Callum Bowyer might have been by some margin the youngest and least experienced competitor in the KF2 class of the prestigious annual Kartmasters outing at PF International last weekend, but that didn’t prevent the highly-rated young Peterborough karting star from punching well above his weight by taking the fight to – and beating – drivers that on paper he should not even have been able to get close to.
Callum had been out-of-the-cockpit for six weeks prior to the hotly-fought Lincolnshire event – one that brought together the very crème de la crème of British karting talent – and whilst PF is admittedly something of a ‘local’ circuit for him, with virtually every driver in attendance similarly benefitting from considerable running there, there was no real ‘home’ advantage to be had.
What’s more, having only recently turned 16, the Gunthorpe speed demon is practically a baby in comparison with the likes of multiple British Champion Mark Litchfield – a driver nearer twice his age – reigning European Champion Jordan Chamberlain and Tom Grice, who has years of experience of racing internationally. A level playing field it palpably wasn’t, but still, that didn’t stop Callum from duelling quite literally wheel-to-wheel with his illustrious adversaries.
“I was feeling confident and just keeping an open mind to see what it would be like against the big boys,” he explained. “I know a lot of drivers don’t like PF, because everybody spends so much time there, which means it’s effectively ‘local’ for pretty much everyone. People get bored of it, but I enjoy it; it’s fast and flowing, and quite technical too in terms of set-up – and when everybody is still bunched up during the first few laps, the first couple of corners can often be pretty crazy...”
Unfortunately, engine woes in qualifying meant Callum would have to begin both of his heat races from the very back of the order, but despite the difficulty of making progress when the pack is so evenly-matched in terms of lap time, a pair of stirring performances saw the Global Karting ace take the chequered flag a solid fifth in the opening encounter and an inspired second in heat two.
“We were losing over a second a lap and I knew I wouldn’t get any further up the grid if I stayed out there and would only really use my tyres up, so I decided to come in so as not to waste them,” he recounted of qualifying. “That was a bit frustrating, and certainly presented us with an extra challenge for the rest of the weekend – it’s tough to come through in any class, but with the quality of the field in KF2 and lap times being so tight, it’s really hard to make up places starting down there.
“In the first heat we had a different engine in as our main one was being rebuilt after qualifying, so it was just a case of staying out-of-trouble and trying to get a result, which we did. We knew there was more time in the race engine, and when that was back in for heat two I came through to second. We had to run the engine back in as well during that heat, so P2 was a really good result and meant we had clawed back a lot of ground whilst knowing we still had more in the bag.”
Resoundingly back in the game once more, the combination of results left Callum fourth on the starting grid for the pre-final, albeit on the unfavourable outside line...
“It’s never great being on the outside at PF, so I knew I’d just have to try to get round the first two corners without losing too much time or too many places and then chip away from there,” the Ken Stimpson School pupil reflected. “I got up to second, and whilst Chamberlain had a bit of a gap in the lead, I caught him within three laps – but unfortunately, I was pulling along a few others behind me too, so although I got into the lead briefly, with it being a one-off meeting everyone just fights straight back again and I got shoved down to fourth and didn’t quite have chance to come back before the end of the race.
“In the grand final, there were a few little battles before the field began to spread out. I got into third, with a bit of a gap behind and not really gaining on the two leaders, and I was on my own for pretty much the whole race. Then the kart started to gradually go off, though – it was a long race, and the tyres were at their worst just when I needed to push the hardest – and with three laps to go, Grice started to catch me. He had crashed in one of his heats, so his tyres were fresher than mine because they’d done fewer laps.
“I kept an eye on him and knew he was coming up quite fast and gaining every lap. I tried to defend, but I just couldn’t hold him off and he overtook me with half a lap to go. I was obviously really disappointed to be fourth rather than third, because all the hard work from the whole race had been undone in the very last half-a-lap, but all credit to Tom – it was a good move, and it’s not as if it was a mug coming past me.”
That it certainly wasn’t, and there was no shame whatsoever in finishing fourth amongst such exalted company and fully-grown adults against whom Callum showed absolutely no fear. Musing that ‘we did quite well in the end’, there is no ‘quite’ about it, and the former double British Karting Champion knows that everything he learned over the weekend will only serve to make him even stronger in the future.
“It felt really good to be fighting against drivers like that,” he concluded. “On age and experience we shouldn’t really be up there, but we are. I have a lot of respect for them and I look up to them, but at the same time, on the track I treat them just like anyone else. Every driver that beat me was older than me, had been racing a lot longer than me and was stepping down a class from Super KF. We didn’t let ourselves down at all.
“I learned a lot from racing against them, and hopefully that will help me throughout the rest of the year. I’ve been the new boy on the block in KF2 for quite a while, but hopefully they’ve got a bit more respect for me after this weekend. I take a lot of positives away from Kartmasters, I’ve put my mark down now and they know I’m there – and knocking on the door.”
Callum is still seeking sponsorship for the rest of the 2010 season and beyond. If you are interested in backing him, please contact Tracey Bowyer on 01733 701099 or 07960 400731, or e-mail: callumkf3@hotmail.com
