Teamsport Go Karting in Newcastle was the venue for the Province of Durham to lock horns with Northumberland in the Karting Grand Prix.

The Teams started arriving at the venue from about 5pm with both Provinces  mixing together for friendly banter in the liesure area. There was a mix of experienced and first timers to karting and a wide age range in both teams. A total of 36 team members assembled for pre-race photographs including John Thompson, the Provincial Grand Master of Durham and Kevin Stannard the Deputy Provincial Grand Master of Northumberland.

Both Provinces gathered in the briefing room where a safety lecture and video was delivered by one of the Instructors to prepare everyone for the battle ahead.

The first session on the track consisted of practice and qualifying where fastest laps are timed to determine grid starting places in the final sessions. To the first timers this was an eye opener with the surprising top speed of 40mph and firm handling of the kart on the twisting and multi layered track. Plenty of tactical bumps and nudging were the order of the day.

With qualifying completed the 2 final races from grid placings produced some very competitive driving, with red flags popping up regularly,  but in the end Northumberland edged out Durham to claim the Grand Prix title. Prizegiving and comraderie ccontinued after the racing and all agreed that this event would be an annual challenge to look forward to. The fastest lap went to Northumberland with “Big Kev” claiming the prize.

Many thanks to David Stockdale for his hard work in organising the event and Arron Gilbraith for pulling the Durham team together. This event was yet again was a testament to the frienship between the neighbouring Provinces of Durham and Northumberland and long may it continue.

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Yet again   #strongertogether