Super 1 Dunlop Honda Cadet Championship Round 4, Buckmore Park

Harrison Scott was reveling in the conditions and on top form, winning all three Honda Cadet heats. Jessica Hawkins line up alongside for the Final but she, Aidan Hills and Callum Hardgrave all slithered wide out of the second hairpin. “Callum hit me from behind and I spun”, she said, restarting last with what looked like a hopeless task ahead.

Scott was enjoying a good lead, enhanced when the chasing Ashley England lost ground grass-tracking. In the now heavy rain he would soon spin to the back.

Billy Chaplin leapfrogged Connor Mills for 2nd but all the while Hawkins had been making astonishing progress as she whipped past Bobby Thompson and closed on Chaplin, Mills, having fallen behind her, and Thompson. On the final lap, Chaplin had to keep a steady head with Hawkins less than a tenth behind. The jubilant Scott said “I was a bit lucky because Jessica spun then I managed to get clean away and just kept my head to the end.”

Round 3 of the Buckmore Park Summer Championship was held
on a dry track, on a sunny but breezy day.
 
The qualifying session resulted in Jessica lining up 4th on the grid for the first race - from 25 starters - despite being only 0.157sec slower than pole position.
 
At the start of the race Jessica was in 6th place before moving up to 5th on lap 2, 4th on lap 3 and 3rd on lap 4. She then found herself embroiled in a three - way dice for the lead with Harrison Scott and Billy Chaplin.
 
Jessica overtook Chaplin on lap 8 and then passed Scott for the lead on lap 9 of the 10 lap race. It looked to have been a finely judged race as she led into the last lap, but misfortune was just around the corner.
 
Part way round that last lap, Jessica was spun out of the lead by contact from another kart and had to rejoin behind several other competitors.
The eventual 11th place finish was not what she deserved, setting the fastest lap of the race was little consolation either.
 
The result of that 1st race determines the grid for the 2nd race, so Jessica was destined to start race 2 from an unrepresentative 11th on the grid.
 
She made up 2 places in the first 3 laps and moved up 2 more by lap 4. The front 4 had already established a gap over the following bunch and 6th place was the best that could be achieved by the end of the 10 laps.
 
That meant 6th on the grid for the 15 lap Final. Jessica was in 5th place on the first lap, but moved up to 3rd by lap 5 and on lap 6 she was through into the lead.
Jessica was being followed very closely by Harrison Scott,
but the pressure didn't affect her driving. She stayed in front and led into the last lap again. This time, Scott tried a late overtaking manouevre at the 2nd to last corner.

This resulted in heavy contact, but Jessica kept control and reached the chequered flag first to score an absolutely tremendous win, very much against the odds.

“Finally we review the future of this great sport, our cadets where excitement is fitted as standard. Fastest in qualifying was Billy Chaplin but to be honest we are talking hundredths across the top four so as usual this was an academic matter. To prove my point it was Bobby Thompson who made it to the finish line first in the heat where he was very closely followed by Jessica Hawkins while Aidan Hills and Billy Chaplin controlled a second wave. Bobby Thompson did exactly the same in the pre-final where he was again chased by Jessica Hawkins. Callum Hardgrave managed to get in front of Billy Chaplin for third this time. It all went rather wrong for Bobby Thompson in the final where he ended up in the lower reaches after leading the race for most of the first half. Callum Hardgrave took the win from Jack Mitchell with Jessica Hawkins coming home for the remaining trophy”

The format for Super 1 meetings is 3 heats (starting from various grid slots) with the points gained from these races determining the grid for the Final.
Heat 1 saw Jessica start from 5th, moving rapidly into 3rd and then 2nd.
In the very wet conditions, she caught Harrison Scott and the two pulled out a gap of over 4secs on their pursuers.

Jessica set the fastest lap on lap 6 of the 7 lap race but couldn't get past Scott and took the flag in a very creditable 2nd place. For heat 2, she started at the back of the 12 kart grid and completed the first lap in 7th place.

Jessica then overtook her rivals one by one on a still very wet track, moving up to 6th on lap 2, 5th on lap 3 and into 4th on lap 4. She then took 3rd place on lap 5 before claiming 2nd place on the last lap. A fighting drive again resulted in Jessica setting the fastest lap of the race in the difficult conditions.

A front row start for heat 3 was good reason to look forward to another good result. However, the conditions were proving very unpredictable and, just when it seemed like it might be drier, the rain started again.

The team had changed the settings on Jessica's kart expecting a drier race and she therefore went to the grid with her kart on less than ideal settings.

Initially running in 2nd place, she was shuffled down to 3rd and then 4th before regaining 3rd place. At the end of the race she was right behind the 2nd place kart and the 3rd place,added to her previous results, meant a front row start for the 14 lap Final.

Jessica slotted into 2nd place at the start of the race, but was then spun out of that position part way round the first lap and she rejoined last. By lap 3 she had made her way back up to 8thand then overtook another competitor to take 7th on lap 5.

The race had started on a drying track, but the rain started again on lap 5 making conditions very treacherous again. Jessica was still driving in an assured and controlled manner and moved up to 4th place as the race moved into the last few laps.

On the last lap, she caught the two competitors that were contesting 2nd and 3rd places and, in a well judged move, managed to take 3rd place at the finish and very nearly 2nd. This was an excellent comeback drive after the first lap misfortune and in far from ideal conditions.

The points gained from this round have moved Jessica into 2nd place in the Championship and still in with a chance of winning it.