The wet weather made qualifying tricky but I still managed to qualify 4th and the times were very close. Heat 1 looked promising and the kart was quicker than in the qualifying, but ended badly when the engine electrics unit failed; possibly due to the amount of surface water.

By Heat 2 we had replaced the electrics with a spare unit, and set about trying to make good the weekend. The track had started to dry out and the conditions were very similar to last year where I won the event. From the back I worked my way up and finished in 2nd, which was a big confidence boost moving into the Final.

In the Final I started 5th because of my DNF in the first heat but after the first corner I had made my way into second and set about chasing down the lead. I didn’t show the pace in the first part of the race, as the tyres didnt warm up quick enough, however by half way my pace started to show. Behind me however Rhys Jenkins was working through the grid and passed me for second. Both of us then chased down the lead and on the last lap Rhys got into the lead and I made a move into the chicane to take second. Rhys managed to hold the lead until the flag where I took second. It was frustrating to miss out on retaining my title by one place, but given the plate was not awarded anyway it would of been more annoying to have won then not been able to use it!

We were unable to record the race due to PFI officials preventing us filming; I get the impression that the club is not a fan of TKM

By heat three, it was apparant that we had the speed, it was just not usable i.e. it was on the wrong bits of the track. The kart was particularly struggling through the hairpins compared to others and was ‘bouncing’ on the back due to the amount of grip. We tried everything we could to solve the problem, but nothing was working. The remaining heats gave me enough points to start fifth for the final. I knew that I had to try to beat Rhys Jenkins to maintain my position in the championship, but this was always going to be difficult due to his speed on the day. A red flag half way through the race should have bunched the field up again, but the restart was a mess and the race became very strung out. I finished the final 6th.

When we got the kart back to the van, we found the chassis had cracked, and would need re-welding before next week. We also beleive that it’s twisted, because the front won’t line up correctly. Ok, so I’m being a bit negative, but I wanted to end the year on a high and frustratingly, we tried everything but didn’t get the results I was looking for. However, the final points didnt turn out quite so bad. I scored enough to fnish 6th in the championship, and when I look back over the year, then I’m pleased, as its a respectable number and I hope to improve on it next year! Check out the video;