With the latest two rounds of the British Karting championship being at a home circuit this should have been a promising weekend for Malmesbury’s Louis Harvey, but circumstances would prove costly for the young racing driver.

Despite being the fastest Junior TKM driver all morning on the Saturday in the wet conditions and finishing third in both his heats, multiple incidents cost him dearly finishing 10th in round 7 and 13th in round 8 after being forced to recover twice from way back down the field.

Saturday morning was wet but Harvey shone as he consistently posted the fastest times across every official practise session. As the rain eased off and the required new wet tyres were fitted for qualifying Harvey drove hard, qualifying a disappointing fifth after the mornings performance.

Saturday afternoon was Harveys first heat and starting from 4th he managed to cross the line 3rd after a good race with two of the other championship front runners.

Sunday and the conditions had changed and with a now dry track Harvey started 3rd for his heat two but despite taking the lead in the early few laps a drop in power saw him struggle to maintain his position dropping as low as 6th but managing to recover to 3rd over the line.

Harvey would start 4th for the first final of the day Round 7 and had his sights set on a win from this position but as they crossed the start line the leading karts tangled with the championship leader being hit into the path of Harvey who could not avoid him and was hit off the track dropping him to 20th and a dropped nose cone which ensured him a five second penalty at the end of the race.

Undeterred Harvey got on with the race and after some fantastic overtaking crossed the line 4th. With all the penalty’s added he was demoted down to 10th position.

Final one’s finish position determines the starting position for Final two so Harvey lined up 10th on the grid but still positive he could pull something out the bag after his previous recovery drive.

This was not to be as on the third corner of lap 1 Harvey took a wide line into the Stratford hairpin to avoid the battling pack and as he rounded the corner and headed for the straight, he was driven over and smashed off track virtually writing off the front of his kart but luckily no physical injuries.

With a very twisted front end, bent throttle pedal and a brake he could barely use he re-joined the race virtually last with the hope of a podium ruined through.

Demoralised but determined he put his head down and fought hard to still set some of the fastest times on track and as the race developed. Harvey eventually crossing the line 13th after 15 gruelling minutes of racing but was hit with further disappointment after the race. A visit to the stewards who had reviewed the track footage show that despite Harvey being the innocent party the collision was a racing incident due to the amount of drivers fighting for position in the battle he had tried so hard to avoid.

The incident also proved costly for his fellow team driver Ben Watson who was unable to avoid the crash.

Harvey will race at the Kimbolton circuit in two weeks’ time as he takes on the challenge of both the prestigious TKM Festival and the TKM O plate championships in the same weekend.