Regional Finals – Thruxton Karting Circuit
Sunday 29th April
A cold and blustery day greeted the team at Thruxton Circuit along with seventeen other school teams for the Regional Go Karting Finals. It was a tough day full of Formula 1 style drama.
The basics of karting for the lay person is as follows:
- All competitors use the karts provided at the track as they are all 'the same';
- There are three drivers per team;
- Each driver competes in two races totalling six races;
- The position you come in after ten laps equates to a score;
- You are randomly placed on the starting grid for each race;
- The choice of car is pot luck.
Practice was promising and the team looked cool and fast but it was clear that car number 24 was quite a slow one. The plan was to try and avoid this car at all costs.
It so happened that Will Ford (our first driver) got car 24 in his second race and as luck would have it, Harvey Lawerence (our second driver) got the same car straight afterwards. So despite a great first race we were on the back foot.
Not down hearted we knew that our skills as racers would come through and worked hard in planning a strategy for the final three races. Harvey did well in Race four leaving Riley Philips (our third driver) with the pressure of pulling off a miracle. The start places were on our side, however. Race five we were in pole position and the final race we started in fourth spot. With Great cars and solid calm driving Riley won race five convincingly. Race six saw Riley starting in fourth position, but after the third bend his superior skills as a driver took him into first place which was where he stayed to win.
Out of eighteen teams, only the top six would go through to the finals and we were worried about the effect of 'Car 24'.
WE CAME SIXTH!!!
The boys and their parents were overjoyed to be off to the National Finals on 30th June at Whilton in Northampton!
Well done Chaps!
Matt Lloyd
Director of Sport