How Proud Am I?! (Again!)

Earlier today was the third round in the Daytona Manchester Inkart Championship - Samuel finished third in round two. He was 7th on the grid for the first qualifying session and unfortunately took a black flag so he ended up loosing the places he gained during the 10 lap race and finished eighth.

Second session he was first on the grid (all random placings to ensure all competitors have same advantage) and he kept the place throughout so maximum points.

For the final qualifying he was placed fourth on the grid and managed to retain the place. So then it just depended if he was in the A or B final. Luckily he'd scored enough points from the three rounds to be placed fourth on the grid for the A Final. So he was in with a good chance of a podium finish.

Samuel had a fantastic grid start and managed to get past the second and third placed drivers on the first corner after the grid as they had a bit of a tangle and Samuel neatly sidestepped them and was behind Saul (the eventual winner) to the point that he gave him a little nudge to let him know he was there around lap 3 or 4.

Saul normally races away and no-one catches him so he was rather surprised to see Samuel right up his rear and couldn't shake him off for the remainder of the 20 lap race!

Samuel finished in second place behind Saul with only 2 seconds difference (and he pulled a few faster laps than Saul too!) and he set his fastest lap time of 26.010 seconds - just over the magical 25 second barrier!

So we are more than pleased and Samuel has been bouncing off the walls since we got home! We think he has now moved up to third place in the overall points for the Cadet Championships and if he keeps this up, well, who knows?!

Here he is shaking Kevin's hand (who afterwards told me that Samuel had raced a perfect race - and he's only 8!)
The Cadet and Junior first, second and third place finishers - Samuel is nearest camera

And here he is with his trophy!! It actually comes upto just under his chin - you can't see it too well in the photo!
We thought he would be getting a kart trophy again like last time so we were really surprised when he was presented this huge cup!!

And the sun is shining - the boys have new super soaker water pistols so they've had a water fight and now they are watching the F1 Grand Prix...... who knows - it could be Samuel in 10 years!!