2008 has been a hectic time both on and off the track and I must apologise for not having kept on top of this race report section.  But the season is over now and my memory is already fading, so rather than race by race details I've decided to write a short summary.

 Kasia has been involved in a season long battle at the top of the Whilton Mill leader board, at one time looking like she could topple Toby Sowery from 2nd place, however, Toby managed to hang on and both he and Kasia retained their 2nd and 3rd place positions from last year behind the winner Brett Wykes.  Still neither of them should be ashamed to finish behind the 2007 National Champion.

At Shenington Kasia finished in 5th place overall despite missing 4 of the 9 rounds due to other karting commitments

The highlight of our year has to be reaching our goal of a seeded position in the National Super 1 Comer Cadet Kart Championship.  The competition was as fierce as ever and as the only girl in the 43 driver field Kasia had her work cut out.  All races are ultimately decided by a combination of variables skill, preparation, equipment and luck.  Like all in the championship we had our fair share of all four throughout the year, through three particular incidents probably cost us a position in the top 10 (one carb problem giving a no start in a heat, and two minor collisions in the last two finals, that dropped Kasia either out of thee race or to the back of the pack).  This being said none of the incidents were malicious and we just put them down as racing incidents.

Finally, congratulations go to all of the competitors we have raced against, I never cease to be amazed at how well these young people coup with the pressures of racing and the sheer amount of physical and mental concentration involved in wheel to wheel racing in all conditions.  For most karting will be just a short term hobby, that will help them develop excellent life skills for others it is the stepping stone to a career in motorsport.

This was a hot & humid weekend for every one. In the cadet class there were over 40 drivers entered for the race, with all drivers competing in 3 of 4 heats. In her first heat Kasia started 5th and fought her way up the line to 3rd, however, as she backed off a little to adjust the engine temperature on the last lap, a couple of close following karts went through and she finished in 5th place.  In her 2nd heat she started 21st and made up a number of place to eventually finish in 15th.  In the final heat, the sun was at its hottest, with the track getting grippier. Kasia started 11th and finished 5th putting her in 11th place on the grid for the final from which she finish 8th in the Comer cadet class

So despite a relatively low points scoring round at Whilton, Kasia remains in 2nd place in the Championship.

Having made a good start in the final, Kasia then dropped a few places mid race, then made about steadily making them up, eventually crossing the line in 10th place for another grandstand finish 8/100th's of a second ahead of Charlie Bryant. 

Kasia is now in joint 3rd place in the Club Championship

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The format for Sunday was to be 2 heats to determine grid position for the pre-final, the result of which would determine the grid position for the final.  With wins in both of the heats Kasia was hopeful of a good result for the weekend.  Taking an early lead in the pre-final all looked good until we noticed she had very little power at the top of the hill and soon fell back and came under attack.  In one lap she lost 3 places, going into Crook she followed a kart through to overtake but the driver unaware that she was there turned in on her sending the front end of her kart into the air and then off into the tyres.  She recovered but was at the back and eventually finished in 18th place.

We made a whole host of set-up and even engine changes for the final knowing that there was a lot of work to do from 18th place on the grid.  Unfortunately there was a first corner incident with a kart spinning in the middle of the pack which precipitated a multiple collision further back, Kasia was hit and spun from behind, so again she was right at the back.  Driving as hard as she could she posted the 4th fastest lap but crossed the line well down on where we had hoped to be.

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Friday and Saturday test sessions went without much in the way of carb problems, but Sunday's final saw a number of competitors suffering ranging from none starters to, erratic performance and stoppages on track.

Overall our weekend was quite disappointing, we didn't suffer too much on the carb front, but the Rowrah circuit is very technical and we are still learning how to set-up and race effectively there.  Kasia had a 10th, 11th and 16th in the heats and finished off with a 12th position in the final of 29 starters.

The track remains one of our favorites, with excellent organization and terrific scenery, all be it nearly 6 hours drive away !

Kasia is currently in 11th place in the ABkC Super 1 Series at the mid point in the season.

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Monsoon Tyres needed !

For Heat 1 Kasia started in pole and led a lights to flag victory.  Starting in 21st for heat 2 Kasia was tagged going into the first corner and went into a half spin ending up at the back of the field some quarter of a lap down on the rest of the karts.  Driving well she managed to pull some of this loss back and finished in 11th.  For the third heat Kasia starting in 11th place and worked hard to make up places, in the closing laps she made a pass on 2 karts taking her into 2nd place at "Christmas corner", however, the spray was so bad that she missed her braking point and spun on the entry to the the next corner dropping back down the field and finishing in 9th place.

For the final she started in 5th place, and with a very wet and flat sounding engine managed to finish the final in 4th place, consolidating her 2nd place in the club championship.

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Our first heat win in Super 1

In her first heat Kasia finished in 7th place and set the fastest lap, for her 2nd heat Kasia was on grid position 28, and was looking to make up places, however, the Tryton carb went down and the kart failed to start.  This recurring problem is causing a lot of grief in the Comer Cadet class this year and a solution from Zip Kart the importer and promoter of the class is urgently needed.

In her 3rd heat Kasia was starting in pole. We knew that PFI is a notoriously difficult track on which to run in front and retain position so were expecting to be quickly caught and have to work with a small pack to pull away from the rest.  However, once the lights went green Kasia was able to pull out an early lead which left those behind her to fight for position, she led the race from start to finish, only coming under pressure from Josh White in the closing lap.  

So despite our carb failure Kasia qualified in 13th place for the final.  Following the start the race was red flagged at the 2nd corner when several karts came together and one flipped over. Following the re-start Kasia was loosing out, running wide on right hand corners, and struggled to make much impression on the race but managed to finish in 9th place.  Back at the awning we found some damage from the first lap incident that had resulted in the front right hand tyre being at less than half the pressure of the front left tyre, and explained the handling problems.

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Picture by Chris Walker, Kartpix.net

The first weekend of Summer ?

Starting the final in 6th place, Kasia made her way to 4th early in the race, but after a small mistake that lost her probably no more than half a second, she became caught up in a 5 kart battle which lasted to the end of the race.  Luckily she kept her head and after a very tough battle in which she initially dropped back, she came back to finish the race in 4th place and retain her 2nd position in the Club Championship table.

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A win takes Kasia to 1st place in the Club Championship table

Having posted fastest lap in each of her 3 heats Kasia took up her 3rd place on the grid of 30 cadets for the for the Final.  With another blistering start Kasia took control of the race in the first lap, holding the lead to the chequered flag.

This result moving Kasia up to first place in the Club Championship after 4 of the 11 rounds.

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Picture by Paul Mabbutt, Pixelero.co.uk

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Picture by Paul Mabbutt, Pixelero.co.uk

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A Great start to the 
Super 1, ABkC National Championship

At ca 1100 m in length with its' fast flowing corners and long straight this is renowned as the fastest kart circuit in the UK, and has remained Kasia's favorite since her first visit last year.

The Cadet class had an entry of 40 drivers who would each compete in three heats, for places in the "B" and "A"-Finals.  The weekend got underway with 2 full days of open practice in mostly wet and cold conditions with occasional sunshine. This changeable weather made the test sessions very difficult and limited the amount of true back to back testing we could do, in addition the continued problems with the new controlled Tryton Carb led to a number of engine failures throughout the test days despite new components being issued to all competitors, and it was clear that this theme would continue through to Race day.

Following heavy overnight rain, Race day started wet but quickly cleared to be a bright, sunny but cold day. Starting 5th, 17th and 15th in her 3 heats Kasia managed to complete the heats in 7th, 7th and 12th position respectively qualifying her 9th on the grid for the 13 lap "A"-Final.

With 30 karts on the grid for the "A"-Final the start was always going to be difficult and Kasia lost a few places as the pack made off up the hill into the "Valley" section of the track, four laps in, the race was Red Flaged due to an accident at "Lunar Corner".  The re-start was in single file, and over the line Kasia managed to stay ahead of those behind and soon build up a lead on those following, for some  competitors though the re-start spelled disaster as their karts failed to start or failed shortly afterwards.

Coming into the final section of the race Kasia was up into 5th place, and harrying McNicoll, but though we felt she was faster on the day, she just could not find a way past and crossed the line in 5th place, an excellent start to our 2008 Super 1 Championship

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Kasia now in 2nd Place in the Championship despite a difficult final

The heats were a mixture of dry, damp and wet races so set-up and gearing were somewhat of a lottery. With heat finishes of 10th , 6th and 3rd Kasia was 5th on the grid for the final.  We gambled on dry gearing for the final, but the dark clouds that amassed in the minutes before the start led us to switch from slick tyres to wets, and when the snow and hail came just after the first lap, we had the wrong gearing, and Kasia began to drop back through the field, a spin mid race saw Kasia drop back a further 7 places, which she fought hard to recover, and on the last lap, out dragged 3 karts from the exit of the last corner to the line, beating the lead one by just one hundredth of a second to finish in 17th place.

Toby Sowery one of the top drivers at Whilton, had an even worse weekend than we did, with his kart stopping on track in the final for the 2nd month running !  He too is now suffering the intermittent reliability issues of the new Tryton carbs.

Saturday was a very difficult day, as we for the first time this year, suffered the problem that so many others  have had, namely the unreliability of the new Tryton Carbs.  After hours of changing needles and seats but to no avail we decided to run with our 2nd carb and just hope that it did not go down during Sunday's races.

With 42 cadets and very poor weather conditions race day was run over 2 heats and an A + B final.  In the first heat we struggled to get the carb settings right and Kasia fell back from the start finishing in 12 position. For her 2nd heat Kasia made up some ground finishing 10th from a grid start of 16th.

Having had two relatively poor heats Kasia started the A-Final in 13th place, and as the race developed we thought all hope of retaining her 3rd position in the Winter Championships was lost, but then half way through the last lap, she managed to gain 4 places on one corner, profiting from 2 karts coming together, and managing to avoid these while slipping past the other 2 main contenders for the 3rd place in the Winter Championship.  All looked set for a promising finish, when on the last corner of the last lap, one of those following her took a lunge down the inside, striking her kart into a spin that put her back 4 places and out of contention. 

Uncertainly that played 
into our hands !

Our Saturday practice was disappointing, we tried three engines but just could not get the carb settings right, and Kasia was some 8/10's off the pace.  We took a rather drastic approach and signed on 2 other engines (untried on Saturday) for Sunday's race.  With just 3 laps of practice on Sunday morning this was a big gamble, but we did get the engine / carb running well.

For heat 1, with a grid of 30 cadets Kasia was drawn to start in Pole position, from which she achieved a lights to flag victory over the seven laps of the ca 1 Km circuit.

For her 2nd and 3rd heats Kasia started 20th and 18th respectively and following commanding drives finished these heats in 9th and 8th places respectively, her combined efforts in the heats earning her the 5th grid slot in the Cadet "A"-Final.

The "A"-Final was scheduled for late afternoon and the weather was drawing in, it was one of those days where all karts are left on the trolleys on the dummy grid while anxious Dads/Mechanics gaze skywards trying to double guess the weather.  We were first to act selecting different gearing and front / rear grip, whilst still remaining on slicks, but then just a minute or so before the race start the rain started. Everyone opted for wets but our sprocket change gave us an advantage which Kasia used to good effect.  

On the first lap Kasia was up into 4th only to drop back to 5th for laps 2 and 3 by lap 5 there was an intense battle between Hazz (S1), Kasia (23) and Ross (32), by lap 6 Ross was leading this pack only to drop back behind Hazz during lap 7, however, in a move to retake position Hazz and Ross collided both narrowly missing Kasia as they exited the track backwards.  Kasia rapidly closed the 3.5 second gap to the 2nd placed kart number 9 and spent laps 9 and 10 looking for a way past as he blocked, Kasia was now under pressure from Craig (18) and had to find a way past or risk being passed herself, so she made her move at the tight down hill off camber right hand hairpin, known as "Ashby" and made it stick,  on lap 12 she was past and opening up a gap of 1 second per lap crossing the line on Lap 13 in 2nd place behind last years British Champion Brett Wykes.

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This months entry was not only swelled by new entrants but also by a very strong field of experienced National Kart racers getting in valuable track time ahead of the National rounds to be held at Shenington later in the year.

Though extremely cold overnight the ice on the track quickly cleared and a bright sunny day made for some good racing.  With a large entry across all classes the 45 cadets each competed in 2 of 3 heats followed by a B Final to decide the last four places in the A final grid.

Kasia had two very successful heats moving from 20th place to 10th place in just 3 corners in the 2nd heat, and finishing the heats in 6th and 5th place respectively.  This gained her the 5th place grid position for the A final. With 30 karts in the A final the start was hectic and Kasia found herself on the outside of the long sweeping corner two, this combined with a nudge from behind put her back to10th place and despite moving up and down the field throughout the race Kasia had to settle for an 11th place finish at the flag. 

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Picture by Paul Mabbutt, Pixelero.co.uk

Click to enlarge photo
Picture by Paul Mabbutt, Pixelero.co.uk

Click to enlarge photo
Picture by Paul Mabbutt, Pixelero.co.uk

With so many entries 4 heats were run with each cadet taking part in 3 heats, the top 20 were automatically entered into the 'A' Final but before that the remaining contested a 'B' Final with the top 4 gaining the last 4 places on the grid for the 'A' Final.

In Kasia's first heat she and James Armitage were swapping 2nd and 3rd position with Kasia having to settle for 3rd at the line.  In the next two heats Kasia was to start in 16th and 25th positions and in both cases was forced off onto the grass (loosing many places) due to first corner incidents as karts in front clipped and spun.  Kasia finished these heats in 17th and 16th respectively thus qualifying 14 for the 'A' Final.

The 10 lap Final saw Kasia make a good start, up into 10th by the end of the first lap, she worked hard to move up the order and by lap 10 was challenging Hazz Truelove for 5th, but the move around the outside was always going to be difficult, Hazz defended and Kasia ran wide allowing 2 karts to pass with just three corners to the finish Kasia crossed the line in 7th place and posted the third fastest lap of the race.

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For race day there were 23 cadets and Kasia finished 6th and 5th respectively in the two heats. The final saw a marked improvement as we opted for different gearing and Kasia was instantly on the pace with the front runners.  A race long duel developed with Kasia and Jack Thorne swapping places several times and ended with Kasia taking the 4th position from Jack by just 3/100's of a second.  This result was a great start to the Winter Series which is run over three rounds, and also forms part of the full club championship for 2008

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