National title joy for indoor karter George

George Boothby, who was born and bred in Buxton but now lives in Chapel with his wife Jordanna, has been karting since the age of nine but only began racing competitively over the last year.

That saw him enter the National Indoor Karting Championship, in which he progressed through local and regional qualifying competitions to make the finals in Warrington, where he was crowned champion.

And the 28-year-old was delighted to have emerged as the winner from a competition that was disrupted throughout 2020 by the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said: “I’d only really been karting for fun up until recently, as it’s quite an expensive hobby to have which is why I didn’t really pursue it any further after doing it for a few years as a kid after my dad bought me a kart when I was nine-years-old.

"I was going along with a few friends to venues run by TeamSport, who are a nationwide karting company with tracks all over the UK, and noticed there was an appeal for entrants to the UK Championships and I thought why not.

"I took part in the local qualifiers in Sheffield, then the regionals in Stockton-on-Tees where I finished third and qualified for the final.”

Boothby, who competes in the heavyweight category, proceeded to win the title with all races streamed live on YouTube.

He said: “I was a bit nervous going into the finals day but knew I was pretty good at it, it was just a case of everything going my way on the day as you never know what might happen that can ruin your chances.”

For winning the championship, Boothby won entry into eight rounds of the Club100 2021 Sprint Championship, a nationwide outdoor karting series, as well as a trophy, new overalls and even tickets to see McFly at the 02 Arena.

He said: “I’ve done outdoor karting before and I actually prefer it as the tracks are bigger.

"But the indoor championships were really enjoyable as it was all so well run and karts were very equal in their specifications. There were lots of well-known karters in it, some of whom do the outdoor events too, and it was very competitive.”

With the Club100 Championship being nationwide, Boothby will need to fund any travelling himself but he says it’s a small price to pay, adding: “I don’t have any sponsors involved at the moment but I don’t mind the petrol costs given everything else is taken care of, including on-site accommodation. Quite a lot of the races are down south and some are in Wales and Scotland too so there’s a lot of travelling involved.

“The Club100 is probably the best fast outdoor rental karting championship, and would usually cost around £2,000-£2,500 to enter for a year, so it’s a great prize.”

When not racing in karts, Boothby doesn’t stray far from the track, albeit only in a virtual sense.

He is a professional streamer on YouTube and Twitch, particularly focusing on motor racing sims and with over half a million subscribers across the two platforms.

You can take a look at his channels by searching for ‘UKOGmonkey’, his username on both YouTube and Twitch.