Encouraging Start




While the rest of the country was dodging snow showers it remained dry and sunny at Larkhall - albeit very cold.  WSKC did a great job of protecting the track overnight and it was frost-free very quickly on Saturday.

Martyn's practice

Martyn's practice went well, spending a minimal time getting used to the kart - it was his first drive in it.  He gradually tuned the set-up to his liking and towards the end of the afternoon had set the fastest times of the day - 39.11s consistently.

Even earlier on when there were  maybe one or two clocking faster laps Martyn was still fastest over the session using his racecraft to pass karts while other drivers struggled to make the passes.

On Sunday  the day started even colder and it took a bit more time for the frost to clear - resulting in a delayed start.  He had fitted new race tyres in the morning but in three-lap practice it was found that one of the front tyres was flat - a leak around the rim.  Soon sorted with experienced help on hand from Duncan White of Saltire Motorsport.

Heat 1 - last place - grid 21.  Martyn was keen to get a reasonable finish here to give him a chance in the final  - a top 5 would do nicely!

Sure enough Martyn was soon carving through the pack and by around three-quarter race distance he was in 6th place.  Then it all went wrong - while passing another kart the other driver didn't spot him until too late and turned in on him - knocking them both off the track.  With only a couple of laps remaining Martyn regained some places but finished a disappointing 15th.

Heat 2 - from Pole.  Martyn led this one from start to finish, easing off his pace towards the end to allow second placed David Wagner to think he was in with a chance!!  It wasn't that easy though - as in truth Martyn's carb was playing up and had to be changed for the final.

This left him in 8th place on the grid for the final.  A win was still possible if he could get through the traffic.  The times of the leading drivers were all very close - all within a couple of 10th of a second so it would be difficult.  Martyn changed his gearing, putting an extra tooth on the rear hoping that would help him out of corners if he was unable to keep up momentum while passing other karts.  It didn't help when he learned that the race length was reduced due to the late start.


Outside row-grid 8 is not great but he made a good start, holding on to 8th for the first lap.  He had a bit of trouble passing one kart inparticular who it seemed was defending in the opening stages!!!  This cost him a couple of laps but once clear he was on a charge.  Soon he was 6th, then 5th, then 4th.   With only a couple of laps to go he gained right up on the leaders but a fight for second was allowing a gap fro race leader Douglas Simpson- in his first senior race to make a break.  He broke through to second - with Fraser Wallace in his slipstream and the pair of them closed oin on the leader.  But all too soon the chequered flag was out and Martyn had to settle for 2nd place.  A big "well done" to Simpson who should have been delighted with a great win.


Analysing his times later it supported what Martyn thought - that it would have been better to leave the gearing as he felt the kart was actually a bit slower out of the corners as well as losing a bit at the top end!!


Martyn would like to thank Duncan White for providing a great kart and unmatched advice.  Next race will be the O plate at 3 Sisters in Wigan at the end of March