Touching Distance | Easykart UK Round 1 Shenington

Well the first race of the season has come and gone. As the first round was at Shenington this year we didn't need to stay in a hotel. We arrived at the track early Saturday morning as we needed to pick up the engine from Andy's since it had been in for a full rebuild. We were set up and ready very early considering the first session was at 11 am. The first session + 5 laps I was taking it easy to run the engine in.

It felt like a pretty good day testing, seemed to be pretty much on the pace. I had some fun in the last session just racing with some of the others, not really concentrating on lines as much. It has to be one of my best test days to date. Hoping for good things on Sunday.

Our Setup

Sunday arrived and we, junior, were first out all day. Warm up went as expected, pushing it a bit to try and get some heat into the tyres, but not going full out so they didn't get ruined for qualifying.
In qualifying I only did 8 laps as my times didn't appear to be improving. This turned out to be a great decision as my fastest time from those 8 laps granted me my second front row start! I qualified 2nd.

The heat went ok, my start kept me in second and I managed to hold my position for just over 7 laps, at which point I unfortunately got overtaken. I finished the heat in 4th place so it wasn't too bad.

Front Row for the heat

The pre-final went pretty much without a hitch. I started 4th and finished 4th however there was a fair amount of position changing during the race. I was up to 3rd a couple of times but unable to hold onto the position whilst keeping with the guy infront.
The final was the big one, the one being filmed, the one for the trophies. Unfortunately I finished 4th.... again. Although this matches my best result to date I could have had 3rd. I was up to 3rd on the final lap but left the door open going into Bruno Chicane. This proved to be a huge mistake as Jonathan shot up the inside, held the position and defended the rest of the lap. If it wasn't for that stupid mistake I would have gained my first podium and my best result.
It was a good but irritating weekend and lessons were definitely learnt.

The Easykart Paddock

Looking forward to round 2 at Three Sisters in Wigan. Round 2 is ALSO being filmed so fun times.