After a fairly quiet off-season due to the tow car needing a head gasket, we kicked off the 2025 Kart Championship with a trip to Warden Law in Sunderland. This year, we’re running with Ambition Motorsport again, and it was our second visit to Warden Law, a place we both enjoyed.
The event proved tricky with very changeable conditions, and a mechanical issue on Sunday hampered our progress. A new feature for 2025 in this championship is that each round is a new tyre round, so no need to make a set of tyres last two rounds.
Round 1 saw a bumper entry of 38 which meant that the Junior grid would be split in to groups along with an A and B final on the Sunday, with the top 4 in the B final getting promoted to the A final. The split grids meant that there would only be one practice session on Saturday morning.
Friday
As with last year, Friday was a test day. Given our quiet off-season, we focused on getting back up to speed. The day remained dry and even sunny at times. Dad made a mistake with the gearing, thinking we were on a dry clutch when we were on a wet clutch, which hampered Riley through the morning. Throughout the day, Riley’s pace improved each session, starting with a 53.79, followed by a 52.27 and a 52.08. These times were close to his Ambition teammate, and after double-checking the gearing, we switched to the correct dry gearing, resulting in further improvements with a 51.5 and a 51.42.
Saturday
With just one session available on Saturday morning, it was all about waking up. The weather changed and was wet for the practice session, which meant completely changing the kart setup. With everything done, Riley went out and set a time of 1:08.71.
Qualifying
Going into qualifying, the track was still wet, but previous sessions had started to dry it out. As the track conditions improved, Riley set a time of 1:04.88, which was good enough for 10th in class. When the grids were combined, we found ourselves in group A for the Saturday heats.
Heat 1
For Heat 1, Riley lined up 13th, but after the grid formed on the rolling lap, he was down to 16th. Losing a couple of places over the next few laps, he kept his kart on track, picking up a few places when others went off. On lap 7, some recovering karts came through in a bit of a train, dropping Riley down to 23rd. All was not lost, though, and a couple of places gained on the last lap saw Riley cross the line in 21st. After penalties were applied, he moved up to 16th. His best time of 1:12.46 indicates how wet things still were.
Heat 2
For Heat 2, Riley lined up 13th once again. The track was starting to dry, as evidenced by the times. A cautious start saw Riley drop down the leaderboard, where he remained for the race, crossing the line in 24th. A couple of penalties in front bumped him back up to 22nd. Riley’s best lap time of 53.88 was fifth quickest and set on his last lap.
Sunday
For the Super Heats, the groups were re-drawn, putting us in group B, sitting in 29th overall.
Super Heat 1
Super Heat 1 saw Riley lining up 19th on the grid. After heavy overnight rain, it was a choice between wets and slicks. After looking around the pre-grid, we decided to go with slicks, believing wets would be worn out by the end of the heat. Six drivers chose wets, but by the end of the race, it was clear slicks were the right choice. Keeping his head down and working his way through the grid, Riley crossed the line in 17th, setting his best time of 55.91 on the last lap, showing the improving conditions.
Super Heat 2
Super Heat 2 saw Riley start in 20th. Losing a couple of places at the start, Riley continued to work his way back up the grid and crossed the line 21st, just missing out on 20th by one-tenth of a second. He set his best time of 52.28 towards the end of the session. Post-race penalties gave Riley the 20th place in the heat.
Final
At the end of the heats, Riley was 33rd overall out of 38 who started. Due to limitations on the grid size, the final was split into an A and B final. The top 30 went straight through to the A final, with the remaining 8 fighting in the B final for the last 4 places on the grid.
For the B final, Riley lined up in 3rd place. A shaky start saw Riley drop a couple of places, especially starting out of order, but he kept working away and got himself back up the grid. Running inside the top 4, a heavy accident around the final corner on lap 2 brought out the red flag.
After a short break while the driver in the accident was seen to (they walked away!), the race was restarted. Prior to the restart, the grid was reorganized, with the driver in second now out, moving Riley into second place for the restart. The grid wasn’t given a full rolling lap prior to lights out. At the restart, Riley didn’t have much heat in the tyres and went wide at turn one, allowing the grid to come through, putting him down in 7th. Shortly after, the kart stopped turning right! Try as he might, Riley wrestled the kart around for the remainder of the race, but the pace difference meant he couldn’t regain any places. With a best lap time of 52.01, he came home 7th and last on the road.
After the B final, we checked the kart over and found one of the rear wheels had come loose, causing the handling issue. We’ve already replaced the wheel nuts, and it looks like the wheel will need replacing too.
Conclusion
The opening round of The Kart Championship was tough, with very changeable weather and the verge of which tyres to use. The mechanical issue in the final was a real shame, as we could have made it through to the A final. We set out with the aim of finishing every session, which we did. We also tried not to be last, which was achieved, partly due to the accident. A big positive from the weekend was Riley did not pick up one drop down penalty!
The engine has gone off for a rebuild, and we’re trying Force Motorsport this time, mainly because they are at The Kart Championship providing on-site support. The next round is at Shennington, a new track for us. We should be able to get to a test session before and see how things go.
Huge thanks must go to Joe and Paul Weaver, who were part of the Ambition Motorsport team again this weekend. Joe spent time coaching Riley, and Paul really helped Dad out with getting the kart set up, running well, and ensuring the kart was right all weekend. Everyone in the Ambition Motorsport team is incredibly supportive, and all the parents help out where they can.
