This year, Bethany School entered a team of three drivers into the British Schools Karting Championships. The competition kicked off this term when the first round was held in Crawley.

The team of Oliver, Jack and Kudzai (all Year 10) attended the Crawley circuit back in January for a set of practice sessions, and then again on Tuesday 14th March for the first round proper. The boys were up against nine other teams.

Karting, and the way this race was set up in particular, requires teamwork, tactical awareness and a good overall racing skill set. The drivers race individually to try and secure points for the highest place position along with bonus points for those with quickest laps that are then combined together as an overall team total.

After arriving at the track, the team decided to put their strongest driver, Oliver, first so that he could warm up the tyres and get some points on the board. This also meant he was going to be up against the fastest drivers from the other teams, but he drove brilliantly with no black flags in either race and finished in 2nd place in both. Kudzai went out second and came 4th and 6th in his heats. Jack went out third and was in the lead for the first 12 minutes, but frustratingly he got black flagged for hitting the barrier a couple of times. He still managed to finish a very respectable 4th and 3rd in his heats.

On top of the excellent individual race results, Oliver also achieved the second fastest lap time for all drivers, with Jack posting a lap time that was 5th best overall,  both of which are outstanding achievements.

The final team race saw the Bethany team achieve an brilliant third place finish. The day ended with the Bethany team finishing in third place overall and in turn qualifying for the next round on Tuesday 9th May, at the London Docklands Karting track.

Well done to the boys, who are all looking forward to karting in the next round.

Mr Payne
Director of Sport