What a weekend this turned out to be. I had high hopes of a reasonable result coming into the meeting but really didnt expect what unfolded.

The meeting was on the Friday and the Saturday. Quite a weird feeling with Saturday being 'race day'. However it was good to sleep in the next day.

Qualifying was one of the highlights for the weekend. I took pole position in the first session by just over 1 tenth of a second. We decided not to do the second qualifying session at the last moment as we figured the worst that would happen is that i would still be in the top 5.

Luckily no one went faster in the second session and i was on pole for all 3 heat races. The starts definately showed my inexperience starting off the front row against quality opposition. Not once did i hold the lead going into T1 which was quite disappointing however i have learnt a lot from that and hopefully it doesn't happen again.

The kart was not as strong during the heats as it was in qualifying with William Yarwood getting the better of me in heat 1 and both Yarwood and Danny Richert finished in front of me in the other 2 heats. Those results put me on P3 for the pre final on Saturday morning. I was hoping that i would at least be able to hold down 3rd place going into the final. I got a good start in the pre final and was in 2nd place when Jason Pringle made a move on the tight left hand hair pin heading up the hill, which also allowed Danny Richert back through. I could only just manage to hang on to them and was never in a position to make a move.

Starting P4 for the final things were looking a bit grim as i had slowly dropped down the grid since qualifying. I got another good start in the final and got myself onto the inside heading into T1. Jason Pringle and Danny Richert got together on the exit and Richert ended up out in the dirt so i was up to P3. On about the 4th lap i noticed Pringle was struggling with rear end grip so i knew i had to get past before Yarwood built up a gap. So i got past him and set off after Yarwood. I didn't push too hard while behind Yarwood and once i had a good enough run i made the move into T1 for the lead. Yarwood then settled in behind me while i tried to build a gap for the next few laps. I couldn't shake him off so i made sure i was looking after my tires while also holding a reasonable pace. With about 8 laps to go Yarwood had a big look down the inside into T1 but was no where near far enough up to make the move so i held the lead. This put him back a couple of kart lengths and i knew if i didn't make a mistake i should be okay. I did make a couple of small mistakes, missing the apex of a couple of corners and slamming the kurb on another but it was enough to hold Yarwood off and to go on for my biggest win in karting so far.

Dad almost seemed happier than what i was and CC Racing seemed very pleased as well. It feels good to finally get a decent result. We have tried and tried for so long and so many small things have gone wrong (some big as well) but we have stuck with it and got there. However now that i have a taste of racing with the big boys i want to get out there and do it again and again.

This round of the Pro Tour can be seen on Fox Sports
Tuesday July 14 – 3pm - Fox 2
Saturday July 18 – 10am - Fox 3
Thursday July 23 – 12pm - Fox 1

pics: Coopers Photography