Back to good times at PFI’s for Theo on his new Zip Vanquish, after the tough weekend there the previous weekend which was one to forget. However, even *this* weekend, an unfortunate red flag in the final stopped us again from getting the result that the kart and driver truly deserved…
During testing on Saturday Theo was pretty much setting the pace all day. Going into Qualifying he had already shown his intentions by setting the pace in final practice by almost a quarter of a second in his group. And sure enough, in qualifying he continued this form by getting together with Oliver Bearman to set identical times (fastest of the weekend) and make it a Zip Vanquish 1-2-3 lock-out.
Sunday Race Day didn’t get off to the greatest start as Daddy (me!) completely read the wet-but-drying track wrongly and got the setup disastrously wrong! So despite Theo starting in 2nd, he was a sitting duck and did well to bring the kart home in 7th.
Theo and I vowed to get it right for our next heat. With the setup now more optimal and with Theo really fired up, we were both really looking forward to this heat. A bad start though meant that Theo dropped from Pole Position to 2nd off the line, but he worked with his old mate Lucas to push away from the rest of the pack. Setting purples all the way, they pulled an astonishing 7s gap to the next competitor! They had a brief battle for the line, but Theo had to settle for a close 2nd.
This qualified Theo to start the A Final in 6th. After an initially bad start off the line, Theo pulled off a fantastic move around the outside of The Loop, coming off the bridge in 3rd. With Lucas out in front leading, if only Theo could get behind him and repeat the dominant display from Heat 3! However, by the time he went for the move to 2nd he was caught by the pack behind and was hung out to dry, so went from 3rd to 2nd to 6th in the space of 2 corners. With now a 6 kart pack leading the race, they all battled away with positions changing all the time, but an unfortunate Red Flag not only cut the race short, but also cost Theo the fastest lap of the day (as the result was wound back a lap). However, he still finished 6th overall and still held joint fastest lap of the weekend with Oliver Bearman.
The “Thank Yous” now… a huge thanks to James Bean and Grant Munro at ZipKart for the constant help and support, both running up to this weekend and also throughout the weekend itself. The ZipKart brand definitely mean business this year and were there to help all customers extract as much as they could out of their karts. Thanks also to our fellow ZipKart drivers Lucas Ellingham and Oliver Bearman for working together so well on track. And not forgetting all our other friends that continually support us through Theo’s racing – you know who you are! 😉
Thanks also to Chris Walker for some great photos from the weekend.
Now for a small break…