SOLIHULL racer Harrison Morrow experienced a turbulent weekend at the Shenington Independent Kart Racing Series, after appearing for his team Total Trouble Racing for the first time this year.
Morrow started the weekend strongly, having had a very strong practice day last Saturday in the dry conditions, which allowed him to make progress on his showing the previous weekend.
In two of the sessions, he set new personal best times, and established himself as a top four contender in his Honda Cadet class, but the downturn of conditions would have an impact as the opening race dawned.
The approaching Storm Freya had a big impact on proceedings, depleting the number of entrants in the class.
Harrison set a lap time good enough for fourth fastest and felt comfortable in the wet conditions, prior to the opening heat.
He would hold onto fourth place and battled hard to go into third, eventually doing so halfway through the race.
Pushing forwards and approaching the front two with more confidence, he would go a fraction too wide exiting a hairpin bend and spun, resuming control of his kart but having to settle for fourth.
The second heat went awry for Harrison though, with conditions worsening on the track.
He fought back from last on the grid to set a third fastest lap time in the heat, only 0.5 seconds off the race winner.
A third heat didn’t get off to the best of starts for the young racer, after finding himself stuck behind a slower kart who provided an obstacle.
He would mount a comeback further down the line, but then began to experience brake issues, hampering his drive going around key overtaking areas.
Drawing on his intuition, he would still be able to overtake a number of karts, but didn’t have the same amount of pace thanks to the brake failure – eventually finishing fourth.
Bringing the kart into the pits, Harrison’s team attempted repairs, but the brakes nevertheless remained ineffective.
It meant his team had no choice but to withdraw Morrow from the final race and head home.
He remained upbeat though despite the frustration at not being able to finish the race day, and took heart in his new personal best times and the impressive pace he had mounted throughout the day in tough conditions.
Morrow has a week’s break from racing, before taking part in the Motorsport UK Championship at Shenington.
