That, though, was where the earlier optimism ended, as Jack immediately recognised all was not well with his kart before the action had even got underway. Helpless as his rivals breezed past him one-by-one, he fell down to second-to-last place, before a change to his main jet to make it leaner produced an upturn in performance and allowed him to fight his way back through to sixth spot at the close – though still far from what he had been hoping for.
“On the warm-up lap the kart wasn't pulling very well,” he said, taking up the story. “I thought I would give it a couple of laps, but the first four or five laps were absolutely dreadful and I was a second-and-a-half slower than the leaders. There was a time I actually wondered if there was any point in continuing – I was miles off the pace.
“We didn't know how the jet had got like that – we hadn't changed anything, but we had left the kart on its own for a couple of minutes whilst I was on the grid. That was our mistake, and I'm still fairly inexperienced with the carburettor in K
F1 so I didn't know I should have leaned the main jet off from the start.
“When I came in I was pretty angry; sixth place and battling with the mid-pack runners is not where I want to be. It was really frustrating, because I've got some good equipment – the chassis is good and the engine is good and we know we should be pushing the leader and trying to win races.”
There was, at least, some better news as Jack was selected as
Newcomer of the Year in the British ICC Championship – “That was good because you know you've got on it quicker than all the other drivers who came into the category back at the beginning of the year” – as a result of a superb season that saw him clinch the runner-up spot in the hotly-fought class at his maiden attempt and with only the resources of his small, family-run team at his disposal. What's more, he is now preparing to make his bow in the gearbox-based German Winter Cup at Kerpen – the same circuit where a certain
Michael Schumacher first cut his competitive karting teeth.
![Jack Hawksworth in action on his KF1 debut at PF International during the 2007-08 winter series [pic credit: Chris Walker/www.kartpix.net]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/397664.jpg)
