoming a real prospect for the novice cup, Olly was certainly keeping an eye on him but having steady midfield finishes was not making it easy for Joe to catch up, Jamie had issues with grip, having too much grip is not always a problem but when you only have wets for inters he could have driven upside down if needed and stuck to the roof! He was driving well however and 2017 should see the Basingstoke youngster looking for podiums.

Pre final 2 was an unfortunate affair, with James caught out by cold slicks he was slow to get up to speed, turning into turn 1 a lap down he spun and was left on the exit at which point Jaydan in 4th place and pushing hard arrived………..after the subsequent red flag both lads were confirmed ok by the medics and we took them to the awning for a sit down, James was desperate to carry on but the kart had to be seriously repaired, Jaydan’s day concluded there as the kart needed more time than we had to rebuild, Sam took 3rd to place him pole for the final and with Will and Joe doing middle order it was a sombre return to the awing, all the returning lads instantly asked after the team mates....that’s the great part of this team - the camaraderie, something which then came into its own as we piled into James’s kart managing to put the final bolt in as it was wheeled to the grid for the final.

Sam, Josh and Fergus are no strangers to each other and the 3 of them cleared off by 10 secs in the final, with Fergus once again bagging fastest lap this race could have gone anywhere, Sam lead till the penultimate lap and then Josh pounced in a great overtake but earlier than normal giving Sam a chance to get back and then they came across a backmarker with three turns to go, the finish was a gap of 2 tenths with Josh managing to keep Sam at bay despite the poor lad in the middle of the scuffle, Will, James and Olly came in 8,9 and 10th, James had pulled off the great escape and gained 3 places from the start on a kart that few doubted would complete the race, Joe sadly despite leading the novice cup for the race kerbed the kart 2 laps from the end and lost his chain, Joe had done a fantastic consistent job and had taken the fight to Olly, both lads had done incredibly well however and either were deserving winners – well done boys.

Battle scarred we walked away with a 2nd overall and the novice cup, Jaydan we think could have got himself up there to battle with Fergus for 3rd so we have to leave it till January for them to sort that one out, Josh was a deserved winner, Sam gets another 2nd for this year and will return to try and win next time out, James deserves a huge ‘five’ for the recovery and a drive that left the team simply speechless, gutted for Will not getting the 2nd in the heats as we don’t know what he could have done from the 2nd row in the final, Henry unlucky on the day but a strong character who will return determined to get a trophy and the time is right for him.

Olly is getting stronger every session, unlucky in the first lap of the final he didn’t give up and that’s the secret isn’t it! He has the novice cup because he didn’t quit, says everything.

My day was simple, I just watched most of my former novices stick their karts into the top 5 in qualifying and that made me grin all the way through till I got home, proud? They will never have any idea.

Keep it flat.

Supporters:

Cummins and Pope - www.cummins-pope.co.uk Walker Bros - www.walkerbrotherselectrical.co.uk Sawmills Garage - www.sawmillsgarage.co.uk

Without this support the team could not continue to operate on a low-cost basis, the development of youngsters in karting at this early stage is vital to the continuity of our sport, Veneno will always be about the driver and is thankful for the generous support of its sponsors.