to keep runner-up challenge on-track

Callum Bowyer kept himself on-course for the runner-up laurels in the fiercely-contested national Super 1 Series in round five of the 2010 campaign at Glan Y Gors – by storming through the field from the back of the grid to the podium as the unpredictable elements and electronic woes failed in their bid to throw a spanner into the works.

Callum travelled to the undulating and demanding North Wales circuit off the back of an ultra-consistent run that had seen him finish outside the top six only twice from the eight previous finals – and with his tail up having proven that he is capable of mixing it with the big boys in the blue riband Kartmasters outing a week earlier, when he had impressively taken the fight to the likes of reigning European Champion Jordan Chamberlain and multiple British Champion Mark Litchfield in what is widely-regarded as the toughest and most prestigious race of the year.

“Given the amount of experience that we’ve got compared to them, it was a big boost to be fighting with them – they are the best in Britain and Europe,” acknowledged the highly-rated young Peterborough karting star. “At Glan Y Gors I was aiming for the podium and to come away with a good bag of points towards the championship – just a good, strong weekend.

“I like the circuit; half of it is really fast and flowing with a few blind corners, whilst the other half is really slow, and you have to hit every apex perfectly or you won’t get the lap time. I was feeling confident after Kartmasters, and I just wanted to carry that confidence forward.”

With the weather unable to make up its mind on Saturday as to quite what it wanted to do, Callum and his Global Karting team took the canny strategic decision to sacrifice qualifying in favour of giving themselves a better chance come the heat races.

“Everyone who qualified on wets really grained and destroyed their tyres because the track was drying out, but as they had predicted rain again for the first heat we didn’t want to do that,” he explained. “I just went round slowly not really looking for a grid position and trying to take care of my tyres so that if it did rain later we would be well-placed.”

Indeed, starting 11th and last on the grid is not too great a penalty in a relatively small field as Super 1’s KF2 class is, but even though the heavens did open in heat one to prove the wisdom of Callum’s choice, an electrical problem with his kart scuppered the 16-year-old’s efforts on the very opening lap, meaning he cruelly never got the opportunity to take advantage.

Undeterred, making full use of Glan Y Gors’ plethora of overtaking spots, the Gunthorpe ace came through magnificently from P11 to P3 in heat two once the track had dried out again – and set the fastest lap for good measure to underline his pace and potential. Admitting that it was a hard race, he would face a similar challenge from tenth on the grid for the first of the two finals – but having successfully done it once, he was optimistic of being able to do so again.

“We’d had a bad start to the weekend, but things were looking up by the end of the first day – and we were competitive in both wet and dry, which was encouraging as well,” he affirmed. “In the first final I just had to keep my head. It was a long race and obviously everyone tries that bit harder in the finals, but I just wanted to have no dramas at the start and then pick them off as the race went on.

“Starting towards the back does of course make the job a lot harder, but we had good pace again and were able to come through well to third. It was really good to finish on the podium, because we hadn’t had one in Super 1 since towards the beginning of the season.

“I dropped back a bit initially in the second final, but had recovered to third again with a few laps to go. Jordan King’s engine had seized in the first final, so his tyres were fresher than everyone else’s in the second final because they had done fewer laps – and that really shows at Glan y Gors. He was the fastest on the track and no-one could stop him as he came through, simply because his tyres were that much newer.

“He passed me on the last lap and then defended, which slowed us both up and allowed the pack behind to catch us – and with two corners to go another driver got past me too, so I ended up fifth. I was a little bit disappointed, because we could have had fourth had Jordan not defended when he had the pace to be able to pull away.”

Be that as it may, Callum’s best score since Larkhall in late April enabled him to hang onto second in the title chase, with two meetings now left at Whilton Mill and PF International, both circuits at which the Ken Stimpson School pupil has strong previous form. And having sat second in the standings all year, the former double British Mini Max Champion desperately doesn’t want to give it up now.

“It was a solid weekend overall and we scored some good points, which is what we had been aiming for all along,” he concluded. “I’m still second in the championship, and it was definitely good to outscore Jacob Nørtoft for the first time – everyone had thought it was in the bag for him before the weekend.

“It will still be hard to win the championship, but I just can’t wait for the next round now to hopefully gain even more ground and hold onto second place – to finish there would be brilliant given our comparative lack of budget and experience. Near-enough everyone on the grid has been racing a year longer than me in KF2, including Nørtoft in front and Alex Walker behind – and Jacob has raced all over Europe too and spent a lot more money on it than we’ve been able to. I think we’ve done really well.”

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