Sittingbourne schoolboy Ellis Honey has had a debut season to remember in karting.

Honey, who turns seven on New Year’s Eve, won the Kent Cup Championship and the Bayford Meadows Championship in his rookie bambino campaign.

The son of former British Superbike rider Mike Honey, the Grove Park pupil is from a racing family - and how it’s shown on the track.

“It’s the little man’s time now,” said Mike, who is also Ellis’ mechanic.

“To achieve what he did this year was brilliant because he was racing against people a couple of years older. It went down to the last round at Bayford Meadows and you’ve got your fingers crossed the engine does what it’s supposed to do.

“There’s no doubting Ellis because he’ll say ‘give me the engine and I’ll win’ - that’s his mentality.

“It’s nice to have that father-and-son set-up. We go away in the motorhome at weekends and have that one-to-one time. It’s nice and it’s something he enjoys.”

Ellis has done so well, he’ll be moving up from the bambino class to race against kids up to five years older.

It means higher speeds and, down the line, he wants to join the British Championship. The new season starts in March, with the youngster already practising at Bayford Meadows.

Mike said: “He’s moving up to micromax, which is 125cc, so he’ll be going even faster, which is hard to imagine, and he’ll be against kids up to 12-years-old.

“He did speeds of 30/40mph this year, depending on the gearing, which is pretty quick at six-years-old.

“Moving up, he’ll be doing 50/60mph, which doesn’t seem possible when you look at the size of him.

“Some of the kids are phenomenal but they’ve all been really good this year. You can see them learning racing lines, what to do when it rains, general racecraft.

“Ellis is on about the British Championship as well. It all depends how he gets on next year. He’s got five years in this class, so there’s no rush, and he’s still got a lot to learn.”

Any local companies interested in sponsoring Ellis in 2023 should email Mike on honeyracing@gmail.com