Hawksworth misses out on KF1 glory after engine glitch

Jack Hawksworth came close to stealing the show on his debut in the UK’s foremost karting class, but having been denied glory by an engine issue, he is now determined to make amends next time out – by taking to the top step of the podium.

The Bradford ace may have only completed a handful of days testing on his new KF1 mount prior to the opening winter series meeting at PF International in Lincolnshire, but he was certainly buoyed up ahead of the weekend, as he prepared to test his mettle against drivers of the calibre of Mark Litchfield, Jamie Croxford and Richard Bradley – highly experienced hands all.

“It was my first time in the class,” Jack acknowledged, “but it didn’t go too badly overall. We were using a test engine on the Friday during practice, but we still weren’t far off the pace – just two or three tenths of a second – and were confident of going faster on the Saturday with the race engine in.

“We had a really quick start on Saturday, but then gradually got slower with every session. In the evening we found a bit of a problem with the engine, but we just put it down to an error we had made in the knowledge that Sunday was another day…”

That engine concern, though, would return to haunt the 16-year-old the following day, when after a brace of up-and-down heats – a DNF in the first allied to fourth place in the second, despite being delayed at the start – he converted eighth on the starting grid into sixth spot at the close in the all-important final, admitting “we just weren’t quick enough”.

“In the first heat we started tenth and got up into second behind the leader Bradley,” Jack recounted. “I made a pass on him into the second hairpin, but he then got the run on me coming out again. There was contact going into Spoon, and (Matt) Truelove behind made an ambitious move after we had both compromised our extra speed. There was a tangle and I ended up not finishing, but our speed had still been really good.”

That at least was some source of consolation, and as the former BRDC Stars of Tomorrow Super ICC front-runner and current British ICC Vice-Champion looks ahead to the next outing at Shenington in Oxfordshire at the beginning of December, he does so with a good deal of well-founded optimism.

“KF1 is the premier karting class in the UK,” he underlined, “so the competition is always hard. I had to adapt my driving style because the tyres are much sticker, but there’s not quite so much power as what I’ve been used to in ICC.

“To finish sixth, despite an engine problem, in my first KF1 outing I think was quite good. Now we can head into the next round firmly believing we can win.”

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