Harvey 3rd At WSK Opening Round

press release

Jack Harvey bounced back from his recent non-finish in the Margutti Trophy by taking third place in the opening round of the Winning Series of Karting (WSK) at La Conca in southern Italy at the weekend. The result puts the 14-year-old reigning European Champion third in the KF2 class standings.

The Newark Steel backed Birel Motorsport driver went into the event full of confidence after a superb run the week before at the Margutti event. After a frustrating time during some of the early event testing, the Birel team worked incredibly hard to give Jack just the set-up on the kart he was looking for. Two fourth and two second places in his heats were enough to give him a second row starting position for the points-scoring pre-final.

A great start allowed him to slot into third place as the field came out of the first corner and over the course of the 16-lap race he was able to get up to second place, finishing less than a second behind the eventual winner.

His result put him on the front row for the grand final and in the early stages of the race he was able to start closing in on the leading racer. However, Jack was forced into a battle with the two chasing drivers, which eventually meant he was forced to drop back a place, losing ground on the two guys now ahead of him in the process and out of contention for victory.

A superb drive to the chequered flag meant that he was still able to claim the final podium spot and his two top-three results mean that he left the Italian circuit third in the points.

“Second and third in the two point-scoring races over the course of the weekend is a great result,” said Jack. “The meeting started off really well for us in testing on Thursday, but we struggled a bit on Friday and I thought that we might be in for a tough weekend.”

“But I’ve got to thank everyone in the Birel team, they worked so hard to give me the best kart possible. Everyone was fantastic over the weekend and I was able to drive as hard as possible every time I went out. You can’t ask for more as a driver when the team is working that hard for you. I’m pleased I was able to get some good results to repay them,” he added.

Jack now has several weeks before his next European event. However, more testing to stay at the sharp end of the KF2 field as well as having a crack at the MSA KF2 ‘O’ plate event at the end of the month will keep him busy before he heads out to Lonato at the beginning of May.

“It’s been a hectic start to the 2008 season for me so far,” he said. “There is a break now before the next WSK event, but I’m going to be out on track elsewhere as I want to stay as sharp and focused as possible for the rest of the season,” he added.

 

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