Charlie Monk Racing were in action at Buckmore Park Kart Circuit on the 12th October.
The team were taking part in the Dart Racing FQ250 series, as part of the F100 Spirit of the 90’s event. This was the first time in a full British Championship spec Kart for Charlie Monk Racing.
The day didn’t start well for CMR with a crash on the first flying lap of practice.
However the Dart racing team soon had Charlie back on track and it was time to learn the new kart.
The weather certainly didn’t help but by the end of the mornings practice sessions, CMR had managed to finish 3rd in the final practice session of the day.
Once the lunch break had finished, it was down to the races and CMR have given Kent Sports News a little write up on each race.
Heat 1:
Starting 3rd on the grid wasn’t the way I wanted to begin my first race in the
series but it was the best way to learn, and quickly too! My first rolling
start and it felt like I just went backwards for the whole race. After pulling
into parc ferme, I was pleased to hear my team tell me we had finished 6th.
Mega job for the first heat.
Heat 2:
8th on the grid this time and a chance to prove myself. After a good start and
a few incidents that took others out of the way for me, I had moved up to
around 5th until a mistake cost me and caused me to spin, a rookie error by me!
(I had tried to close the door on the series champion) We ended up crossing the
line in 7th, not a bad result considering the pace I showed throughout the
race.
Heat 3:
Starting 9th this time around and I really had to push to get myself a decent
grid position for the final. A good start and another crash, this time at turn
1 allowed me to grab a few positions early on. Myself and the team had a good
debrief after race 2 and I knew what was expected of me this time and how to
achieve this. We pushed hard all race and came away 5th having managed to stick
with the lead group for a couple of laps too.
The ‘0’ Plate Final:
After getting a few good results in the heat races, I had managed to bag myself a 6th place grid spot. The weather was horrific by now and the floodlights didn’t help visibility at all.
A poor start due to the conditions and not wanting to take everyone out at the first corner, I held off and got round the first lap before I managed to get my head down and pushed hard to gain positions. It wasn’t long before we were into 4th and trying to catch the leaders.
Unfortunately another rookie error meant I spun the kart at turn 5 and had to quickly re-join before I lost any positions. Luckily I had managed to build a gap big enough to 5th to hold onto my position and finish 4th in my first ever FQ250 race! It was certainly tough but I couldn’t be prouder of what I had achieved.
Now it’s time to thank a lot of people.
Firstly, thank you to Tommi and all his family for making us feel welcome. To the drivers and everyone else involved at Dart Racing, it was a great day and we loved racing with you lot.
A massive thank you to all the people who turned up to help me on Saturday, it meant the world to me and it’s certainly appreciated
Jess, Luke, Mike, Steve, Lee, Ben, Jack and Gary.
Another big thank you to all the people who helped me get to this point.
DART Racing, DART Motorsport, Quattro Plant Ltd, Associated British Motorcycles, T3 Performance, Uggly&co, The Black Dub, Mab-Fit, Kent Commercial & Residential Cleaning, Club 73 Karting, Buckmore Park Kart Circuit, David Willis at William Anderson & Sons Ltd, Kent Sports News
Images courtesy of Paul Babbington at PB Photos and Jessie Pelling