National Kart Cup Round 6: Clay Pigeon Raceway

That's the 2026 National Kart Cup done! It was my first event off the Novice plate, and I finished P16 out of 32. It's my highest placing of the championship, and I got it after picking up punctures in two of my three heats. 🏁

Saturday

School started back this week, so I missed Friday practice, but I got some good sessions in on Saturday. Heat 1 was from P29 on the grid. I made some places early on and got up to P22, then the kart started to feel really off. It was slow on the straights and pulling under braking. Turns out it was a puncture in the rear tyre.

Sunday

This was my first ever race starting from pole 😬 P2 got the better start, so I dropped a couple of places, but I held P3 through the early laps and was keeping pace with some of the best drivers in the field. Around lap 4, the kart started pulling again. Same rear tyre, second puncture. I kept going to the end, but slowly and painfully dropped back to P26.

Heat 3 was from mid-grid on a fresh tyre and rim. It was fairly uneventful and I finished where I started, but at least it was puncture-free!

The Final

My heat results put me P23 on the grid. There was the usual carnage into Billy's on lap 1 and a rolling restart mid-race, but I kept my head down and made up 7 places to finish P16. It's my best race yet, and it shows what's possible when the kart stays in one piece.

What's next

For the rest of 2026, I'm focusing on Club rounds at Whilton Mill and maybe a few others. Before that though, I'm really looking forward to a test day at the new Silverstone kart track and a weekend racing retro karts!

Huge thanks to my team and all my sponsors and supporters. I couldn't do this without you. 💪