The May event for Super One was based at GYG Karting in North Wales. GYG is a track we both enjoy, the challenging circuit and the beautiful setting. It is a track that we have not had much luck at though.
In our first visit (2024 The Kart Championship Round 2), the bumper bolt snapped in the final resulting in the mechanical flag. Our second visit (2025 The Kart Championship Round 3) saw an axel snap, bodywork issues and deflating airbeds. For our third visit we were hoping for some good luck for a change.
For this round, we have brand new wet tyres available, along with a brand new set of OTK AXP wheels, following the mishap last time out at Rowrah. After Rowrah, we have had the kart out and done all new axle bearings, along with new brake pads … again. When you look at the pictures, you should notice a small change, the new team race suit finally arrived just after Rowrah, a much needed size increase for Riley.
Friday
Friday was a tricky day with mixed conditions throughout and plenty of setup changes throughout the day from wet to dry. That said, Riley did find a groove and enjoyed driving the track. Despite a slow start to the day, the pace and line was definitely there by the end of the day.
Saturday
For Saturday, we had the pleasure of Grumps coming over, getting stuck in and cleaning the kart between sessions and providing support through the day.
Practice
Practice went well, with Riley setting a time of 42.827 which was good enough for 19th, and just under 8 tenths off the fastest time. Not a bad start to the day.
Qualifying
On to qualifying, and it wasn’t quite as good. Although on new tyres, Riley went faster setting a time of 42.471, this was on lap 3 of 8 so quite early in the session suggesting he had more pace within him. Qualifying left him starting 24th for the heats.
Heat 1
Heat 1 took a little while to get started with 2 false starts. Once underway, it was relatively uneventful, but lap times were consistently low 43’s in a pack. Riley crossed the line in 23rd, setting his best time of 43.134 on lap 4.
Heat 2
The second heat got underway on the first time of asking. Riley lost a couple of positions on the first lap, however keeping the kart on the track and a few overtakes later saw him cross the line 23rd. Riley set his best time of 42.730 on lap 8.
Final
For the final, Riley lined up 24th. Not entirely sure what changed, but Riley seemed to wake up for this one. The final started again at the first time of asking. Riley kept the start clean and on lap 3 managed to avoid a 3 or 4 kart incident at turn one although due to evasive action slowed him losing a couple of places. Lap 4 saw Riley re-gain one of these positions. On lap 7 another place was picked up. All of this, meant Riley crossed the line 16th, setting his best time of 42.960 on lap 6.
Sunday
Sunday was a new round, round 4. Because GYG is quite aggressive on tyres, overnight we switched the tyres round to even out the wear. If we didn’t do this, it would be likely the tyres would wear down to the canvass. This is the first time we have had to do this. It also rained quite a bit overnight.
Qualifying
Changing the tyres around upset the handling of the kart as they had ‘worn’ to how they were. Riley didn’t expect this, and didn’t realise it would have such an impact on the handling characteristics. Lesson learned, if we have to do this again, the tyres need a few laps to bed in to the other side. This was evident when on lap 3 Riley went off the track and at some point during the excursion broke a bumper bolt. This ended his session early, and he came in before being flagged. He was able to set a time of 43.357 which was good enough for 32nd. Not last.
Heat 1
This heat would be a shocker for us. Lap 2 started well, taking a place at the top of the track. Lap 4 is when things went wrong. During the double left hander a kart in front spun, the kart in front of Riley spun trying to avoid the other kart and trying to avoid the melee Riley found himself on the grass. This grass was still wet from the overnight rain and on slick tyres he was unable to move. A marshal came over and helped drag him out but he was now over half a lap down on slippy wet slick tyres.
The following lap, Riley started getting blue flagged as the leaders were catching him up. He looked out for them but couldn’t see them. A lap later after lifting off several times, the leaders finally caught Riley and lapped him. A lap later Riley retired as he was worried about ruining the race of a leader. He classified finishing 34th, setting his best time of 43.428 on lap 3.
Heat 2
Not sure what changed with heat 2 but something did. Riley started 32nd as per the qualify result. After the start, whilst bunched up on lap 1 Riley got run on the grass heading down to the double left hander losing a place. Carrying good speed through turn one of lap 2 saw him overtake someone down the long main straight. The next overtake took a little too long allowing the pack in front to get away, however Riley hunted them down but didn’t quite have enough time. Needless to say Riley crossed the line in 25th, setting his best time of 42.967 on lap 7.
Final
For the final, Riley lined up 30th on the grid. Riley bogged down a little at the start costing a couple of positions, however the kart in front had a rear bumper hanging off so we knew they’d retire. On lap 3 Riley got a great run out of turn one and got an overtake down the main straight. On lap 9 the kart in front made a last minute dive for the pit lane, not sure if something broke, but Riley was already committing to the final corner and unfortunately hit the rear and picked up a drop down. Riley crossed the line 21st, however the drop down from earlier dropped him back to 26th, setting his best time of 42.986 on lap 12.
Conclusion
Overall the weekend wasn’t too bad. Good drives in both finals, and both second heats. It shows we have to sort our mornings out. This would help with qualifying and the first heat. Riley managed to gain multiple places throughout the weekend. For now, he needs to keep working in a pack to keep his pace up.
The curse of GYG lives on, with the bumper bolt breaking in qualifying, the incident in heat 1 putting Riley a lap down, and then to top it off a breakdown on the A5 on the way home when the front brake began binding and smoking.
Thank you must go again to everyone at Joe Weaver Racing, for helping both of us throughout the weekend, and all the support from the rest of the team.
We have decided to sit out the next rounds (5 & 6) at Clay Pigeon. We were excited about the possibility of going however due to GCSE season being in full swing, we are unable to attend the Friday practice. As we have never been to Clay Pigeon before, going straight in to a race with no knowledge of the track feels like setting up for failure.
