More international glory for karting ace Harvey
Reigning European champion Jack Harvey maintained his victorious ways at the latest round of the Winning Series of Karting at Mariembourg in Belgium.
The victory puts him second in the points rankings with just two rounds of the championship remaining, and the win comes just two weeks after he claimed the Asia Pacific KF2 title at Suzuka in Japan, putting him firmly at the head of the current KF2 class in terms of success.
Despite his brilliant result, the Bassingham racer was made to work hard for his victory over the course of the weekend, with mechanical problems in one heat and some intense competition every time he took to the track.
After his team sorted out the problems, he immediately bounced back in the remaining three heats, with two second places and a win giving him an eighth row starting position for the pre-final, and a great drive through the field meant that he crossed the line in fifth place, giving him the same position on the grid for the main event.
A fantastic start allowed Harvey to move into second place by the end of the opening lap. After catching up to the leader he made a swift decision to pass him early and try to make a break in the lead. As he made his move a local driver went with him and the pair pulled out a good distance from the rest of the pack.
Over the second half of the race he came under intense pressure from his rival, never more than a single kart length ahead, but on the final lap he kept his lines tight over the last couple of corners to take the flag.
Caythorpe star Shaun Balfe got back behind the wheel of a GT car for the first time in two years when he took part in the Dutch Supercar Challenge at Spa Francorchamps in Belgium, and steered the Mosler MT900R to fourth place in the hour-long race, despite suffering from a puncture.
A late call from the European Mosler importer asking him to take part meant that Balfe had very little time to prepare for the event.
However, even with just a handful of laps in free practise, he was soon up to speed as the lights went out.
He started in eighth place on the grid and had moved himself up to third place within a few laps. After picking up a puncture just before taking his mandatory 60-second pit-stop, Balfe dropped back to fourth place and was unfortunate not to reclaim the final podium position again, running out of laps to make up the extra 20 seconds he had lost changing the wheel.
Despite not bringing home the overall silverware, Balfe was happy to have been asked to take part and said he had enjoyed himself behind the wheel of a powerful GT car after two seasons in lighter, smaller prototype machinery.
“It was brilliant to be back in a car with a large amount of power,” he said. “The whole event was good fun and the Mosler has moved on quite a bit since we ran our own a few years ago.”
Ollerton-based Formula Renault UK entrant Manor Competition celebrated its sixth podium finish of the season at Silverstone where British Race Elite member Alexander Sims (Wansford, Peterborough) racing strongly from sixth on the grid to the third step of the rostrum in front of a 70,000 crowd.
Normanton-on-Trent driver James Walker enjoyed mixed fortunes in the Volkswagen Racing Cup at the Snetterton circuit in Norfolk.
Walker, 22, qualified in sixth spot in his Golf TDI, but there was to be no repeat of his race-winning form of last month as he struggled with his pace in the day’s first event before being brought to a premature halt by turbo failure.
His performance improved for race two, however, as he came from the back of the grid to finish third and earn a place on the podium.
