Earlham: Petrol-heads zoom to finals

Sam EmanuelThree groups of petrol-heads from a Norwich school have competed against schools around from East Anglia in the regional final of a national karting championship.Sam Emanuel

Three groups of petrol-heads from a Norwich school have competed against schools around from East Anglia in the regional final of a national karting championship.

City Academy Norwich students were the only groups from Norfolk to get through to the stage of the British Schools Karting Championship at the Red Lodge Karting Centre, and competed against 21 teams from around the region in a bid to win a place in the national final.

The school entered eight teams in the championship after receiving a 50pc bursary from Sport England, and three of them got through to the regional final following their performance at the semi-final earlier in the year at Evolution Karting in Yarmouth.

Karl Bamber, Walter Barbas, Danny Britcher, Jonathan Freeman, Ryan Gray, Jordan Innes, Matthew Manning, Brandon Mason and

Tom Roberts all took part, and although their teams came 14th, 15th and 19th, they all thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

Jonathan said: 'We had to race with other people from other schools, and it was well good - we were racing with professionals too and we managed to keep up with them sometimes.

'I'll definitely be interested in doing more if I get the opportunity.'