Dominant form seals NI title for young Charlie

CHARLIE Condy enjoyed a season behind the wheel of his kart that will live long in the memory, sealing the Northern Ireland Karting Association’s Cadet title by a massive margin following a dominant campaign.

The nine-year-old, who lives between Dungannon, Aughnacloy and Ballygawley, won the first round at Kirkistown, then the second and then the third and continued that form throughout a remarkable second campaign in the class to win the crown by well over 100 points from his 12-year-old cousin, Archie Condy.

The P6 pupil at Ballygawley’s Richmond Primary School started karting at the age of six in 2019 in the Bambino class and he immediately showed his natural affinity for racing, finishing second in the two championships he competed in.

Season two was all but wiped out due to Covid but he showed his undeniable potential on one rare outing that year at the Irish GP at Nutts Corner where he came a stunning second out of 120 entries!

In 2021, Charlie moved up to the Cadet class and finished fourth and fifth in the two championships he competed in but by Dad Ivor’s own admission, his progress was restricted through no fault of his own.

“He did well in the first year [in the Cadet class], but I probably restricted him because I knew absolutely nothing about the karts and we found he was flying in the wet, challenging for wins, but dry days he was struggling,” he explained.

Fortunately, the Condy family then received a call from Richard Stewart, who was running Bishopscourt circuit and the NIKA Championship. Having been impressed by Charlie’s attitude and sportsmanship, the experienced Stewart offered his services as mentor.

“A fortnight before the last round of the season, Richard Stewart phoned up to ask if he could mentor Charlie and I said ‘that would be great because I don’t know what I’m doing!’,” Ivor explained.

“So, he set the kart up and Charlie came in third that day, he was flying, which showed the difference between getting the kart set up and me standing looking at it. It was unbelievable.”

And he started this season the way he left off 2021 under the stewardship of Stewart’s RNG Racing Team. At the first round at Kirkistown, winning every race of the weekend regardless of where he started on the grid.

With the championship lead secured at round one, Condy made sure no-one, not even his 12-year-old cousin, Archie, who was the next best in the class, would get close by streaking away to seal the title with relative ease.

“We weren’t expecting it,” Ivor said. “We thought he’d be competitive because he did so well at the last round of the previous season and we knew he could drive but we were not expecting him to do what he did.

“After that first race we thought ‘that was good, we got some good points there’, then the second round was something similar and the next and he just kept building a lead and building a lead and he ended up winning the NIKA Championship by over 130 points!”

Strangely enough, Charlie’s route into motorsport wasn’t the usual one. Most youngsters get involved in sport through their parents involvement or interest in said discipline, but not so Condy, who showed, from a very early age, he had a love of the automotive.

With father Ivor out at work, Mum Jill was charged with cutting the lawn at the family home and with a two-year-old Charlie sitting on her lap on the ride on lawnmower, the toddler soon showed an interest in taking control.

“From he could hold the steering wheel he was steering the lawnmower and he wouldn’t let her touch the steering wheel,” Ivor explained.

“So, it went from that to me buying him a wee ride on tractor and from the age of about two and a half he was driving that around the field.

“It then went from that to Santa bringing him a wee quad, which he took to like a duck to water but he was too lively on it, it was scary!

“But in between times, I saw a wee kart advertised up around Markethill for about £80. I took Charlie up and we bought it and he spun around the yard on that.

“This was 2018 and then we decided we’d go and have a look at karting and he hasn’t looked back!”

Charlie is already looking forward to the 2023 season when he will move up to the Intermediate ranks.