Thaddeus Lee sweeps karting championship awards

Contributed by Kenneth Yeo

Kartright Speedway, Sunday, August 21, 2011 — Thaddeus Lee, 15, was given the biggest honour in his driving career during the recent Singapore Karting Championship. The Senior category driver finished second overall after the round 4 weekend and also won the Fastest Lap and Best Presented awards.

While the statistics are impressive, it was the way in which Thaddeus achieved it that made the crowd, fellow competitors and SKC officials stand and watch in awe.

Lee started with the pre-finals race in very fast-changing weather conditions. The rain came and left the Kartright Speedway circuit, leaving everyone guessing about the weather conditions. His kart was also not working right during the race, and he struggled to the finish after only running in the top 5 for much of the race.

Looking to cement his place at the top of the championship standings, young Thaddeus had to overcome a racing incident early on that dropped him to 6th in the field. For Thaddeus, the party was just getting started.

Over a fantastic period spanning seven laps, the BMS Racing driver made his way through the field, picking off each one of his competitors and finding himself in second place with half of the race remaining as the crowd looked on in disbelief.

With a 4-second gap behind leader Vincent Nathan, Thaddeus pushed on and caught up in the next few laps. Thaddeus eventually settled for 2nd overall, which was a marvellous feat.

Adding to the Senior category driver’s achievements, Thaddeus Lee also was within touching distance of the SKC lap record set by Andersen Martono during the 2010 season. His fastest lap was some 0.08 of a second off the record of 33.483. It is believed that the tyre compound for last year better suited the Kartright Speedway circuit than the current compound for this season, adding to the monumental achievements of this young driver. Thaddeus collected the SKC fastest lap trophy.

During the round 4 weekend, Thaddeus Lee was also presented with the SKC Best Presented Award. The award was created at the start of the 2011 season to recognize drivers that go about their driving in a professional manner, including how well presented are the karts, suits and helmets; the conduct of the driver, and driving standards during the SKC weekends.

“It’s a privilege to have Thaddeus Lee driving in the AutoInc SKC,” said AutoInc chief, Benjamin Tan. “It is a great achievement to scoop up all 3 awards in one weekend.”

This puts Lee at the top of the Senior category standings, a clear 27 points ahead of Saravanan Rajakumar. If Lee finishes 2nd place in the pre-final in round 5, this will effectively make him the SKC Senior champion.