Howdy folks. How is everyone? All set for Autumn? I know I am! Since my last update, following the summer break I’ve competed at two further rounds of Castle Combe’s karting championship (where I’m aiming to try and win the ‘masters’ championship), and a round of the SRK ‘sprint’ championship, which was held at Rye House circuit on 14th September.
First up was Castle Combe on 24th August. Practice went well, further to which I went on to record 3 x 2nds and 1 x 3rd placed finishes in my heats, losing a potential win due to having a cold kart in my second race, which left me lining up in 4th position in the ‘B’ final. Unfortunately I made a poor start and was passed into turn one by one of my championship rivals, who then proceeded to squeeze me into the wall on the exit of the corner (the exact same thing happened to me at the SRK round at Castle Combe earlier in the year..) -
This dropped me to 7th position and earned the other driver a penalty, which was of little consolation as I was unable to make up any places for the remainder of the race. I left the circuit frustrated but determined to do better at the next round, which would take place towards the end of September.
Next up was SRK at Rye House, where amongst other famous names a certain Sir Lewis Hamilton honed his craft as a youngster. Unfortunately rain started more or less as soon as our event got underway, and didn’t really stop for the duration -
Not ideal circumstances in which to learn a new circuit but it turned out to be a fun challenge, providing you stayed away from the big puddles! With grids of 19-20 drivers in each heat race, I knew staying out of trouble and not making mistakes would be the order of the day, and my first two races went ok -
I finished 11th in my first race (having started in 10th), 7th in my second race (from 4th) before things went off the rails a bit in my third heat; One of the kart’s twin engines failed on the grid, leaving me a sitting duck and dropping me to last place by the end of the first lap. I returned to the pits to get the errant engine started up, and returned to the circuit almost a lap down on the leaders. I think I crossed the finish line in 16th place, but was awarded points for the position I started in due to the engine issue. Unfortunately I’d started in 14th, so again it was of little consolation. Still, that’s rental karting..
These results left me lining up toward the back of the grid for the ‘B’ final, where I was able to climb up to around 5th position during a heavy downpour before the race was stopped prematurely due to a large crash at the first corner involving several drivers (all of whom were thankfully ok!). The final results were therefore taken from the lap before, which saw me classified in 7th place, and 5th in the class I’m competing in.. So all in all, not a bad result given the circumstances. I certainly felt that the long trek to Hertfordshire had been worthwhile, and it was fun sharing the track with a lot of drivers I’ve had the pleasure of racing with over the years. I’m already looking forward to the next round, which is being held down near Brighton in early October.
To round off the month of September, I headed back to Castle Combe for round eight (of then) of the highly competitive 2025 karting championship. Heading into this round I was ranked in 19th place in the overall standings, and 4th in the ‘masters’ category (for drivers aged 40 and over). I knew I’d have to hit the ground running this round, as I couldn’t afford any further poor results if I was to achieve the targets set myself pre-season. The final two rounds will take place in October and November, and only a driver’s seven best results will count toward their overall standings at the end of the (ten round) championship.
Unfortunately for the second round in a row I found myself being forced into a wall, this time during my final ‘heat’ race, which dropped me from 2nd to last (5th) meaning that the points I’d accumulated from my other heats (2 x 2nds and 1 x 3rd) combined with this result left me lining up 6th in the ‘C’ final, where I was at least able to make up some places to finish in 3rd. Sadly, this wasn’t enough to get me promoted to the back of the ‘B’ final, which one of my championship rivals dominated. So it was another disappointing end to an event where I had high hopes of a good result -
My only consolation being that I felt like I’d driven well / did all that I could, and it was only because of the actions of an other driver that I didn’t come away with more points. With two rounds left of the championship time is now running out for me to deliver the results I need to become the 2025 ‘Masters’ champion, but if at the end of the day it doesn’t happen I can at least say I gave it my best..
Here’s hoping for a bit of rain at the next round to spice things up a bit!
In terms of my schedule between now and the end of the year, as mentioned earlier I’ll next be racing at the Brighton round of the SRK championship on 12th October, followed by SRK at Buckmore on 26th, Castle Combe on 15th November, before wrapping up the season at Daytona Milton Keynes at the SRK championship finale -
So I’m in for a busy couple of (hopefully successful!) months. I’ll be sure to post another update before Christmas!
Until then -
Drive safe, and have fun!
Ben
