A wild ride for the first race weekend of 2026… It started with a delayed first run on the new Karting North East track layout due to the weather, but I finally got on the new track on Saturday and its brilliant! They’ve resurfaced most of the cadet circuit, but the biggest change is in three key areas, the S’s exit, Gasworks and the final turn of the track… all improvements!!
So Race Day 1 – Sunday and the first round of the KNE Sprint Championship. The track was still wet, but drying (slowly). I was drawn in group 2 for quali and the pace was decent which meant I got into Race A final in P8.
Now what I haven’t said is what happened on Saturday… the going wide at turn 3 and ending up on the mud bath… well…
So starting the race in P8 I got away well and into P7 pushing for P6 approaching turn 3… oh no… yeah I was on the wrong line and ended up back in the mud bath… stuck for almost a minute and by the time I got back on track the leaders were approaching. So ended up in last with my mam and dad’s advice… “you can’t win a race on lap 1… but you can lose it..”
On to Race Day 2 – Monday and a far better result… At TeamSport Newcastle for their Cadet GRID Series. Quali was a real ding dong battle with my friend Leo, we ever got identical lap times on the same lap, but then Leo pulled out a cracking lap to get pole.
Race 1 starting in P2, the dirty side, but got away well and kept close to Leo. Lap 1 done and coming up and off the ramp on lap 2 I sent it up the inside into the tight right but it meant the inside line into the hairpin S’s and into P1. A few clean laps and I had the win.
Race 2 and a reverse meant I was at the back. The lights go out and its carnage, Austin gets a whack which also blocks Leo and I sail round the outside and in to the lead… crazy… So I get my head down and have a good lead, but Austin is on a charge in ‘Kart 66’ he gets past Leo into P2 and he chasing me and closing the gap, i hold him off until he get a great run on the inside and I’m in P2. I manage to stick with him but time is running out… on the last lap, into the hairpin start of the ramp section, Austin looses the back end and i manage to squeeze past back into P1 just as the flag drops…