A fine day at the Rye House Kart Circuit,
Hertfordshire on Sunday saw Sam Bird
(20, Claygate) do battle with many top names from all levels of International
Motorsport. Javier Villa, Ben Hanley, Jonathan Kennard, James Jakes,
Stephen Jelley, Tim Sugden, Alain Menu, Tom Onslow-Cole, Riki Christodolou, Jon
Lancaster, Bradley Smith, Rob Huff, Romain Grosjean, Sebastian Hohenthal, Paul
Rees, Henry Surtees and Chris Holmes among others were all supporting the Race Against Cancer, which was organised
superbly by Rick Osborne and Matt Roberts.
 Despite being a
charity occasion, the adrenalin was pumping and all the drivers wanted to
WIN! Qualifying took place on a damp track, and Sam’s time gave him
a 9th grid slot for the first heat – he managed to weave his
way up to third by the chequered flag. The next heat was in reverse
order, so out of the 30 drivers taking part, Sam started 27th!
A good start and he avoided the carnage around him, to finish 2nd.
The points system in operation for the day put him right at the top, on pole
for the final.
Alongside him was GP2
race winner Javier Villa, and right behind him kart stars Riki Christodolou and
Jon Lancaster. Sam was hit from behind at the start, which saw him down
in 4th by the first corner. He quickly fought back into 2nd
place right behind Villa, where he stayed for the remainder of the race,
battling for the lead, but it wasn’t to be – although Sam looked as
if he could overtake, the opportunity didn’t arise and at the
chequered flag, Sam was almost joined onto the rear of Villa’s kart!
“It was great
fun to be back in a kart, and I had a lot of fun” said Sam
“I’m glad I had the opportunity to support such a good cause and I
hope it was successful for the charity”
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