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Harvey Takes Third In WSK Opening Round |
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Tuesday, 20 March 2007 |
Lincolnshire karting star Jack Harvey continued his successful assault on the European kart racing scene, as he picked up third place in the KF3 (JICA) class of the Winning Series of Karting (WSK) championship at the Sarno circuit in southern Italy.
The reigning Junior British Champion was immediately on the pace at another circuit he had never seen before when testing got underway earlier in the week, setting some quick times against some of his more experienced rivals.
A problem for the factory Maranello Kart driver in qualifying meant
that he would have to work hard in the heats. Some stunning driving
allowed him to take two second places and a third to claim a front row
spot for the first final.
Unfortunately, a carburetor problem from the moment the kart took to
the track, meant that Jack was unable to run at the front and he
dropped back to 9th place at the chequered flag, giving himself a
mountain to climb in the grand final.
Hard work by the Maranello Kart team put the kart back to where Jack
needed it and a blistering start in the final allowed him to move into
the top five, before having a battle just outside the podium positions.
Some great driving allowed him to pass and pull away from the second
pack and close in on the eventual runner-up, moving within striking
distance on the very last lap. However, Jack was pleased with his
weekend and his pace on another track that he had never experienced.
“I’m pleased to come away from the opening round of the WSK series with
a podium result,” he said. “I didn’t get a great amount of testing time
so we had to find the best set-up we could as quickly as possible and
in the grand final I was second fastest, so we definitely had the pace
to challenge for the win.”
“If I’d had a better result in the semi-final I’d have been in with a
chance of taking another victory. I don’t know what happened to the
carburetor from the heats but I had to alter the settings a lot to get
it somewhere near to where I needed it in the opening laps, which cost
me places and time. But, we got a good result in the end and there are
another four rounds of the series to go,”
Jack will head back to Sarno next weekend for the start of his second major championship of the season, the Italian Open series.
“I can’t wait to go back next weekend,” he said. “The team worked
really hard before the final and we will have a great baseline to work
from when we go back there. I’ll be aiming to step onto the podium
again, this time a couple of steps higher though,” he added.
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