As we arrived on Thursday we were greeted by the team and collected our brand new 2026 EOS Kart — our first ever new kart. It looked absolutely awesome and felt very special. Thursday night was spent transferring what was needed from our existing kart: the seat, the engine, pedal position etc. Huge thank you to JWR for sorting this out for us. As well as the new kart we also tried something new with the media – Chappers Media created a reel for us so look out for this towards the end!
This weekend would also see us getting a lot of help running the kart from Neil with JWR. It was really nice to have “dedicated” support if a little odd as we’ve always done everything ourselves. Having dedicated support is something we may do occasionally going forward. These weekends are busy and that help certainly lifts some of the load. A huge thank you must go to Neil for all of the help throughout the weekend.
Friday
Friday was practice day, it was also a shakedown of the new kart to make sure nothing fell off and all worked well.
The first session was decent — Riley finished 3 tenths off his teammate Rory, with a best lap of 43.75. The kart felt great and Riley was happy. As we lined up for session 2, the rain came and as we were on a full dry setup and slicks we abandoned it to not risk the new kart. Riley found more time in session 3 doing a 43.44. During the lunch break we fitted the new slicks to allow Riley to learn the track in qualifying trim. First time we’ve splashed out for new tyres on a test day! It began raining during the session but Riley went quicker with a 43.37. The next session once again saw rain shortly after starting. Not ideal, but we were learning. For the final session, we placed the kart further up the grid amongst some of the fast drivers and this paid huge dividends. Riley had some good battles and still managed to set a time of 42.82, which gave us hope for the weekend.
Saturday: Round 11
The weather was going to be the story of the weekend, will it rain, will we miss it. Saturday started wet. Very wet.
Practice
In practice, it was VERY wet and visibility was tough. Riley still managed P21, with a best lap of 51.896 on lap four.
Qualifying
For qualifying it was still raining. Riley was P17, with a best lap of 50.580 on lap four. One thing we learned from this session was that those on old used tyres were flying, we were on oldish new tyres.
Heat 1
Track was drying as we approached the grid so moved to a dry setup. As the grid set off, the heavens opened at full force. Sometimes the gamble doesn’t pay off. Riley did well: at the start got up to P13, but lost a couple of places to someone recovering. The result was P14, with a best lap of 50.893 on lap two.
Heat 2
Tough heat. Lots of rain prior to it. Set the kart up for continued rain, but the rain stopped just before going out and we struggled with grip as the track dried out. The result was P12, with a best lap of 50.912 on lap ten.
Final
We took a gamble going to the grid — full dry setup and slicks. The first third of the track was wet, the rest dry. It was a bold call. Despite a couple of incidents, Riley was putting in the moves and crossed the line 6th on pure pace and race craft. A post-race penalty for a dropped nosecone dropped him to P11. Setting a best lap of 46.449 on lap ten shows the performance was there.
After Saturday’s racing there was the JWR end-of-championship BBQ. A lovely do, and it really cemented for us that we had chosen the right team to be a part of.
Sunday: Round 12
Sundays weather was very much “will it, won’t it” with the rain. Threatening throughout and keeping us on our toes.
Qualifying
With qualifying you line up in championship order. Unfortunately due to missing Clay earlier in the year, we were towards the back. Riley needed track position to put in a good time. This was neigh on impossible to find and despite being quicker than the karts in front he couldn’t clear them. The result was P21 with a best lap of 43.044 on lap four. The speed was there; the track position wasn’t.
Heat 1
Tough start, but Riley kept his head down, picked up places and had good battles. Crossed the line P17; a post-race penalty gained him a place to P16 setting a best lap of 42.658 on lap five.
Heat 2
Tough heat. Loaded up and pushed off at the first hairpin, putting him last on the road. Set the kart up for continued rain, but the rain stopped just before going out — struggled with grip as the track dried out. Kept going and made places before finishing P19. The result was P19, with a best lap of 42.994 on lap ten.
Final
Lined up P17 after the earlier results. Lost four places on the opening couple of laps, down to P21. The race was against the clock, the field, and the traffic.
On lap 6 started working his way back up through the field. Lap 7 brought him a couple more places and the Battenburg flag. Two (very slow!) Battenburg laps later and there was a 2-lap dash to the finish where Riley crossed the line P17 setting a best lap of 42.897 on lap five.
Conclusion
The new EOS kart from JWR was awesome. Riley loved driving it, dad loved working on it. Weather played its part all weekend, with rain during practice, rain on Saturday and will it/won’t it rain Sunday. The highs of 6th place on the road for Saturday really showed what Riley is capable of. The investment of the new kart, extra set of MXC wheels and new slicks really paid off.
A huge thank you as always goes to everyone at Joe Weaver Racing for all the help over the weekend, and to Neil Parry for jumping in and sharing the load.
As our main championship is now complete, we are working out what to do next, we are looking to make the trip to Clay Pigeon for a club round, and possibly do the Teeside Winter Series, so keep an eye on the calendar to see what’s coming up.
Championship Position
The final rounds closed out the 2026 Super One Series, and Riley finished 20th overall in the championship. It’s our first time tackling the Super One Series and it’s interesting seeing differences between this and The Kart Championship. The 6th place, 10th place and top rookie are all big achievements for the year. None of these would have been possible without the support of everyone.
