THE South West Kart Championships, held at Mansell Raceway, near Honiton, proved a difficult weekend for Horrabridge racer, Alex Waterhouse.
In free practice on Saturday it was obvious his engine was down on power compared to the top runners, but with no spare engine, a good qualifying position was going to be difficult.
His times improved slightly over the three sessions but 21st out of the 33 kart grid was disappointing.
Overnight, thanks to the generosity of another competitor, a new cylinder head was fitted to the engine to try and recover some of the lost performance. Race day began wet, and Alex did well in the first heat to finish 11th. Heat two was a reverse grid and Alex was up to third from 13th with two laps to go, when contact from a kart behind him caused a half spin, and he finished seventh .
The pre-final was dry and despite his engine still being under powered he finished 11th from 15th. The final started dry but a light shower of rain on lap two suited Alex and he climbed four places in the greasy conditions to finish fourth in the Honda Cadet Class and seventh overall.
Alex told the Times: 'Engine problems nearly ruined my weekend, but some hard work from my dad, and the rain, gave me a chance and I managed to get a reasonable result. Now I need to concentrate on the last two rounds of the championship.'