Tom Harvey put himself firmly in the driving seat for 2010 British Championship glory in the MSA Cadet class of Formula Kart Stars (FKS) at Whilton Mill, with an inspired performance that saw him take a double victory in the second meeting of the season – in one of the races, having to come from all the way down in 17th on the grid in order to do so.
FKS is the same series as first set a certain Lewis Hamilton on the fast track to global superstardom, and what’s more now boasts the prestigious official backing of both the youngest-ever F1 World Champion and the sport’s highly-influential commercial rights-holder Bernie Ecclestone. Tom arrived at Whilton sitting second in the title chase – 12 markers adrift of the leader – and with a fine previous record around the demanding Northants circuit, having achieved there seven months previously his breakthrough national triumph.
“It’s definitely a track I enjoy,” enthused the Bonvilston ace, “and I’ve got happy memories there. My win last year gave me a lot of confidence, because it made me realise that I could do it and I knew how to do it. I’m a stronger driver now, and in particular I’m a lot better at coming through the traffic. Last year, if I started at the front I could stay at the front, but if I started towards the back I wasn’t able to come through as well.”
Having progressed in leaps and bounds over the last 12 months, the results are now coming thick-and-fast for South Wales’ leading karting star. Up against some 49 rivals – the very crème de la crème of young British talent at Cadet level – grip and engine woes during qualifying on Saturday resulted in unaccustomed territory with eighth place in his group and 12th and 11th on the grid respectively for his two heat races, but with the issues rectified by then, Tom would brilliantly make amends.
A deserved second place in his first heat was snatched cruelly from his grasp on the very last lap when he found himself assaulted from behind and knocked out of contention. Understandably frustrated, the 12-year-old nevertheless maturely remained positive, confident he had the pace – and he rebounded in some style in heat two, using his head and picking his rivals off on occasion two-at-a-time to take an important win that secured him 17th on the grid for the all-important final, when a lesser result might well have consigned him to needing to battle his way through the dreaded second-chance ‘B’ final.
“I always believed I could win,” Tom insisted of the final, belying cynics who had predicted that he was just too far back to do any real damage. “I only wondered if I would be able to get through the pack quickly enough before the leaders pulled away – but I got a good start and then just kept on pushing and pushing and pushing to get to the front; by lap eight I was already into the top four, and because there was a lot of battling, on the penultimate lap I was able to take the lead.
“On the last lap there were six other drivers right behind me, but they then started to scrap amongst themselves. I just stuck to my line, and the pressure actually wasn’t too bad because I knew it was my team-mate next up and that he wouldn’t do anything silly, so I just had to concentrate on fending him off really. It was still a little nerve-wracking admittedly, because with that many karts right behind you in Cadets, sometimes if one of them goes past they all will.
“Going into the last corner I had a reasonable gap and thought I was safe, but perhaps I relaxed a bit too much, because my team-mate caught me up going towards the line – I hadn’t realised he was quite so close! He pulled alongside me like a rocket – when the chequered flag came out you could barely even have put a needle between us. Neither of us knew who had won to begin with...
“When I was told the result I just felt so happy and relieved, because I had really wanted to win! Whilton Mill is one of my favourite tracks, and it meant a lot to me to be able to come through from 17th to first there – that made it quite a special result. I would definitely rate it as one of my best wins, because I had to come from such a long way back and work so hard for it. It’s certainly one I will remember.”
It was, indeed, a magnificent performance, and one that Tom would go on to replicate the following day – albeit without having to recover from quite such a disadvantage this time. After qualifying third in his group, the Fusion Motorsport hotshot found himself out-of-luck in his opening heat – gutsily fighting back from an early setback to intelligently and opportunistically reclaim his starting position of fifth into the very last corner – and then prevailed in a fraught seven-way ‘dogfight’ in heat two to seal P3 on the grid for the final.
“In the first heat I was just unlucky,” he explained. “At the top of the hill there was a tangle ahead of me and I got hit from behind, which sent me across the grass. That dropped me down to 11th and left me with a lot of work to do – but I caught back up by the end. I got a couple more places on the last lap when the drivers ahead started squabbling amongst themselves.
“In the final I made a really good start to take second into the first corner and then take the lead, and after that it was just a real battle for the whole race. We all kept swapping places, and on the penultimate lap I was back in the lead with Philip Rawson behind me. He passed me at the top of the hill, but I wanted to be ahead going into the last lap so I got him straight back again under braking for the next corner.
“At the start of the last lap I had an eight-kart train behind me, but I just kept my cool and made sure I was completely accurate and didn’t leave even an inch of space on the inside anywhere for someone to attack me. Philip tried to pass me at the hairpin, but he went out wide and I kept tight to the inside to make sure of blocking the exit. I then braked a touch early into the next corner, which forced him to back off – and that gave me enough of a gap not to need to defend around the last corner.”
What made Tom’s success all-the-more incredible was the fact that the eight drivers directly behind him at the chequered flag had all set better fastest lap times, meaning on pace alone he should have only actually finished ninth. Winning, though, is about more than just out-and-out raw speed, and indisputably, the Cowbridge High School pupil is now increasingly the complete package.
With the ‘Whilton Wizard’ having struck again, Tom left Northamptonshire with a commanding 18-point advantage atop the chase for the coveted crown, and a full 48-point margin over third place. With three of the first four FKS British Championship rounds of 2010 to his credit, the Vale of Glamorgan speed demon is just what he admits he could scarcely have believed at the same stage last year – a bona fide contender to follow in Lewis Hamilton’s illustrious wheeltracks.
“It felt brilliant to do the double,” he enthused in conclusion, as he prepares to turn his attentions towards the next stop on the FKS calendar at Glan Y Gors in North Wales, a ‘home’ outing of sorts. “I’d never done that in a national meeting before, so it was just a perfect weekend!
“The sun’s shining right now, and hopefully it will be at GYG too. That’s another good track; in the dry it’s a really technical drivers’ circuit, and in the wet it’s even more challenging. We need to get everything right on the day again, but if we can do that I’m confident I’ll be strong there too. We just need to keep on working hard, keep consistent – and keep the results coming!”
