Saturday 29 December 2012

2012 Inkart Championship Festival - Daytona Manchester

Last Sunday was the presentation for the overall top three in the Cadet and Junior Inkart Championship at Daytona Manchester.  However, before the presentation took place, there was a Festival race for Cadets, Juniors and Parents.  Tom kindly raced for us in the parents race!

A slightly different format to the races than previous - a two lap qualifier would determine grid positions for each of the heats - fastest to go first.  Samuel, for the first heat started right at the back of the grid - probably due to the change in format and that he was behind a slower driver.   So here is the video from that heat and his grid start was pretty good!


After the three heats, he was placed third on the grid in the final and despite changing places with Jordan for second at around half way through the race, Samuel finished third and received another trophy!

And here is the podium for the Cadet, Junior and Parent (or designated driver!) race finals:

Tom finished second in his final and also received a trophy!

And then the presentations for the overall Championship - covering all 11 rounds from January to November.  Samuel finished 9 times on the podium including a first place and the total of all the points gained meant he finished second overall in the Cadet Inkart Championship!  The other two podium finishers in the Cadet class have both been karting a number of years so its quite an achievement by Samuel as his first ever go in a kart was only just over 18 months ago!  And he is the youngest out of the three by 3 years!

And here he is with Tom and their three trophies!

And there ends the 2012 karting season!  12 trophies in total, 10 indoor races, 1 outdoor race and 1 Championship trophy.  Not a bad haul for his first season of karting - hope it continues next year!

Wednesday 19 December 2012

Hooton Park Indikart Championship and a Trophy!

Samuel took part in the final round of the IndiKart Championship for 2012 at Hooton Park on Sunday.  He had a good solid test day the previous day and enjoys the track when its wet so he was looking forward to the race on the Sunday.

He set the third fastest time from 18 drivers in qualifying which placed him third on the gird for heat 1.  The videos of his grid starts are not as spectacular as previous races because he is so near the front and has less overtaking opportunities but he's still quick off the mark!

Heat 1 grid start:



He finished in second place so he started in second for heat 2:



And finished in second place!  So he was second on the grid in the final:



And he actually finished the race in third place!

Here he is with his third place trophy:
This is his highest placed finish from the outdoor races he's had this year - all 4 of them!  And its fair to say that he is looking forward to the first race of the 2013 IndiKart Championship at Hooton Park on 20 January!

Monday 10 December 2012

Samuel Round 11 - Inkart Championship

It was round 11 of the Inkart Championship at Daytona Manchester on 25 November and it was also the final round of the season.

Samuel was placed 5th, 1st and 5th to start on the grid in his three heats and he managed decent finishes to be placed third on the grid for the final.

The final was fairly static so here is a video from the third and final round as he starts 5th on the grid.



He manages to move up a few places and then gets a black flag for advantage by contact so he then has to drive into the sin-bin which moves him to the back of the heat.  So from 7th place he then manages to move up and finishes 4th.  Not bad considering there are only 10 laps in the heat and a lap is done in around 30 seconds if not quicker!  And its not an easy track to overtake on.


He starts in the final in third place and finishes in third.  Which means he's won his 9th trophy of the season from 11 rounds and takes second place overall in the Cadet Championship in his first year of karting - 18 months ago he'd never been in a kart!

Here he is on the podium with Saul and Jordan:


And with the Juniors and their trophies:


And Samuel and Jordan together!

The race report can be viewed by clicking on the link in the sidebar if you want to have a read!!