with intelligent triumph against the odds
Tom Harvey didn’t give himself much hope of winning the final after carburettor and engine woes left him uncharacteristically well off the leading pace in his latest karting outing at Whilton Mill – but a dramatic turnaround, supremely intelligent drive and display of sheer grit and never-say-die determination earned the highly-rated young South Wales star a superb triumph against all the odds.
Having finished an excellent second in the club championship at Whilton last year, and having stormed to his breakthrough national victory in the Lewis Hamilton and Bernie Ecclestone-backed Formula Kart Stars (FKS) series at the Northants track, Tom boasts an enviable record around the challenging circuit and travelled there with high hopes of another strong result.
Carburettor problems that took a while to successfully diagnose and resolve, however, left the Bonvilston hotshot in distinctly unaccustomed territory during his first two heat races – at the wrong end of the 39-strong MSA Cadet class field.
“We first knew there was a problem when I was 1.2 seconds off the pace in the first heat,” he explained. “I’m never 1.2 seconds off round Whilton Mill! I know my way around there really well. It’s a hard circuit to drive, but I like that. It’s a drivers’ track with a really bumpy surface, which makes it very physical as well.”
A gutsy performance in heat one secured the 12-year-old a wholly unexpected seventh place from way down in 22nd on the starting grid, whilst in heat two a brilliant getaway from fifth briefly elevated Tom to second, before he found himself helplessly ‘dropping like a stone’ to an eventual and massively frustrating 12th at the chequered flag.
“I got a good opening lap in the first heat,” he recounted. “I can get my tyres warmed up a lot quicker I think than most drivers out there, and that gained me ten places in just one lap. A few other drivers in front of me then crashed out, and I overtook one more on the last lap too. We were way off the pace, but I was very pleased with the way I drove.”
Happily, a new engine and carburettor and tweaked set-up for heat three suddenly brought the Fusion Motorsport ace right back into contention, and though he was sent out on a wing and a prayer with no certainty that the changes would produce the required effect, fastest lap proved that a corner had indeed been turned. Enthusing that his kart was ‘electric’, Tom evinced stunning pace to claim tenth position.
With it he sealed a fifth row starting spot for the all-important final, where following some encouraging early progress, the Cowbridge High School pupil went on to channel all of his efforts into hunting down the top six who had broken away from the chasing pack. Fired-up and with his head down, an eye-catching charge saw him inexorably reduce the gap until he was a part of the leading scrap himself. And then, rather than rashly throwing caution to the wind by attempting to immediately fight his way through, Tom maturely sized up where each of his rivals’ weaknesses were to know where to try and attack – before impressively picking them off one-by-one...
“My pace in the third heat put me in good spirits for the final,” he recounted. “I said to my dad ‘I can win this now!’ When I have good pace around Whilton, there’s no stopping me! I’ve raced there since I was very young and have watched a lot of top drivers in action and learned from them – so I know every last lap move there is now!
“In the closing stages there were six of us in the leading pack including my team-mate Nathan Aston, who came through really well from seventh to third. It was a huge battle and there was a ridiculous amount of passing going on between us – it was classic fast, frantic and furious Cadet action! Connor Jupp got past Ross Gunn into the lead on the penultimate lap and began to pull away, and on the last lap the lead must have changed four or five times!
“I pushed Jordan Gilbertson past Ross and we caught Connor. I pushed Jordan past him too, and with just two corners to go I passed Gilbertson before jumping on the brakes and then immediately getting on the throttle again to back up the drivers behind me and give me some breathing space. I went into the last corner and didn’t even need to defend. When I looked back I just saw four karts going into it together all fighting over second...”
Tom, though, was already gone, and his victorious margin of just over six tenths of a second was greater than the literal blink-of-an-eye that blanketed second through to fifth as they flashed across the line behind him. An awesome performance that fully justified the Vale of Glamorgan speed demon’s unfaltering confidence in his ability to prevail once he had the equipment underneath him, it also demonstrated that he will be a force to be reckoned with indeed when FKS arrives at Whilton in mid-May.
Before that, however, there is Rowrah in Cumbria to deal with, where Tom makes it clear that he will be bidding to atone for the disappointment of narrowly missing out on the top step on the podium in the curtain-raiser for fellow national series Super 1 at Shenington last month.
“I’ve got full confidence going there,” he affirmed. “Rowrah is a circuit I’ve been to many times, and I’ve won there before. It’s one the most technical tracks in the country I would say, and I love driving there! It felt great going across the finish line at Whilton – like I was back, and back with a vengeance! This is the best time to win with the British Championship coming up, and my rivals all know I’m on it now! I’ll be aiming to repeat this result in FKS – in fact, I want two wins!”
Unseasonably wintry weather is expected up in the Lakes over Easter, but that is of no cause for concern to Tom. After all, they do say that revenge is a dish best served cold.
