Phoenix FM-sponsored Karting Champion Lochlan Bearman went into Round 4 of the Hunts Kart Racing Club Championship heading the championship table.
With a poor grid of only 12 karts Bearman started Heat 1 in 10th place. As the field headed into the first corner Bearman seized his opportunity and drove down the outside and round the outside of the field into the first double apex sweeping corner. As the karts headed out of the second turn the Essex based man was already in 3rd place. At the end of the lap he made that second and 4 corners later he dived down the inside of the leader to hit the front. From there he never looked in danger and led the rest of the way to the chequered flag.
For Heat 2 he would start in pole position. There was a strong head wind for the drivers as they come out of Willows bends and headed for the Bus Stop and the Dan Wheldon’s corner.
Bearman led the field for the first 3 laps and was being followed by team mate Harrison Huggan who was sitting in Bearman’s slip stream. At the end of lap 4 Huggan got into the lead but as they reached the end of Lap 5 Bearman re-took it with a sharp out braking manoeuvre. Despite ‘pushing his own air’ (no other kart to slipstream) Bearman lead the rest of the Heat to take the chequered flag first.
Heat 3. This time Bearman started 5th on the grid. Another fast start saw him 2nd as the started lap 2 and then he measured his move to take the lead on lap 3. Again he drove smoothly and quickly to win the Heat securing pole position for the final.
Leading across the line the front 3 karts were ‘loaded’ from behind (one driver not braking and pushing the karts in front forward) which pushed Bearman out towards the tyre wall. He held the slide but it had cost him the lead but his recovery was swift and he slotted into second place behind another team mate Danny Harrison. As they started lap 2 Bearman was stuck on Harrison’s bumper and at the end of the lap he slipped past to take the lead. Bearman then led with Harrison following close behind until lap 9 when Harrison got a good exit from the final corner and was able to squeeze down the inside into turn 1. Bearman then followed Harrison and looked attached to his bumper for the next 3 laps. Then Bearman sensing time was running out began to make his move for the lead. Harrison was defending furiously as Bearman got alongside on several occasions but just could not make a safe move.
As they crossed the line it was Harrison 1st with Bearman alongside him for 2nd.
The 13 year old commented – “I hate not to win by Danny and I had a really hard but clean battle. I just didn’t have enough straight line speed to get a clean pass”.
But for Bearman the main task was done as he extended his championship lead through his overall points haul from the meeting. The current standings being:
1. Lochlan Bearman – 450 points
2. Thomas Byrne – 400 points
3. James Hillery – 381 points
Bearman is now looking at the most challenging race in his career as he heads to Belgium to compete in a European Championship for the first time. He will have to move up to the ‘Junior Max’ category for drivers up to the age of 17 and faster karts. It will be practise on Friday with a race day on Saturday and another on Sunday.
“It’s going to be a challenge but I entered the ‘warm up’ round last month and that went really well for me. We will be up against some of the top teams and drivers from across Europe and whilst we will be learning as we go I am really excited and hopeful of putting on a good display”, said Bearman.
