Race Academy League 29 June 2026 - BIKC Qualifying Session 2
Monday 29th June saw Tom at Race Academy League at Teamsport Reading for another attempt at setting a BIKC (British Indoor Karting Championship 2026) Junior qualifying time.
Still slightly rusty on the two floor layout following months of 3 floor Grid Series action (this was his second time on that layout since January), he was delighted to find the two 15 minute sessions would be run as a qualifying session followed by a race – his favourite!
Qualifying began and competition was fierce with all the juniors were flying. Times improved rapidly - even a new lap record for the year so far was set by one of his fellow drivers (also the current lap record holder so far this year), dropping Tom into 2nd for the starting line-up.
Feeling confident and enjoying the competition, Tom headed into the race for the grid start and soon made his move on the second lap after a really good exit enabled him to launch up the inside to take the lead. Pulling away from the pack he was gaining pace pretty much lap on lap, and over the course of the race started popping in times only a few hundredths away from the lap record.
With about 4 minutes to go and Tom still in the lead, a new 2026 lap record was looking more and more likely – and he got it with a fantastic 30.740! A great end to the night with the top step on the podium, a new style ‘1st place’ trophy on the night they launched them at Reading, and the lap record for 2026 to that point to boot.
Even better, he was able to share it with his cadet buddy Charlie, who had also achieved P1 in the cadet race so they could celebrate together!
Qualifying – P2 🥈 | Race – P1 🥇 | AND a new 2026 LAP RECORD to that point! 🏎🥇
