Hawksworth makes seamless shift to 100cc

Jack Hawksworth made a strong impression on his senior debut at Kartmasters last weekend, securing a top ten finish against the cream of the 100cc crop despite never having so much as stepped into the kart prior to the weekend.

The former BRDC Stars of Tomorrow front-runner made the transition from the Super ICC gearbox category for the annual classic held at PF International in Lincolnshire, teaming up with Wright Karts for the event. It may have been a step into the unknown, but it was one that Jack coped with admirably.

“I had never driven a 100cc kart before the weekend,” he explained. “I just turned up and got in it! The team was great, and I simply concentrated on learning the kart during practice, though we had a few niggling problems with the front brakes which detracted from the set-up work a bit.

“In gearbox karting you’re working on the steering wheel all the time – it’s really frantic and you have to be very aggressive – whereas in 100cc the driving style is completely different, especially in terms of acceleration. You need to be really smooth instead.

“We knew it was going to be hard, because the people I was racing against are out in the 100cc karts every weekend, but in terms of pace I think I did a good job.”

Quick he may have been, but lucky he certainly wasn’t over the course of the meeting, where drivers were disputing the most coveted trophy on the British karting calendar. Inclement weather conditions, continuing braking problems, loose steering and a brace of DNFs not of his own making during Saturday’s three heats left Jack having to fight his way through the ‘B’ final after failing to make the 22-kart cut-off for automatic promotion into the pre-final. By scorching through into second place at the chequered flag, though, a mere two tenths of a second down on the race-winner after ten laps, he categorically proved the ‘B’ final was not where ordinarily he would have been.

“I got through that quite easily,” he acknowledged. “It was the first time all weekend I had gone out and actually had a dry session without any problems! I thought I went quite well against drivers with a lot more experience in the class.”

That left Jack 24th out of 26 on the grid for the pre-final, where despite heavy rain and being plagued by understeer he would produce a magnificent performance, charging up through the field into ninth place at the close and demonstrating superb overtaking prowess along the way to secure himself a top ten grid slot for the all-important grand final. Sadly, that race would not prove quite so successful.

“My grand final only lasted three corners!” Jack rued. “On the warm-up lap the carburettor went down and the engine wasn’t revving as high as it should have done on the straights, which meant I got swamped when the lights went out at the start. Then when I got round to the second hairpin two of the drivers in front of me spun off and I had nowhere to go.

“I was disappointed, but the team was great and to have raced against some of the best 100cc drivers in the UK and be competitive against them first time out was pretty good. It was good to get some experience in the class, and I was certainly happy with the pace I showed.”

The 16-year-old’s next racing appearance will be back in Super ICC at Rissington in Gloucestershire for the Midland Championships next weekend, as a prelude to the class ‘0’ Plate at the same circuit just over a month later. Though he is treating the former primarily as a warm-up ahead of the main event, Jack certainly does not plan on taking things easy.

“It’s quite a prestigious meeting so that one would be a good one to put on my CV,” he asserted. “I’m definitely going there to try and win it.”

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