Aiden Schweikert has been a driver making waves in the 2021 Golden Power Series. After a tough opening round Aiden put his Formula K kart on the front row in qualifying at the second round and was looking to carry his momentum into the third at the Eastern Lions Kart Club over the weekend. With not much time spent at the track Aiden and his father Justin were hopeful of a top fifteen finish for the weekend.
Timed practice was an exciting start to the weekend with Schweikert setting the second fastest time, creating huge excitement for his qualifying session. The Pro Karting backed driver had a huge task ahead of him in a field of thirty-nine Cadet 12 drivers. Aiden headed out the gate and was immediately in the top ten drivers and looked good to improve in the session. In a hot paced session Schweikert hit a late lap that put him in position three overall on the inside of the second row. The team were wrapped with the result and looked to heat one to continue the great performance.
Schweikert got a smooth get away landing himself in position four at the end of lap. The G & L Motor Repairs and Performance backed entry was in the heated battle in the top ten, resulting in him dropping a few places. The racing was fast and competitive with Schweikert dropping back to position eight but only two seconds off the winner.
Heat two was under damp conditions and Aiden dropped down as low as position eight off the start. The young Cadet 12 ace put his head down and looked to improve his position as the race went on. The Hayley Hire sponsored entry was able to make his way back up to the edge of the top five in position six overall. An improved effort from heat one.
Position seven was the starting point for heat three and in his best start of the weekend Schweikert was able to jump up to position four and was in the top five. There was an incident in the race halting the racing to a full course yellow and the Jeremy Cross backed driver was stuck in position four. At the green flag restart Aiden had a dive for position three but wasn’t able to hold onto the position coming home in fourth place overall in his best race finish of the weekend.
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The final and with Schweikert out of position six and being held wide at the start, he was back to position sixteen off the start. The Pro Karting backed driver made his way back inside the top fifteen but due to his shortened final had limited time to make up spots. The Formula K driver fought back to come home in position fourteen of the thirty-nine kart field.
Aiden was overall wrapped with his weekend and had plenty of supporters to thank. “I’d like to thank my sponsors, G & L Motor Repairs and Performance, Hayley Hire and Jeremy Cross. I’d also like to thank Carl Gibson who’s my engine builder and friend, his support over the weekend was fantastic and the engine is a rocket! Thanks to Dad and my Grandfather, who’s my number one supporter.”
Justin, his father, spoke of how happy the weekend made him. “I really had no idea how we’d go this weekend. We had gone up for some practice with the guys from Prokarting a couple of weeks earlier and weren’t too far off the pace but with 39 kids entered and some really amazing drivers it was going to be tough. Aiden and I have spent some time talking about where he could improve and after day one I was so proud of how he’d gone. He’d really taken those things in and was applying it to his driving with the times speaking for him. I feel that his performance in heat 3 was his best race to date. He’s only been racing for little over a year and is mixing it with kids that are 2 years ahead of him. I can see him improving every time he races and while I know he was upset with the result in the final, it’s now not a matter of if he’ll get a podium just when he will”!
Aiden looks forward to the next round of the series at the Bendigo Kart Club in June.
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