Harvey relinquishes British Championship with victory

Reigning European Kart Champion, Jack Harvey, took a fantastic victory in the final round of the MSA British Super One Championship at the Clay Pigeon circuit, near Yeovil, as he finally relinquished his 2006 British title.

The Newark Steel backed factory Maranello Kart driver had chosen not to defend his British crown this year but entered the final round of the 2007 championship to show his rivals he is still the man to beat. He bounced back from a tough start to the weekend, taking fourth place on the grid for both of the heats to put himslef in contention for victory. However, at the start of the first race, he was launched off the track and forced to rejoin at the back of the field.

A fantastic drive back through the order allowed him to finish in eighth place and put him into a fired up mood for the second heat. A poor start in that meant that he dropped to seventh place and, as he fought his way back through the grid, he clipped a kerb and threw the chain off, giving him a non-finish.

With plenty of work to do in the first of the two finals, Jack had the added pressure of having to gamble on tyre choice as drizzle covered the circuit in the build up to the race. With the sun initially shining, Jack opted for slicks. However, a delay to the start of the race meant that the heavens opened one again and as the race started he knew that he would struggle against the wet shod drivers.

A tap at the first corner meant that he had to take to the grass on the opening lap and rejoined right at the back of the field. A fantastic drive as the quickest slick tyred runner allowed him to work his way back up to 11th place.

In the second final, a blistering start meant that Jack was up into sixth place by the time the pack exited the first corner and an immediate charge through the field meant that he was into the lead by lap five. Despite making short work of his rivals to reach the front, he didn’t have the outright speed to pull away and on lap nine he felt the chasing pack pushing him along the start/finish line and knew that he would have to work hard for the rest of the race.

With just three laps to go he lost the lead, dropping to third as the rest of the grid made a charge. However, Jack’s talent for immediately going on the attack proved to be the best course of action as he immediately grabbed the lead again a lap later and held position at the front to take victory in the final race of the British Championship as outgoing champion.

“I’m really pleased to have taken that win,” said Jack. “I was happy with my drive on slicks in the wet as it’s the first time I’ve raced like that for a long time and I was the fastest in that half of the grid. It’s shown that I can come back and take victory from a long way back and in all conditions and it was good to take a win as out-going champion too,” he added.

Jack now has a four-week break before undertaking his final event in the KF3/JICA class, the prestigious Monaco Cup in Monte Carlo.

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