A mixed weekend at City of Melbourne titles, but a great learning experience and lots of fun.

Friday practice started slowly, with Harry a bit overwhelmed by the big Cadet 12 field and intensity of the driving, but he settled into the weekend and got faster and faster.

Qualifying - 24th of 36 (a couple of rookie errors from dad meant an early end to the session)
Race 1 - 24th to 26th
Race 2 - 24th to 33rd (caught in a crash at the start)
Race 3 - 31st to 22nd
Final - 29th to 19th!

Thanks to Prokarting for all of the support, and well done to all of the other drivers for a great weekend of racing.

We had a great weekend at Round 4 of the Golden Power Series at ELKC, Harry’s 4th Cadet 12 race and the biggest field he has raced in with 40 entries. 

 Harry set himself a goal of top 20, with some Five Lights trading cards on the line, and can be very proud of his results. 

Qualifying - 23rd of 39 drivers
Race 1 - 23rd to 19th and a pack of cards
Race 2 - 23rd to DNF with a mechanical
Race 3 - 25th to 20th (with a misfire) and another pack of cards
Final - 24th to 22nd after a race long battle with his buddy Henry 

 With the race 2 DNF impacting his grid position for the last two races, overall we would call the weekend a great success, with new PBs every session. 

 Thanks to Jace, Adam and Brad from Prokarting for the support, and well done to all of the other drivers. 

We ventured to Warrnambool in the middle of winter for the third round of the Victorian Country Series, and it was sunny!

Harry’s first open race meeting in Cadet 12 was a great experience, showing plenty of speed and mixing it with the older and more experienced kids. We missed the setup in the cold weather a little which made the kart hard to drive, and a couple of errors in the last two races cost a better result. But overall a great weekend.

Qualifying - 12th of 22
Race 1 - 11th
Race 2 - 11th
Race 3 - 18th after a spin
Final - 17th after another off track excursion

A great start to Harry’s time in Cadet 12 with pole and his first two race wins at the May Bendigo Club Day!!

Qualifying: 1st of 10 🥇
Race 1: 2nd
Race 2: 1st 🥇
Race 3: 1st 🥇
Final: 2nd by 0.059 second

Thanks to Bendigo Kart Club for a great day. The new FA kart and engine from Prokarting were awesome.

Harry’s last race as a Cadet 9, a nice relaxed regional club day, and another new track learnt at South West Kart Club in Cobden.

After a few practice sessions to start the day, it was random order for qualifying.

Race 1: 2nd of 8 cadet 9s (started 3rd)
Race 2: 3rd
Race 3: 3rd
Final: 3rd

A great 16 months racing in cadet 9 now complete with lots of new friends and fun at the track, and big improvements in Harry’s driving.

Now we look forward to the move to Cadet 12, starting next month.

Victorian Country Series Round 2 at Portland District Kart Club, a great weekend away and the boys first experience of camping.

While the results don’t look amazing on paper, it was a big improvement from Harry from his previous experience at Portland, improving his lap times by over a second and battling it out in a super competitive mid-field all weekend.

Qualifying - 11th of 18
Race 1 - 10th
Race 2 - 10th
Race 3 - 10th
Final - 9th

A weekend to be proud of for Harry, his first time racing at the Australian Karting Championships, at his home track, Go Kart Club of Victoria.

After picking up his new Alonso Kart on Monday, we were super excited to try it out in Friday practice, but it turned into a bit of a disaster. Unable to quickly adjust to the difference in braking, he ended the first three practice sessions in the gravel, with only a handful of laps completed, and his confidence shattered - finishing the day 22nd of 23 drivers.

We made the decision to go back to what he knows, his trusty 2018 Parolin, picking it up Friday afternoon and getting it ready for qualifying first thing Saturday morning.

From there he was able to turn things around with a solid performance across the weekend.

Qualifying - 12th of 23
Race 1 - 17th after dropping to last on the first lap behind a crash
Race 2 - 15th
Race 3 - 13th (started 16th)
Race 4 - 15th (started 14th)
Final - 12th (started 15th)

Harry also received the Cadet 9 Maxxis Good Sport Award from Karting Australia.

Victorian Championships was a scorching three days at Oakleigh Go Kart Club.

Practice on day 1 ended with a bang, with a kart ending up hitting me in the shoulder, thankfully after a visit to the medical centre, everything was ok.

Qualifying - 17th of 24 drivers
Race 1 - 14th
Race 2 - 15th (dropdown penalty to 17th)
Race 3 - got turned around at turn 1 but fought back to 19th
Final - 15th

Overall a good weekend with lots of great racing and new PBs. Well done to all of the other Cadet 9 drivers and congratulations to Ari, Felix and Milan on your podiums.

Thanks to Prokarting for the support and great engine, and to all of the officials over the weekend.

A real breakthrough performance for Harry , fighting at the front, leading races, and getting his first ever GKCV podium!! We are all super proud of him.

Qualifying - 3rd of 14 drivers
Race 1 - 4th
Race 2 - 3rd (penalty dropping to 5th)
Race 3 - 3rd
Final - 3rd

Thanks to Prokarting for all of the support and advice, and well done to Zac and Jonathan for your podiums and to all of the other Cadet 9 drivers for great clean racing.

Round 1 of the Victorian Country Series at Ballarat Kart Club had it all, and mostly it was bad luck.

Qualifying: 7th of 16
Race 1: 9th
Race 2: DNF (clipped by a spinning kart)
Race 3: 16th (caught behind a crash at turn 1)
Final: 11th (with some engine issues)

Still a great experience and lots of fun with my mates, topped off with a water fight to finish the weekend.

Well done to the other Cadet 9 drivers and thanks to the club and organisers for a fantastic event.

We had a great day at Ballarat for the February Club Day, 50 laps of racing in the bank and another new track learnt.

Qualifying - 3rd of 5
Race 1 - 2nd
Race 2 - 3rd
Race 3 - 4th
Final - 3rd and fastest lap

Super pumped to come home with a trophy.

Well done to the other drivers, Leo, Oscar, Aston and Jenson, and thanks to the club for a great event.

Disappointing weekend at Pucka for the first round of the Golden Power Series. A spin at the beginning of qualifying meant starting last in a field of 29 and a general lack of pace made it hard from there.

Race 1: 29th to 22nd (drop down penalty to 24th)

Race 2: 29th to 21st

Race 3: 25th to 21st (drop down penalty to 23rd)

Final: 27th to 22nd

Not the weekend we were hoping for, but the next race is never far away!

2025 kicked-off during the school holidays with Junior Top Guns, my first ever race at Oakleigh.

After a day of coaching with Adam from ProKarting, and a couple of practice days, we headed out on Friday to race against my biggest field to date, 30 of the best Cadet 9s from Victoria and interstate.

It was an up and down weekend, struggling a little for pace, and with a couple of kart issues we never got going. My best result came in Race 4 on Saturday, finishing 13th, only to follow-up with a DNF in the next race after the kart stopped on track!

A fun weekend at the track and it was awesome to catch-up with all my karting friends!

Thanks to Trackdown Media for the great photo.

Victorian State Cup in Portland to finish my first year in karting.

Another new track and with no practice it was always going to be a learning weekend. Our single timed practice on a drying track started well with P2, and then it was back to reality, struggling to get to grips with the dry track (literally) throughout the weekend. 

Really happy to have a strong finish to the weekend, making some passes in the final and improving my best lap by over half a second, finishing 11th before a penalty (for unknown reason) dropped me to 13th. 

A fun first year of racing with lots of learning, new tracks and new friends - bring on 2025!!

Photo: thanks to BPM Photography

After a long break from my home track in Port Melbourne, it was great to be back for the October club day. After a big week with two nights of our school production, we headed out to the track on Saturday for practice feeling excited but also pretty knackered. Practice went well, setting a new PB and breaking into the 45s.

Race day wasn’t such a great day.. Qualifying went ok, despite getting stuck in traffic I managed to qualify 6th out of 12, behind some really fast and experienced Cadet 9 drivers.

From there things went downhill, in race 1 I made a good start and was running in 6th until getting taken out and spinning into the wall on lap 4. Race 2 I avoided the carnage and was up to 5th at the start only to misjudge a corner and run up the back of my mate Jack, launching me into the air and out of the race (Jack was able to to continue). Race 3 I started last and made my way up to 8th, which is where I started the final. The start of the final was a mess, with a nasty crash and the race red flagged. Restarting 4th, I struggled for a bit of pace (I blame my engine) and ended up 6th, not a bad result, but not as close to the leaders as I was hoping. We keep learning - on to the next one!

The Golden Power Series round in Bendigo was my third open race meeting, against a field of the best Cadet 9s in Victoria (and beyond).

Dad and I headed up to Bendigo on Friday afternoon to be greeted by persistent rain that turned the paddock area into a mud pit. Saturday morning the rain had cleared and we got stuck into practice, qualifying and two races. Practice started well, finishing 11th out of 19 on a slightly damp track. Practice two I was spun off on the first lap, which meant I lined up last for qualifying. I qualified 13th, not bad, but struggled to get a clear lap and could have finished a few places higher.

I had some good battles in the heats, finishing 13th, 12th, and 11th meaning I lined up from position 13 for the final. The final wasn’t that great, I struggled a bit for pace and ended up in position 15, and 14th overall for the weekend. A fun weekend, stayed out of trouble and continued to learn - look forward to coming back next year.

Dad and I headed back to Bendigo Kart Club for another Club Day to get ready for the upcoming Golden Power Series round. After a beautiful Grand Final day (but terrible game), the weather turned bad, and we had a wet drive from Melbourne on Sunday morning, and a wet and cold day.

After a couple of practice sessions, we lined up for qualifying to be greeted by a flat tyre. With some quick work from dad we got it fixed and made it out for the second half of the session, qualifying 2nd of 6 drivers, just 0.071 seconds from pole position. After a good start and taking the lead, I spun off in race 1, with only 2 drivers finishing the race. Race 2 was much better, finishing 2nd, and then 3rd in race 3, but struggling a bit to keep up with the front two as the track started drying. For the final I lined up in 3rd on a slightly damp track, starting on wets with the top 2 on slicks. After a decent start I made my way up to second after a couple of laps, and then chased the leader for the whole race, finishing 2nd and just 0.3 of a second off my first race win. Another good weekend overall, finishing 3rd on points.

The Junior Sprint Classic at Eastern Lions Kart Club (Puckapunyal) was my biggest race meeting yet, lining up against 24 other drivers in the Cadet 9 class, and huge fields of other junior drivers in all other classes. It was an awesome weekend and I learnt a heap and got faster race by race.

In qualifying I struggled to get a clear lap and qualifed 19th, which held me back for the remainder of the weekend. Race 1 I made a bad start and dropped back to 20th, and race 2 and race 3 I made my way forward to 15th and 14th. Race 4 on Sunday morning I got caught up in a huge crash (luckily everyone was ok) that brought out the red flag and dropped me to the rear of the field, but with a few passes I got back to 15th. The final race I started 17th and was in a race long battle, finishing 14th and just 1.5 seconds from 10th, with a new best lap time.

Can't wait to get back to the Junior Sprint in 2025!

Another new track this weekend as we travelled to Pucka for the September Club Day, with the main goal of learning the track before the Junior Sprint next weekend. It was also the first time we used my old and first ever kart for racing!

It was a great weekend with a big field of 18 drivers and lots of great racing, plus Charlie and I had heaps of fun with mates. I qualified 10th which was pretty good after struggling to get a clear lap. Race 1 I clipped another kart at the start which dropped me to last, and I made my way back to 14th. Race 2 and 3 were much better, finishing 8th and 9th and beating my best lap time by over a second. I started 11th for the final and was in a race long battle with a big group of drivers, coming home 10th. Bring on next weekend.

The Australasian titles at the Goulburn Valley Kart Club in Numurkah was my first ever open race meeting. We made the trip up to Shepparton on the Friday night, and arrived at the track early on Saturday morning to setup. After a couple of practice sessions to learn the track, I qualified 9th out of 18 drivers, which was pretty cool!

I had some ups and downs in the races, heat 1 my engine problems from Bendigo were back and I fell back to 15th position. With some help from DJM Engineering we fixed the kart and I finished 11th in heat 2. Heat 3 I got caught in a crash on lap 1 and didn't finish. With my mixed heat results, I lined up 17th for the final (back row), but managed to make my way up to 10th, my first top 10 in an open meeting!

A great weekend with mates, and can't wait to go back next year!

With footy season over it was time to get back into karting, and Dad and I headed up to Bendigo for the club day on a sunny August morning (Charlie had a party). My first time at the track and it was great fun, super bumpy, and lots of friendly drivers.

After a couple of practice sessions to learn the track, I qualified 4th, just a couple of tenths off 2nd. Despite some engine issues, the races went well, finishing 3rd, 3rd, 2nd, and 3rd in the final. With all races counting for points, this left me second for the day, and my first ever podium and trophy - a very happy boy!!

My first race since March (been playing footy) and my second ever time driving in the wet, and it was a tough one…. Spun off in qualifying and started last, had a good couple of heats finishing 7th and 6th and then spun off again in the third heat after being passed by three karts before the race had even started.

Got punted on lap 1 in the final and never caught back up to the field, finishing 9th. A tough weekend, but more experience banked, on to the next one!

We headed out to Todd Rd for my second ever race meeting on a warm and sunny day. After a long delay, because the timing wasn’t working, we finally got out for qualifying, and to my own surprise I managed to get pole position on my last lap!

The heats were a mixed bag, I spun out of 2nd place in the first race, scored my first podium with a 2nd in the second race, and finished 3rd in the final heat, meaning a p3 start for the final. The start of the final was a mess, and I lost a heap of positions and got stuck behind a slower kart for half of the race. I finally got past and up to p4, but ended up crashing while fighting for 3rd. Bummed to not get my first podium in a final, but overall a great weekend.

After lots of practice, my first ever race weekend at the home track, Todd Rd. I was feeling pretty nervous, and things started with a bang, literally, with two karts spinning in front of me during qualifying, and I hit them with nowhere to go! Meanwhile another big crash on the straight meant a red flag and the session was over. Thanks to the great work of Pro Karting, my very bent kart got straightened and I made it back out for the restarted qualifying.

It was a steady day from there, and great experience, qualifying 9th of 16, and finishing my races 9th, 10th, 7th and 9th in the final. A great learning experience and can’t wait to get back for the next one.