CKC Winter Champs - Final Round - Sam, James, Jaydan, Will, Henry, Holly and Joe

With the Winter Championships ending, this was a nervous day for Sam, his lead should see him drive around to a comfortable victory overall but little did we know!

With the track walk concluded we returned to the awning where the karts had been readied by Ben and the drivers support team for the scrutineers, Sam had reframed to a 2016 the previous evening and there was some tidying up to be done, as the guys finished up little did we know of the unseen problem that would give Sam so many issues.

Timed qualifying saw Holly take the teams highest grid position with 8th, Jaydan in 9th, James 10th, Henry 11th, Sam 12th, Joe and Will both had issues with weight and a transponder fail so were relegated to the back for the first race sadly.

Pre-Final 1 saw Jaydan grabbing a great 5th place and 2nd fastest overall, Jaydan’s form lately is impressive and he is certainly stepping up, just 6 secs behind was Henry and then Holly who is now beginning to have a great day out at the Surrey track, Will, James, Sam and Joe following behind and it was becoming clear that a problem was causing Sam to slow in certain corners.

Pre-Final 2 and Jaydan again sees a top 6 finish, with Henry, Holly and Will only a short distance away the guys were enjoying the day, James was driving steadily but lifting a bit too early in some places and was losing ground, Joe was sadly involved in an incident on the out lap as the grid slowed up with little warning and Sam was struggling again in 13th, Sam had a problem and it was now threatening the Championship win.

The Final saw Jaydan on 5th, Henry on 7th, Holly on 8th, Will on 10th, James on 12th, Sam on 13th and Joe on 18th for the start.

We held our breath as Jaydan went for his first podium and was certainly able to do it, with his mum joining us it had potential to be a great result for him, Holly had been having a great day and a midfield finish for her here would be a fantastic result, Henry and Will had been having a good day, in particular Henry who has not been out that regularly so his return to the right end of the grid in races was great to see, James was enjoying his day but had accepted he was not pushing as well as he has and was already planning to get his head down for Forest, Joe back in the seat from a long break was thankful for the seat time but could have had better luck with the traffic, he will be able to mix it in the spring so just track time now.

Sam needed a result, this had been a dreadful day for our hard-working number 15 and the pressure was showing now, as he rolled out we still couldn’t find the issue which did not show itself on the stand but was leaving him 1.3 sec off the pace.

Jaydan finished 6th, just a second off the trophies which he truly deserved based on effort alone, his recent pace is remarkable and will bring him silverware very soon, Henry .3 behind was a good result, his focussed attitude has rewarded him here, Will 9th with a consistent drive, Holly 11th, Sam in 12th, James 17th and Joe 19th reflected some real bad luck on track, both lads will be fine as we progress but a difficult day for them.

Holly has begun to show what she is about now, she is chasing down drivers with much more experience and can get past them, the James and Holly pairing at CKC has great potential and James will soon be on song to get both to the front.

Sam of course sat in tatters in the van, convinced that his 12th place hadn’t been enough to secure the Championship the poor lad had to wait as the team did the calculations then waited for the official result, Hollys mum had done the calculations and a shocked Sam stood in the awning as the CKC Winter Champion, he had managed to get it despite a grim day at the track.

We were joined today by Jordan Cane who drives for Cliff Dempsey/Hillspeed Racing in F3 and 1600 for 2017, Jordan’s appearance was a great part of the day and they certainly made the guys ‘up’ their game, we look forward to taking the team out to seem them testing or racing during this season, Jordan has a huge potential in motorsport and is a name of the future.

I feel privileged to work with these great young characters, this is more than karting for me, drop the politics and rubbish that seems to surround our sport currently and look at these kids doing amazing things in such an adult environment – awesome!

Sam earned this Championship against a constant 20 strong grid, he worked hard and got lucky when he needed to…it happens that way, Jaydan is stepping up now and all the guys are doing well at different stages, that’s how it is.

“Success will come when it comes, delay does not mean denial”

Keep it Flat.

Team 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.