When we last featured Stefanos Charalambous, our developing young Kart Racer, we reported that he had overcome a run of bad luck over the last few months to win the PF International Winter Championship. But if we thought that his frustrations were over, we were wrong. At the Whilton Mill circuit in Northamptonshire last weekend, these returned to really test his resolve in his quest for his next title.

As usual, in practice, Stef set the pace with some really fast lap times, and he’s becoming the yardstick for every other driver to measure their performances by. However, come Sunday’s races, disaster struck. Preparing for the day’s racing, and totally out of the blue, Stef’s kart refused to start, for no apparent reason. Eventually, his mechanics replaced the battery, and this appeared to have cured the problem, but as Stef prepared to start the day’s Time Qualifying races, his kart again wouldn’t fire up, and he was left stranded on the starting grid.

His bemused mechanics frantically tried to diagnose the problem, but try as they might, they were unable to do so. Stef was left to pace up and down as the day’s first heat was run without his participation. Having failed in their attempts to get Stef’s engine running, his mechanics were left with only one option: replace the engine itself. Once the decision was made, they managed to change engines just in time for Stef take his place for the day’s second heat in 9^th place on the starting grid. He blew away his frustrations – and his opponents – as he roared into 3^rd place on the first lap, then took the lead 3 laps later to win comfortably and leave nobody in any doubt that he was back.

In the third heat, Stef continued where he left off and wowed the crowds with some brilliant driving and overtaking. Starting in 29^th place on the grid, he overtook 16 drivers on the first lap! Over the next 9 laps he moved steadily up the order, overtaking two and three opponents at a time to finish in 4^th place.

Starting in 10^th place in the day’s Final, Stef was ready to cap things with a deserved victory – when Lady Luck decided to desert him again…

A slow start to the race by the first and second placed drivers on the grid meant that the field bunched up, and the inevitable pile up happened ahead of Stef, necessitating the officials to stop the race until the track was cleared. Unfortunately, the set up on Stef’s engine meant that this stop start nature to the race had caused his spark plugs to oil up, and when the race was restarted, it was all Stef could do to maintain his 10^th place as his engine sputtered around the track. Eventually, as the plugs cleared and the engine roared into life, Stef was able to begin overtaking his opponents and move up the field. He moved effortlessly past several drivers, but finally had to settle for a third place podium finish, crossing the line just half a second behind the winner.

So, another frustrating day for Stef, but interspersed with some of the brilliant driving which he is beginning to be known for. Some hard practice now awaits him in the coming few weeks as he works towards spring’s Championship title in late April. We’ll let you know how he gets on in these pages.