MSA Motorsport UK Shenington Rounds 3 & 4
Tom returned to Shenington at the weekend, a circuit he has only visited three times before and with very little success.
Testing on Friday went very well and he was third fastest, which was a relief after his poor form the week before.
Round 3 – Saturday
Saturday – which was Round three of the Championship – started really well as he was fastest in the warm up and later 6th fastest overall in a very tricky qualifying session.
In his first heat he drove a fantastically controlled race, taking the lead early on, only to be denied the win when he got hit wide at the last corner on the last lap to finish second.
His second heat was a scrappy affair, with the top eight fighting over the top spot, he lead early on but in the end finished 7th.
For the final Tom started 4th and fought for the lead throughout the 15 minute race. The front four had broken away from the pack, Tom was third but was hit hard from behind by another driver pushing him almost off the circuit and losing a number of places. He drove hard and fought his way back to finish seventh, which became sixth after the driver that hit him was penalised and put back 17 places.
Round 4 – Sunday
Sunday was Round Four, and a fresh start from Saturday. The morning warm up went well and Tom was 5th fastest. Qualifying went even better as he was third fastest overall giving him a front row start for his heats.
The first heat was very cagey and he had another controlled drive to second place.
His second heat was a bit more like the day before, with a group of 10 karts fighting for the lead and he was placed fourth at the end – resulting in a 4th place start position for the final.
The final was a fraught fifteen minute race and Tom ran in second place for a lot of it. However, with the nature of the circuit no one could break clear and places changed numerous times.
Tom looked dead set for his first British Championship podium as he was third going into the last corner only to be pushed wide and end up fourth over the line.
More bad news followed post-race as he was protested and given a five second penalty for contact with another kart, demoting him to 13th place.
On a positive note this weekend was a massive improvement from last year and shows the great strides Tom has taken since last season as he is now very much one of the top runners in the British Karting Championship.
Next time out is at Larkhall in Scotland in three weeks’ time.
Images – Kartpix
