James Ceveri, after a tough COVID affected 2020 headed to the opening round of the Golden Power Series at the Rochester Go Kart Club looking to start 2021 on a high note. With an oversized 42 kart field in the KA4 Junior Light class, Ceveri was in for a tough weekend’s level of racing. After timed practice James had land himself in the top 20 meaning for qualifying he was heading out in the top 50% of the field.
Ceveri started a tough qualifying session by landing in the top five, in position 4 in his early laps. A tough battle with current Cadet 12 national champion Harry Arnett, fellow KA4 Junior Light front runners Angus Hall and Toby Dvorak was in store for pole position. In the middle stages of the session the Windridge Fencing backed entry ended up as high as position 2, with current state champion Oliver Wickham also entering a tight battle for pole position! When the dust settled on the frantic six minutes Ceveri had land in position 3 in the large 40 plus kart field.
Heat 1 was another strong performance, starting on the front row due to the split KA4 Junior Light field. Ceveri dropped a spot to William Thompson of the start but quickly asserted himself into the top three battle. With a move in the early laps for second spot, leader and current state champion Harry Arnett was firm on the radar. In the dying stages of the race the A1 Engines powered driver made the move on Arnett with positions changing again at the next corner! Ceveri followed Arnett across the line in second place with a strong Saturday’s racing in the books!
Sunday’s final day came around, James and dad Tom looked to heat 2 to continue the strong weekend. With another front row start Ceveri landed in position 3 at the end of lap one and chased down after the leaders Angus Hall and Toby Dvorak. A move for position 2 was done on Dvorak midrace with a strong charge after race leader Hall. The Ruby Bella Beauty sponsored driver got within half a second of the race leader to have another strong finish in second spot.
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Heat 3 and Ceveri was off pole position but after a chaotic started land himself in third position under a full course yellow. With a three lap sprint to the end due to the full course yellow, a messy restart occurred with third place the finishing spot after the sprint home. In unfortunate circumstances Ceveri was handed a 10 second penalty for a restart infringement putting himself out of position 8 for the all-important final.
In a full field of drivers Ceveri got a great start to his final moving up into the top five in the early laps of the final. With a hard battle in the top five the 10 lap final was a fast paced high level display of driving. In one of the drives of the final Ceveri made his way up to fourth position just off the podium in a full thirty kart field! A post-race infringement allowed Ceveri to move up onto the podium in third spot in a strong result!
James’ father and mechanic Tom was pleased with the fight back after heat 3. “James got penalised for a restart infringement in heat 3. We were pleased with the fightback and we’re happy with the final result”. One thing to learn from the weekend James Ceveri is in for a strong season and is one to watch in 2021.
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