It was a turbulent weekend for Scarlet Whitaker Dunn and her fellow competitors at Teesside Autodrome for Round 2 of the 2024 Teesside Sprint Series due to some unseasonably bad weather.
Despite the bitterly cold and windy weather on Saturday, Scarlet managed to qualify in a creditable 12th place out of the 26 kart field (which is no mean feat in the fiercely competitive Honda Cadet 200cc class) giving her a decent platform to work from for Sundays race heats and final.
Sunday morning brought horrendous rain and a delayed start to the race programme due to a flooded circuit. A valiant effort by track staff with their pumps and a road sweeper saw the track declared drivable but racing was to prove very tricky with many racers spinning off the circuit due to the lack of grip available.
Race 1 saw Scarlet make a good start from the grid, but things turned for the worse towards the end of the race as Scarlet took her turn to spin her kart at the exit of the ‘D’ chicane and was collected by another driver, causing the steering arm to be badly bent, the kart was virtually undrivable and for Scarlet to finish, a disappointing 23rd place.
Race 2 saw Scarlet get off the line well, gaining a few places before turn one. She managed to continue her good pace and finished in 17th place.
In Race 3, Scarlet started well again and some skillful moves saw her finish in 12th place.
The final race of the day went very smoothly, but it was apparent that Scarlet’s kart was suffering with a lack of pace against the much higher budgeted racers. Scarlet still managed to bring it home in 17th place.
The engine will be refreshed before Round 3 of the Teesside Sprint Series in June where Scarlet is hoping to make further progress and to add to her championship points tally.
“Despite the bone-chilling cold and lashing rain I thoroughly enjoyed the race and learnt many different things driving in the wet,” said Scarlet.
“Scarlet drove very well all weekend and again learned so much. Despite the very wet conditions and a much lower budget to her competitors, Scarlet still gave it her all,” said Mam.
2024 Remaining Race Dates – Teesside:
June 22nd-23rd, July 26th-28th, August 24th-25th,
September 21st-22nd
and October 25th-27th.
We would like to thank Amaron Racing, PHM (Peninsula Historic Motorsport), Grandad Ron and Rob Storey for their generous assistance and financial support making this possible. To support Scarlet in her journey please email: mail@amandawhitaker.com