FAT Karting Junior Championship ‘26 - Round 1
A race review from top to bottom and everything inbetween! On what felt like the coldest day on record at Shenington Kart Racing Club (Sunday 10 May 2026), FAT Karting League’s Junior Light Championship got underway!
The day began with morning practice thanks to our kind sponsors Brackenwood Windows & Niche Cover on a very cold track - we were warned practice would be challenging, especially on cold tyres!
P1 - 2nd 🥈
P2 - 3rd 🥉
P3 - 3rd 🥉
P4 - 1st 🥇
Then the real fun began. The first afternoon session, pre race practice, went really well with Tom finishing P1.
Quali was next - the temperature dropped, and after starting high on the leaderboard, Tom found the limit and met the barrier. With time counting down, Tom had a real challenge ahead struggling with the kart, yellows or caught in traffic every lap bar the last, where he popped into P4. Afterwards, we discovered he'd bent the rear axle, hence the sudden drop in pace. Unfortunately, he'd also dislodged the nose cone, resulting in deletion of his fast lap, dropping him to 16th.
Pre Final - Tom was determined to regain position- starting well progressing from 16th to 9th on the first lap! Sadly, lap 2 exiting Bruno, Tom was collected by an out of control kart, snapping the track rod and popping the tyre - DNF.
Amazingly, the FAT Team got it repaired for the Final, but warned it wouldn't be fast or easy to control, but if he wanted to try he could. Due to the DNF he was starting 24 out of 25. As the lights went out Tom made an epic start, flying past two karts before he'd even crossed the start line! By turn two, he'd made up 15 places to reach 9th and despite the kart visibly bumping and pulling he held it to the end to take his first points of the season, and at a pace not too far off the leaders, what a result. While not the points hoped for based on the earlier pace, a good lesson in recovery and a fab day with friends old and new!
Practice – P1 🥇 | Qualifying – 16th (fastest lap P4 was deleted due to drop nose cone)
Pre-Final – 16th > 9th >DNF (non fault) | Final – 24th > 8th (promoted from 9th)
