The second round of the Winter Series visted Paul Fletcher International Raceway kart club this weekend, which saw a very impressive field of Cadets. All five of the Team Wright Karts Cadets were in attendance.

Rory Cuff:

Daniel Ticktum:

Callum Ilott:

Harrison Newey:

Charlie Barlow:

Whilst Daniel Ticktum was one of the fastest drivers on the Saturday, he was also suffering from illness. The illness finally got the better of Daniel, and after practice Sunday morning regretfully he had to end to his weekends participation.

CADET REPORT:

Heat 1:

Three of the five drivers participated in the first Cadet race (Rory Cuff, Harrison Newey and Charlie Barlow). The race conditions where tricky, with the track greasy and damp and with an entry of 40+ drivers it was imperative for the drivers to finish well in both heats to secure a place in the final.

 Barlow started from pole position, with Newey 6^th and Cuff 8^th. In what was to prove a very static first heat almost all the movement was to be made on the opening two laps. During this crucial period of the race Charlie Barlow was on the rough end of a couple of manoeuvres, this knocked Barlow back to a lowly 18^th position. However, Barlow picked himself back up and managed to recoup a superb 6 positions in the final three laps, ending up in 12^th position. Harrison Newey had the most neutral of drives and although having made passes and  been overtaken, ultimately ended up back in his starting position of 6^th. Rory Cuff encountered a totally different heat to that of Barlow and made great headway into the leading pack on the first lap. By the end of the first lap Cuff was in third place chasing the leading two. However, in a very static heat Cuff maintained his position to finish third.

Heat 2:

All four of the Wright drivers were involved in a much more eventful second race. The starting grids were Ilott 7^th, Cuff 11^th, Newey 21^st and Barlow 16^th respectively. As with all Cadet races most of the overtaking was carried out on the first lap. After a large collision at the first hairpin which claimed Ilott, Cuff was 6^th, Newey 10^th, Barlow 12^th and Ilott 21^st. After a successful (and safe) first lap Cuff then steadily carved his way through the field to finish an impressive 3^rd. After the first lap Newey’s progress was halted and ended the race in 10^th spot. Ilott showed good pace in the race, picking his way back up through the field after his first lap, finally claiming 13^th position. Unfortunately after progressing to 10^th position by lap three, Charlie Barlow was nudged from behind coming down the main straight and on the greasy track lost control, sending him sideways into a crash Barrier at more than 50mph. Luckily Barlow was just winded and walked away unhurt.

Heat 3:

Callum Ilott was the sole member of Team Wright Karts in the third Cadet heat. After a poor result in first heat Ilott had some ground to make up in the second heat and from 17^th on the grid it looked to be a hard fight to get into the final on merit. A good start to the race saw Ilott jump from 17^th to 13^th and the progress continued as he moved up to 10^th by the end of the race, a gain of 7 places in 7 laps.

The results of these heats saw all Team Wright Karts Members make the A Final grid outright. Cuff was to start 2^nd, Newey 10^th, Ilott 16^th and Barlow 25^th.

A Final:

For the second Winter series in a row the entire Wright team qualified for the final. The starting grid saw Cuff on 3^rd, Newey 10^th, Ilott 16^th and Barlow 28^th. The start saw Barlow get knocked back to the very back of the pack after the first lap. Newey had an equally poor first lap being demoted from 10^th to 27^th by the end of the second lap, owing to an excursion on the exit of the first hairpin. Cuff had maintained station in third and in the chasing pack behind Connor Jupp who managed to get a jump on the rest of the pack. Callum Ilott managed to jump three places within the first three laps to move into 13^th.

As the race moved into the 3^rd lap Barlow was back up with the tail of the field and making easy work of  progressing from 34^th to 22^nd in the space of 7 laps. The spread of the field however made it impossible for Barlow to make any further headway ending up in 22^nd spot.

Harrison Newey also managed to regain some of his lost places due to his excursion and by the time the chequered flag dropped he had managed to improve 4 places to 24^th. Not what he would have been hoping for after such successful heats but he continues to improve upon his results in this difficult class.

Callum Ilott showed a battling spirit throughout, dicing in a race within a race. A group of four or five drivers were battling for midfield positions which didn’t help their progression but never the less was a well fought battle. Ilott was victorious in this tussle and claimed 14^th spot overall, an  improvement of 2 places

The real excitement as always was at the front of the field, with Jupp having over a second lead the pursuing pack were tripping over themselves to take second spot.   This in turn helped Jupp maintain the lead. Cuff who held third spot from the off was “trained” back into 5^th position on lap four. Once he had collected himself, Cuff then began moving back through the field at a rate of  one place per lap and by lap nine had taken 2^nd spot with Aston and Harvey in close contention. These positions remained until the last lap. Harvey went down the inside of Cuff down the straight where there was simply not enough room, the two connected sending Harvey back to fourth and Aston back to fifth, the beneficiary of all this was James Kellett who was promoted to third. This furore gave Cuff breathing room for the last part of the lap to bring home an eventual  well fought 2^nd place.

      Results:

      "A" Final Results             Fastest Time          Behind Leader

1.       Connor Jupp                        56.43               

2.      Rory Cuff                     56.68                    3.24

3.      James Kellett                      56.59                             4.60

14.  Callum Ilott                 57.14                   16.64

22.  Charlie Barlow            57.19                    25.16   

24.  Harrison Newey          58.08                    36.15