Going into Qualifying on Saturday, Theo had been fastest for the previous day’s practice sessions so it was all about going for pole position and the extra point that comes with it. He managed to set a blistering first couple of laps which put him on provisional pole at the start of the session. As gravel and dirt got dragged onto the track by other cars during the session, the track got slower and slower without many people improving. This meant that Theo claimed pole position by 3 tenths which gave him an extra point and put himself at the front for Race 1.

In Race 1 on Saturday afternoon, all Theo had to do was start the race to win the championship. However, he still went all out to try and take the race win along with it. He held the lead at the start before a safety car was brought out due to a collision. When the safety car came in, Theo went all out and created an 11 second gap to P2 before another safety car brought everyone onto the back of him again. With only a lap or so left to go, Theo made another great restart to take the win (and another fastest lap to his tally), scoring maximum points and the championship a day early!

Sunday started a very different day with heavily overcast skies, but the rain was holding off for Race 2 at lunchtime. With the championship in the bag and no pressure, Theo was in the lead at the start and started again to pull a gap to P2 before being compromised by a faster SR3 car which had rejoined the track following an incident. This allowed the rest of the pack to catch up, and P2 took advantage of the situation to get past.

This dropped Theo to P3 after going 3-wide through the Craner Curves alongside the two people fighting for second in the championship. After watching them fight for a bit, Theo made his move for P2 to promote himself back up a position and with a couple seconds gap to catch up to the leader, Theo was on a charge setting another fastest lap along the way. He caught up to the back of the leader just as the checkered flag came out to give him a 2^nd place.

Race 3 was late afternoon, by which time the weather had turned and the rain was pelting down. Not only was the track wet and visibility terrible, but this was the pit stop race, where Theo had to carry a 15 second success penalty after the previous round – meaning stopping 15 seconds longer than most of the field.

After a lengthy safety car period at the start, Theo was left with very little time to try and make up the time to overcome the success penalty. After several minutes the race finally got underway just as the mandatory pitstop window opened. With a great in and out lap, as well as a well-timed pitstop by his crew, Theo emerged in 3^rd having considerably narrowed the 10s gap to his nearest rival. With limited visibility and pouring rain Theo still had it all to do. Wanting to end the season on a win, he knew he had to pull something out of the bag. He quickly overtook the car in 2^nd and then gradually reeled in the leader to set it up for a nail-biting duel for the win in the last few laps. On the penultimate lap he made his move into the Melbourne hairpin. Side-by-side down the short straight to Goddard’s, Theo held his own and emerged in the lead to start the final lap. He stroked it home for one final lap to take another incredible win, finishing off the season just like he started the year.

Amazing to end his debut season in cars a tally of 9x Wins, 4 Pole Positions, 15 x Fastest Laps, 3 Lap Records, 17 Podiums and 2 championships! What a year!

Theo Micouris: “This was a perfect end to an unbelievable season…  It was amazing to end the season with a double win for Raw Motorsports and Hart GT with teammate Tommi Gore taking the SR3 win as well! Thanks to Ian and Luisa at Wera Tools, to Pete Osborne at Motorbase, and the Motorsport UK Academy as well as everyone else who was involved with making this such an incredible year! I couldn’t have done this without you all, so thank you all so much!”

The post Micouris crowned 2023 Hagarty Radical Cup SR1 and Overall Champion in his debut year appeared first on Alliance Racing.

Alfie had entered the final round with a 3 point deficit to the championship leader, and with points given out after qualifying heats, pre-final & Final the fight was certainly on to see who would lift the crown!

Qualy and the proceeding 2 heats could not have gone better with a 2^nd and a 1^st giving him a maximum points for the first 1/3^rd of the weekend. On top of this Alfie’s pace was impressive and claimed fastest laps in both races, stamping down a marker in the sand for his rival to try and match.

Sunday’s pre-final saw last minute changes to all karts on the grid, switching to slicks after the early morning rain had finally dried on track. Alfie settled in to a 2^nd position at the start pulling away from the field until a mid-race crash that happened further back brought out the virtual safety car for a lap, bunching the field back up. On the re-start Alfie made his move for 1^st and extended the gap with ease just needing to bring it home, but unfortunately a timely error a lap later put his kart off line and on to the wet, losing grip and falling off in to the gravel. He clambered back on but down in 6^th. A head reset from himself saw him put in fastest lap after fastest lap to regain back up to 2^nd position as he crossed the line.

So on to the main final, and with the sums done, Alfie was ahead on points with his championship rival needing to win the race and Alfie to be outside the top 3 to win it. A calm cool and collected Alfie strolled on to the grid knowing what he had to do.

BUT…. The start, P3 man mounted a big kerb and sailed into Alfie’s kart and landed sideways in front, blocking his path. Split second moves and a dart out the way, Alfie managed to get clear and without too much of a position drop.

Lap 2 and he was back into 2^nd with championship rival (King) on his back bumper. However 1^st place was up the road 2 seconds clear.

Lap 6. Alfie had dropped King who was still in a steady 3^rd, and he had caught up to the leader with some amazing pace. He remained on the leader’s bumper sitting there with ease waiting for the closing stages.

As the closing stages arrived and King still in 3^rd, Alfie decided to back off from the leader knowing that if something was to go wrong between them, he would gift King the championship and so rolled in in 2^nd place with his fist in the air and to the jubilant cheers from the crowds to become ….. 2023 British Senior Karting Champion!!!

He also becomes the youngest ever Senior British Karting champion at only 14 years old!!!

Alfie Garford: ‘Wow, what an amazing feeling! What a weekend! I’ve felt the most confident I have all year, come rain or shine I was going to get the job done. The pace has been amazing and so I was able to just sit comfortably in 2^nd staying off all the kerbs in the final laps to bring the kart home. It means a massive amount to me to be able to add the senior championship to my Junior one, and it wouldn’t be possible without all the help and work from others back at home and around the country. You know who you are but thank you Pete, Ian, Oly and Lewis. Bryn, Ethan, Elliot and Joanne. Alan, Michelle, Mark and Joe. Rob and Jody’

TKM’s Alan Turney: ‘Alfie’s been a superstar! The pressure is always on in the later stages of a championship and he looked to thrive on it, and the results showed. It’s great to see one of our Junior TKM champions step up in to the senior class and do so well especially in his first year, it’s quite impressive!’

The post Garford repeats 2021 Junior success to be crowned 2023 Wera Tools British Kart Champion appeared first on Alliance Racing.

Great practice sessions at the start of the weekend gave Alfie confidence going into Qualifying that he would be able to mount a challenge on his competitors. And a great qualy it was, netting a front row in P2.

He would start from here for heats 1 and 2. Both heats would see him struggle with pace in the latter stages of the race as the sun baked the glorious track and ultimately cooking Alfie’s tyres. He finished 2nd and 6th respectively, and although the results looked ok, the kart was not on pace to mount a challenge for the wins.

Big setup changes over night were made after debrief and data analysis to try to get the kart to work in the hot conditions. The Pre-final would see Alfie start in P4. The kart looked competitive all the way through and he crossed the line in 2nd place but unfortunately a in race 5 second penalty was given out after an aggressive overtake, which demoted Alfie to 7th where he would then start for the main final.

So… Grid 7 for the 15minute main final, and a kart that now looked good in the 2nd half of the race. Alfie quickly got up to 4th place after a great opening lap. This group of 4 would slowly pull away from the rest of the field for the duration of the race. Half race distance saw Alfie to control of the race out in front, but not for long as his main championship rival also wanted to lead. Over the next 5 to 6 laps they not only swapped positions but also paint work as well, in a hard but fair scrap for the lead. With 2 minutes to go 3rd place also wanted in on the action and made his move on Alfie’s rival. This fortunately gave Alfie just a few kart lengths breathing space, and with a kart now setup for strength at the end, there was no way he was getting caught, and he romped home to his first senior win of the year!

With similar points scored throughout the weekend for Alfie and his rival they both go into the final round in a fortnights time with it all still to play for.

The post Garford Reins supreme at British champs scorcher appeared first on Alliance Racing.