Holly @ Clay Pigeon Champs - Round 1

A truly cold weekend awaited us as we setup at the Dorset circuit, with its new plush facilities Clay Pigeon remains a firm favourite for drivers, this was round 1 for 2017 and we had a full complement of the British championship entry to liven things up, with Clay hosting Super one this year it was always looking to be a highly competitive day.

The Saturday test was overall good for Holly, her lines were overall strong with a couple of corrections, Ben managed to sort a few issues out into the hairpin and the pace looked good for middle order running, Hollys 2nd race meeting was on her home circuit and we were doing well, at one point we were quicker in some areas than a lot of more experienced runners but the cold was becoming a huge problem for our fearless novice.

Finishing up the Saturday test it was apparent that Holly was suffering like a fair few youngsters but we had had a reasonable day, by all accounts the race day would be warmer so we headed off home for tea and an early night. Race day was colder! The biting wind made it feel like a Shetland winter day and we were all feeling it, the morning track walk saw our intrepid warrior suffering straight away and she was sent off to a running car to keep warm until the day got underway.

Holly has always been strong at Clay in training and performances in IKR have to date been good, now racing MSA she has so much more to think about and the development training has seen her at various different tracks recently, we were hoping to see her racing in the top 15 based on previous performances but the cold had set in as she went off for the heats and we were way off our previous pace, every effort was made to help her but the persistent wind, new dry tyres and ‘heated’ competition were against her and sadly we spent the day chasing the other novices down.

Hollys day concluded in the final .2 secs off a Super One lad who was another having an ‘off’ day, it happens of course at this stage in karting but a real shame for Holly who could have been a lot further up had it not been for the cold. Hollys progress today was simply marred by the weather, the level of track time she is doing is creating a shorter journey and she has proved recently that the future is very bright for her, these days happen so we stacked, wrapped and headed off for a hot chocolate and a warm home, 2017 holds a lot of promise for Holly and James but both being the younger ones it’s going to have its days and this was one of the more uncomfortable ones, thankfully it can only get warmer now!

Well done Holly for your efforts in the cold. #kittypower

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