It's amazing to think that exactly 4 years ago, Alex sat behind the wheel of a cadet kart at Bira Circuit in Thailand and took to the track for his first ever race. It was a moment that the whole family will never forget and will always treasure. 4 years later, Alex once again sat behind the wheel but this time of a KZ2 kart, ready to fight for a National Championship.
Fortunately Round 5 had none of the drama of Round 4, no flat tyres, no bits falling off half way around the track and no gear shift issues. With calm nerves the team took to the practice sessions on Saturday afternoon gaining valuable data in cooler conditions than the previous race mid summer. We knew we had good pace but there was still more work to be done.
For official practice prior to qualifying, we put new tyres to get an idea of where we realistically were. This proved to be a positive move as Alex set his personal best time on this track of 1:04.576, marginally beating that of the last race. With little time to spare we quickly changed to the race tyres and prepared for the qualifying session ahead.
We decided on an all out, 1 fast lap strategy. Alex setting yet another personal best lap time of 1:04.416, put his kart in second position behind team-mate Sergei for the start. A fantastic time considering the track was not at it's fastest. The 3 Sodi Karts were slightly adrift within half a second of Alex and we knew they were going to put up a big fight, hungry to take all 3 podium positions and possibly the Championship title for 2023. With no time for celebrations, we prepared for the start of the first race, anxious for what lay ahead.
A great start to Race 1 saw Alex slide in to 2nd position behind his team-mate. By the end of lap 1 they were 1st and 2nd with the Sodi karts following closely behind in 3rd and 4th. By mid race things very getting spicy among the top 2 with Alex being the meat in the sandwich. At this point Alex was putting pressure on his team-mate for 1st place. Something that had never happened before. Although the Sodi driver behind him was maintaining a 0.5 second gap behind, Alex was more focused on trying to cleanly pass for 1st. Sadly he did not have quite enough speed to make a pass, Alex finished the race 0.3 of a second behind 1st. This is as close as Alex has ever been and post race admitted it was the toughest race of his life.
Alex lined up on the front row of the grid for Race 2 for the second time in the day, something he hasn't done before and showing that his consistency has improved throughout the year. Another fine start off the line from both Sergie and Alex put them P1 and P2 at turn 1 with the Sodi drivers slotting in behind. With steady laps times, the leading 3 managed to pull some distance on the rest of the field.
From lap 7 Alex was fending off the more experienced and stronger Sodi driver, Ulugbek Baizakov as he made several unsuccessful attempts to get past. Showing great maturity and composure, Alex stayed calm during the next 5 laps as they drove nose to tail. The crowd were treated to the race of the season with both drivers being fair and clean.
KZ2 kart racing is known as the most punishing type of motor-sport and sadly, after holding on to 2nd place for 27 laps throughout the day, Alex was feeling the pain in the arms, then shoulders and neck and finally on lap 12, he was passed and dropped to 3rd place. A brave effort to last so long and Alex has earned a lot of respect from his older and wiser rivals this season.
It's been a great year for Alex's racing development, as a team/family we have had so many memorable experiences and made many new friends. After all, this is what it's all about. With one more race left this season, it's time to start looking at 2024. Let's hope that the plans we make for next year go as well as the plans we made last year. Currently the Association is calculating points for the 2023 Championships and there could be some surprising news on the horizon....
Many thanks to everyone......
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