Blake Haigh had his final race meeting in the Cadet 9 category last weekend when taking on the Capri Cup at the Ipswich Kart Club.
Racing in honour of Alf Capri, Blake was looking to finish his Cadet 9 career on a high. Blake was in for a tough day of racing against a quality field!
Haigh went straight into racing on Saturday and started out of position 11 in the opening heat. The Eni Oils Australia backed entry got a terrific start and moved up 5 positions and into 6th spot on the opening lap. Blake was showing excellent pace and nice over taking and was into the top 2 by the 5th lap of the race. Haigh couldn’t close down the leader but put in a brilliant performance to move up 9 spots and cross the line in 2nd position!
Blake was out of position 14 for heat 2 and he was looking to once again make up positions off the start line. The HRE backed entry moved up 4 spots on lap 1 and was straight into the top 10. Haigh was making up positions and was quickly pushing on the back of the top 5 drivers. Blake was setting the 2nd fastest times on the circuit and was chasing after the top 5. Haigh was able to cross the line in 6th position overall and this had him in the front battle for heat 3.
Haigh was in the top 5 to start the 3rd heat and he was looking to challenge for victory when an unfortunate opening lap incident put him down the order. The Land Australia backed entry re-joined in position 10 and had the head down trying to make spots back up. Blake was able to work his way back into the top 5 as the race went on and then made his way into the top 3. Haigh crossed the line in position 3 overall in a brilliant fightback from his turn 1 incident.
The final was upon Blake and he was once again off 3rd position and was looking to challenge for victory. The Tecno Karts Australia backed entry was unfortunately involved in another 1st corner incident, where he dropped back to position 6. Blake put his head down and charged his way back forward. Haigh was back into the top 3 by lap 6 but had a lot of ground to make up on the 2 drivers ahead of him. The Inner Brisbane Realty backed entry came home on the podium in 3rd position in a tough end to the young drivers Cadet 9 career.
Blake’s parents spoke post weekend on their young drivers up and down weekend. “All in all, it was not the best of meetings but any day at the track is good. We’ve made the call to go up to Cadet 12 a year early and we’re excited about the new challenge. We would love to thank all the people that have helped us this year with 3rd overall in the Australian Kart Championship and many other wins and places”.
Haigh will be a driver to watch as he moves into the Cadet 12 ranks!