Having come on in leaps and bounds throughout 2009, highly-rated young South Wales karting hotshot Tom Harvey has been tipped as a challenger for British title glory in 2010 – and in the opening round of the fiercely-contested Super 1 Series at Shenington, he justified that billing and then some.
This time last year, Tom was scrabbling around towards the lower end of the top 30 on the national scene, as he learned the ropes and gradually got himself accustomed to what is by common consent some of the toughest competition in the UK in the hotly-fought MSA Cadet class.
His performance around Shenington – arguably the fastest circuit in the country – demonstrated just how much progress he has made over the intervening 12 months. Second spot out of the 39 entrants in qualifying – a scant three hundredths shy of pole position and leading Super 1 rookie – would set the tone for what would turn out to be an excellent weekend.
“I was aiming to finish in the top three to bag some decent points,” the Bonvilston speed demon recounted of his objective for the meeting. “I was inside the top three during practice, so I was really happy with that – and I was confident of being able to carry that pace through into qualifying. Pole would have been just one more jump in the seat – if I had got my head down for just three hundredths more I would have had it – but there was no denying I was pleased with second.
“Cadets for me is the toughest class out there – there are loads of good drivers, and it’s going to be a dogfight all the way to the end this year. I think there are as many as seven drivers who could be in contention for the title.”
If that is so, then Tom is incontrovertibly one of them, and a victory, second place and brace of fastest laps from the typically fast and frantic heat races earned the 12-year-old second on the grid again for the pre-final.
“The heats were ridiculously close,” he admitted, “but I thrive on that type of racing. Two of us just pushed away at the front, and then it all came down to the last lap both times. The last lap is crucial – you’ve got to think tactically all the way through the race and try to spot where your rival’s weaknesses are so that you know where to try to attack and hopefully overtake them.
“The pre-final was a good race. I pushed Lando Norris away to begin with, but then Max Vaughan, Jordan Gilbertson and Connor Jupp worked together to catch us up. Max and I moved to the front, and then I latched onto his rear bumper and pushed him away. We had the extra pace to break clear, and I had kept my tyres cool by following Lando so closely, so that when I needed them they were ready.”
In another incredibly close finish, a single hundredth of a second separated the pair at the chequered flag – a veritable gnat’s whisker – as Vaughan just pipped Tom to the top spot. Beginning the grand final once again second, the Cowbridge High School pupil shunned any notions that he was on the unfavourable side of the starting grid and calmly and maturely focussed on the job in-hand.
“I didn’t mind which side of the grid I was on to be honest,” he explained, “because at Shenington you have a choice between hanging on around the outside to have the inside line for the next corner or trying to slot in on the inside immediately. I managed to keep second at the start, and then Max and I just pushed away again at the front.
“My aim was always to make it a two-horse race, because we had proved in the pre-final that we had the pace to do that. Max’s engine got hot halfway through which allowed some of the others to catch us a bit, but he managed to sort the jet out and after that we just pushed harder and harder and went even quicker and quicker – we were flying.
“The last couple of laps were really hard; I was constantly thinking ‘Where am I going to get him? Where is his weak spot?’ It all came down to the last lap again in the end, and I managed to pass him into the chicane – but he then found some room that I didn’t even think was there into the last corner and got up the inside of me to win.”
Nonetheless, there was no shame in the slightest in sealing the runner-up spoils at the end of his maiden outing in Super 1, and the rookie trophy to accompany that for second place was just reward for Tom’s brilliant drive – one during which he had looked to be the quicker of the two protagonists, and for which he earned a hearty cheer up on the podium afterwards.
Every inch now a bona fide contender for the crown at only four points off the championship lead, the manner in which he and Vaughan transformed the finals into their own private duel – out front and undeniably in a league of their own – suggests an awesome, tooth-and-nail battle lies in prospect. It is one that the popular Fusion Motorsport ace is palpably relishing.
“If someone had told me coming into the weekend that I would leave again with two second places, I would never have believed them in a million years,” he enthused in conclusion. “I’m over the moon, and I’d like to thank my mum and dad – who is also my mechanic – my engine-builder Leon from Soixante and Dan Hazlewood who runs Fusion. They’ve all helped to give me the confidence I need.
“I’d also like to thank John Hoyle for organising the championship, and all the people who help to run Super 1 and make such a great job of it. The plan now is to keep on bagging points all the way through – and then see what happens in the last round.”
