Crawley takes the knocks in his stride on impressive new class bow 03.12.2009: After superbly finishing up as number two in Britain in Mini Max in 2009, young Dartford karting star Harry Crawley has made the transition to the heavier and more powerful Junior Max class with impressive ease – ascending

After superbly finishing up as number two in Britain in Mini Max in 2009, young Dartford karting star Harry Crawley has made the transition to the heavier and more powerful Junior Max class with impressive ease – ascending the podium only second time out and swiftly learning to give as good as he gets.

It has become somewhat traditional in recent years – if not altogether welcome – for Junior Max debutants to be ‘initiated’ into their new surroundings by their more experienced rivals in no uncertain fashion, with rookies all-too often ending up on the wrong end of on-track displays of over-exuberance. Whilst recognising that he will have to adapt his approach to his racing accordingly, it is clear that Harry is already firmly on the right path.

“The driving style is much more aggressive than in Mini Max,” he explained, “and the kart is a lot faster and handles differently because of the weight difference, so I’ve just been trying to get used to those aspects really. I’m normally quite aggressive anyway when it comes to overtaking and fighting my way through the pack, so hopefully that will help me. You need to concentrate a lot more because the competition is a lot harder – but that’s just the nature of racing in Junior Max.”

With just a sole test day under his belt prior to his maiden competitive appearance in the class at PF International in Lincolnshire, the Hawley-based speed demon was faced with a sizeable 33-strong grid – and a first corner collision resulting in a broken track rod in his opening heat race did not get things off to an encouraging start.

Nonetheless, after beginning heat two from sixth, Harry drove brilliantly to snatch the lead early on as the rain fell down – making the track surface treacherous indeed – and he would go on to take the chequered flag second after having to give best to Andy King, a driver with a year in the class already under his belt. Better still, the 13-year-old expertly staved off the pressure and threat from behind from Jack Marshall, another experienced Junior Max campaigner, and then in the all-important final charged through the order from 13th to finish fourth, keeping his head and putting in consistently rapid lap times throughout to earn his first trophy at his first attempt – and rank as comfortably the best debutant to-boot.

From there, the Evolution Racing ace headed to Three Sisters near Wigan, and belying the fact that it was his first visit to the ultra-fast circuit, he was quick from the ‘off’ as the heavens opened on Friday and failed to close again all weekend. A solid trio of top seven finishes out of 21 competitors in his heat races – despite engine woes in the second of them meaning he was struggling for pace off the corners – left him to begin the final third, and though a late-race error would attest to the fact that he remains on a learning curve, Harry’s progress was such that he is already targeting a breakthrough victory third time out when he returns to PF again in December.

“Three Sisters is a very fast circuit with some really good corners,” explained the Wilmington Grammar School for Boys pupil, “and hard to get right in the wet, particularly as there are different varieties of lines that you can take.

“I didn’t get a very good start in the final and lost a couple of places, but I then worked my way up to second. The leader had pulled quite a long way ahead by then and I was trying to close the gap, but in pushing too hard probably I made a couple of mistakes on the last lap and got overtaken – that was a bit frustrating, but it was my own fault.

“I was expecting to do quite well in Junior Max, but I hadn’t thought I’d finish in the top four in both of my first two meetings. I’m quite chuffed with that – and at PF I’ll be aiming to win.”

To keep up-to-date with Harry’s latest career news and results, please visit: www.harrycrawley.co.uk

- RA - photo Chris Walker kartpix.net