After Alfie’s first podium in the state of Utah, a confident 9-year-old was now preparing for his next race in Italy at the Laghi 7 circuit in Castaletto.

A week prior to the race, Alfie was able to spend a weekend testing where he delivered a great performance and was close to the speed of the top runners of the championship. He hoped to bring that speed to the race. Thursday’s practice was solid. Alfie was putting some good lap times and being as close as he has ever been to the front running pace.

Heading to Fridays qualifying round, Alfie was nervous but ready for any difficulties the session posed. The lights went green, and everyone was waiting for the last few minutes to go and put the time in.

As they finished the first lap, everyone was in position to complete with a time. Unfortunately, Alfie was stuck in a group that was not particularly quick and as he went to overtake a competitor, they recklessly lunged back causing Alfie to lose valuable time. As he went onto his next lap, which without the unfortunate mishap would have been his best, quickly caught up to the same competitor. Alfie then had to slow down in the last chicane which caused someone else to hit him unfortunately damaging his lap time. Overall, Alfie ended up not putting together a lap and qualified 22nd in the group.

After a disappointing qualifying round, the groups were then calculated, and Alfie was starting 20th in his first heat. Due to the big demand of drivers, there were four groups, each competing in three heats per driver. The first heat started with Alfie in 20th place. His nerves got the better of him and as he was on the rolling lap, lacked concentration resulting in a gap being left to the kart in-front, then not attacking enough through the first few corners to make up any places.

After a few laps Alfie still lacked confidence overtaking but focused on pushing himself and managed to get up to 14th position. The second heat was similar in style as Alfie couldn’t shake the nerves he felt. Starting in 19th position, Alfie struggled, not making up as much ground as he could therefore finishing in 17th. Coming up to the third heat, Alfie had really focused on the task at hand, attacking the first corners and gaining positions. He skilfully battled his way to 12th position making 8 places and his lap times were a lot closer the front runners as before in previous heats.

With the disappointing first heats result, Alfie was in the B final which was shame considering the pace showed in the testing weekend. Determined to head out and take on the next challenge, he lined up 5th on the grid. The top six from this race were to go through. The lights went green and Alfie was in 5th position battling off the other competitors trying to take his spot.

As the drivers came around the chicane and onto the back straight, a competitor made contact with Alfie causing him to spin and lose all positions, sending him to the back of the field with an impossible gap to close. Alfie finished the race with solid lap times even matching the leaders, but with no positions gained, left him in 13th position.

Overall, a disappointing end to the race with some unfortunate incidents with other drivers impacting end results. As Alfie’s experience grows so will his confidence and ability to build up to the front runner pace. His next race will be the 3rd round of the L.G.M championship in Larkhall, Scotland.