CKC Winter Champs Rd 3 - Henry, Holly, James, Jaydan, Sam and Will

The preceding week had done little for the hope of a dry mild day, with the apps being compared we knew it was certainly going to be a damp day so the inters and wets were loaded and we all headed off to the historic Surrey circuit.

This was to be Holly’s first MSA race and Mum and Dad were possibly more nervous than our newest racer, a very quick build of the pop ups and we got to work on the job in hand, we certainly felt that Sam had a strong chance as the weather conditions suit him really well, of course he is several steps up the ladder so not all of the guys were comfortable with the damp track but were willing to put the effort in, we certainly saw that as we went through the day.

Having Will and Henry with us for their first meeting of 2017 was a a great bonus to the laughter that normally fills the awning, Will having placed himself 13th in the Shenington series in 2016 is a very able driver but tends to quietly enjoy his sport, Henry of course is very much determined to be involved with the kart and drives with great focus and ability, recently he has endured some bad luck out there but he will be able to put himself on the podium at CKC in a short while no doubt, both lads enjoy some on track tussles and as of yet haven’t removed each other!

Jaydan has been enjoying the same level of improvement that we saw with Sam 12 months ago, his focus has improved and his feedback should follow suit, his last few appearances at Shenny and CKC have seen him appear very much closer to the front and as his consistency continues to progress at the current rate he will be enjoying trophies in the Spring, his times at Whilton during the cold period have made a few stop and look which is testament to his efforts and persistency, he has a busy year ahead with the plans on the horizon and we look ahead to some great results.

James has been slightly off the pace for a couple of rounds but his improvement overall has been a massive leap forward, we have seen Jaydan suffer a short ‘plateaux’ as he developed and James we feel is in that same phase of ‘putting’ it all together, it didn’t help that as the day progressed we discovered a problem with the stubs and pins which when reviewing the video footage gave away a technical problem which has been undermining his confidence, we have no concerns that James will very quickly reappear in the top 5 and reassert himself, he has a busy February away from karting so a short breath and 1-2-1 before the next Camberley race will benefit him immensely.

Holly is the newest team member to start racing and has the ability to shake it up very quickly, time of course is everything especially on track and her times reflect someone very committed to waking the boys up in the spring, a recent IKR meeting had her only .6 off the top 3 at Clay which generated a fair bit of interest of course. She has shown at CKC that she can get involved with the traffic but naturally with the limited experience remains a little ‘reserved’ regarding overtaking on a track that for a youngster takes a fair bit of ‘pluck’ to get through traffic, with the line improving rapidly and her race confidence growing we know that our headline act at CKC will be James and Holly moving forward.

Sam has continued to work hard, and with recent testing tends to dominate the track whenever he turns out, he enjoys helping his team mates and they have benefited from his input over the last few months. His battles with Josh and Fergus are impressive and the skills of all three drivers make the CKC finals a great spectator moment, it’s a tight track but with the ever increasing grid sizes (now up to nearly 20 Hondas) it’s no longer the easy silverware option that has been believed of late, working through this grid is a ‘manic’ exercise if you start from the back and will develop any driver very quickly, Sam has himself learned a great deal from CKC moving forward and the track remains a firm favourite with him.

The qualifying was marred by a stoppage which caused a traffic issue for the front karts, the qualifying concluded with Sam 2nd and Jaydan 6th, Holly Will, Henry and James were midfield and a little disappointed after the hiccup with the stoppage.

The heats were a mixed bag of results for all bar Sam who had a 1st and 2nd but the 1st race for Jaydan from 6th was ruined by a first run incident from which he never got a chance to recover, with the rest of the guys running midfield the pressures were slightly off and we went off to discuss the setups for the remainder.

The final was halted by a red flag in the first two laps, as Will had been involved we were pleased to see him drive back to the dummy grid to carry on racing albeit with a slightly odd axle movement!

Holly and Henry were coming alive and despite some fairly tentative heats were looking stronger, in Holly’s case she was battling karts with far greater experience and looking visibly quicker, James had not been his best during the heats and after confessing to a headache and what now appears to be a chassis tweak from an incident in November his day was already set, he went out really quickly but was falling short on mechanical grip, a post mortem has revealed a tweak in the metalwork and James has had a discussion regarding feedback, he will be on form when needed very soon so while it wasn’t his best day out, it was more kart than him so we look forward to getting back to the pointy end in February. Will was rattling around in 8th where he finished despite his tweaked axle and was happy to beat Henry who came in with Holly in 11th and 12th, Jaydan finished up 6th narrowly missing out on a podium after getting tangled with a somewhat unpredictable backmarker, it happens of course but is a shame following his recovery from a difficult first heat.

Sam had a great race with Josh and Fergus, the latter slowed up in the last several laps but Sam and Josh took the battle to the wire and on the last lap Sam had a chance at a gap after Josh had run wide, the pair continued side by side (as they do!) and it concluded with both running slightly wide on the top but Josh ending up on the grass and rearward into the tyres, thankfully he was fine after a short check, Sam continued to take his first deserved win but was quick to look for a thumbs up from Josh as he came round, the two lads have had some great battles at CKC and for their effort alone neither deserve to be left in the rubber, they both meet again in February of course and you can be sure of another close fight.

I am pleased to see the Honda grids picking up again now at CKC, there has been some great racing with all the cadets whatever end of the grid and the clubs investment into the younger classes since 2015 is proving to be a great boost to the club.

Veneno Racing would like to thank our Sponsors and Supporters :

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.