We couldn’t be further from the south-coast this weekend as we headed north for round 4 of the NKC 2025 championship, this time at Warden Law in Sunderland. The weather continues to be kind as it was another hot and sunny weekend…. once the sea mist had cleared first thing in the mornings.
The race weekend is run over three days, Friday & Saturday practice, a race on Saturday evening, two further races on Sunday followed by the finals Sunday afternoon. The conditions for the weekend were good, sunny and very hot all weekend. Sunday started slightly cooler but soon got up to temperature. Warden Law is a track we love, it’s a fast drivers circuit with a bit of everything for everyone. The management of the track is one of the best we go to, the circuit facilities are excellent and all the KNE staff are brilliant. It’s well worth the seven and half hour trip up there.
Friday practice followed our usual pre-race programme, experimenting with different set-ups. We spent alot of time testing sprocket sizes and tyre pressures until we were happy we were on the right set-up for the conditions.
Saturday practice went well and we progressed through the day tweaking set-up ready for our first race on Saturday evening. We were towards the top of the time-sheets throughout the day and beating our personal best lap times each time we went out.
NKC is mixed grids which means there is no qualifying, we are all assigned our grid spots up until the finals.
Race 1 – We started 28th, had a good start and immediately had to avoid an accident (check out our instagram posts if you’ve not seen it). Once returning to the track we started picking off places. We made up 10 positions and were classified 18th, we did finish higher in 12th on track, but we received a 5 second penalty due to a drop-nose which was caused in the first lap incident and was unavoidable.
Race 2 – We started 17th, had a good start again and throughout the race made up place when we could. We made up 5 positions and finished 12th, unfortunately we got another 5 second penalty which is why our classified position is lower than our track finish position.
Race 3 – We started 5th, had a good start holding our position and drove well. After a tough battle we managed to make up only 1 position and finished 4th, with no penalties.
We missed out qualifying straight for the A-Final by a single point so we had to race in the B-final to try to get through. We started on the second row in 3rd position, thanks to the points we had scored so far in the day. We had a good start and drove well, attacking and defending throughout the race. We made up 1 position finishing 2nd, so go through to the grand final.
Final – Started 32, had a good start, kept out of the trouble and drove well, again on a mission to make up as many places as we can. We made up 8 places and finished 24th. A great result and now the 2nd time in a row we have made it through to the A-final, which isn’t an easy task. The NKC is the biggest championship in the UK and the grids a very competitive. Jacob drove amazingly all weekend.
We get a few weeks off now before heading to Daventry for round 5 of the championship at Whilton Mill.
