Harvey Seals Second in WSK Championship

press release

Lincolnshire kart racer Jack Harvey finished his 2008 championship season off with a battle back through the field to clinch the runner-up position in the Winning Series of Karting International Series in Zuera in Spain.

The Alpinestars backed factory Birel Motorsport driver went into the weekend just a single point behind the series leader and was in a confident mood. However, once the heats got underway Jack found that he was struggling against the rest of the field.

After qualifying seventh overall, it looked like he would once again be right at the sharp end of the field. But, in the opening heat he was knocked back down the order and finished in 11th place. In the next two heats he took eighth and ninth places respectively, meaning that his results would only put him 15th on the pre-final grid.

The Birel team worked incredibly hard between the heats and the first final to find a better set-up for Jack so he could challenge for the title in the two points-scoring races. As the lights went green in the first race, Jack knew that he might be able to launch a challenge for the title.

At the first corner though there was an incident right in front of him, which meat he had to take avoiding action and run across the gravel on the outside of the circuit, dropping him to the rear of the grid. An incredible drive back though the order meant he would finish just outside the top ten and an all-important point-scoring result.

In the grand final, with five drivers now in with a chance of taking the WSK crown, Jack worked his way up from 11th to 4th place, just missing out on a podium result in his final event of the season, but also the championship by a handful of points.

A slightly frustrated Jack was disappointed by not claiming his second title of the season, but also pleased with his results from his first year at the senior level of kart racing.

“Obviously I’m disappointed not to have won, especially after being so close going into the weekend. But, if you had come to me at the start of the season and said I would win the Asia Pacific title and finish runner-up in the WSK championship I’d have been really pleased,” he said.

“I’ve been competing against people at the highest level all season, some of which are older and have maybe two or three years in the category behind them. It’s a very high calibre of drivers and teams here and to take the results we have has been really good. We’ve been competitive and fast at every meeting and have been in contention for almost every title we’ve entered, which I think has surprised a few people in the senior class,” he added.

“The whole Birel team and all of my sponsors have been right behind me all season long and it’s been a fantastic year. I had a lot of expectation on my shoulders coming from such a successful season in 2007 into the senior class. But, they have all been so professional and supportive and I think we’ve continued that success through this year too so I’m really pleased with my first year in KF2.

Home