07/04/2025
Sunday 6th April
East of England Championships
Conningsby and Bourne Kart Club
First day back on the grass and what a day it was
The weather was perfect, sun was shining high in the sky and team FKM was out in force
Newest member Freddie Kelk debuting in his junior Prokart was extremely excited and a little nervous !
Straight off the line he was away and racing like he’s raced for years winning 1 heat and coming 2nd in the other two heats meant he was the pole sitter for the final - but then disaster struck and whilst on the start line his kart caught fire !! Thankfully Marshalls were quick to act and the fire was out very quickly and Freddie wasn’t hurt and the kart was saved - As serious as it was there is a funny side to this event - his mum was waving and screaming from the safety line shouting ‘fire’ ‘get out your kart’ and Freddie - totally unaware that his kart was on fire - thought his mum was cheering him on 😆🤦♂️
Megan, now with two competitors, Freddie being one of them and Tobias Rudd the other was extremely excited for the weekend. She drove superbly, but the gearing setup was just too high for the track so getting out of the bends quickly was hindering her for the first race. A quick sprocket change and things were better but not perfect however she qualified 2nd for the final. After the delayed started due to Freddie catching fire, they were under way and the racing between her and Tobias was immense ! Megan lead all 8 laps with Tobias chasing her down lap after lap. At the end of the straight from the start line was a left/right chicane followed by a hairpin left bend and having drifted wide Tobias slipped up the inside to take the lead and on to victory ! Great racing from both of them and huge congratulations to #84 Tobias Rudd
Harvey in the Rotax 125/2 stroke had a great day too, coming in 3 overall in the East of England final and winning the rotax trophy kindly sponsored by Keith Schooling
Lily Kelk #17 still in her pro kart ( JCB engines in the post) drove her way to victory over the engine troubled Emily #80 to take the East of England championship
Emily was not happy with her kart as the engines were just not performing and was even unhappier when she was lapped by husband James #81 Emily now has JCB engines in the post 😆
So now on to the new JCB class
James #81 was getting frustrated with the reliability of the Honda engine having tried lots of different set ups, all within the rules, some good some bad, found the peak performance and the damn right worse performance the engines had to offer during the grass season of 2024. With these frustrations still frustratingly frustrating he stumbled across the JCB 224 engine.
After a lengthy conversation with the suppliers to ascertain whether JCB would be happy to allow the engines to be used on karts and getting the go ahead JCB Prokarts were now on test.
After a successful test on the shale during the winter season the next stage would be to test them on grass.
Well, the JCB Prokart made such and impression during the first meeting of the winter series, quite a few people became interested very quickly, so much so the last round of the winter shale series there were already 4 JCB karts racing !
So now the start of the grass season and more importantly the East of England championships
Pre season several drivers had come to FKM for kart rebuilds, back bar builds and JCB engines and fittings
This meant the very first meeting on grass had 7 JCB Prokarts on the grid !
The track was set which had a good straight, a technical chicane and hairpin and sweeping bends, a cracking mix for what became a brilliant season opener
The first race was underway and James managing to get into the lead early on was being challenged by #61 Phil Gout. One mistake and Phil would be over taking and that’s exactly what happened ! James went wide and Phil slippped up the inside. James followed Phil for the next 3 laps waiting(hoping) for Phil to make a mistake but Phil didn’t make a that damn mistake !! So now it was time to pick the moment and as we entered to the final lap Phil went a little wide on the straight and James slipped up the inside to just edge in front into the chicane for James to then compete the lap and take the win !
Alfie and Ian were plagued with mechanical problems throughout the day meaning Ian didn’t complete a race but Alfie managed to complete the last heat and the final and came 3rd over all
James and Phil were lined up P1 and P2 respectively with Paul Bailey #64 lining up P3
The flagged dropped and we were away
12 laps was a gruelling challenge for old bones but team FKM came home victorious James took the win, Phil 2nd and as I said Alfie 3rd
Huge thanks to our supporters/mechanics and cooks - we couldn’t do it without you
Thank you to Conningsby and Bourne kart club for hosting a brilliant meeting
And thank you to our sponsors
Fulney sand and gravel
RJP construction
Warden Engineering
Till next time 🏎️
