Jonathon Bradshaw

Welcome to the Jonathon Bradshaw website.

This site is solely dedicated to Jonathon Bradshaw and his family as he progresses through the Motor Sport industry.
We will start with his budding karting career as a 6 year old at a indoor track in Palmerston North NZ while on holidays.Now from that first time in a kart any future in karting was eradicated right here.
He Hated it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How we got involved in karting is a bit of a mystery but it seems to be that well I being Dad really enjoyed our little karting exp. and somehow got offered a old dirt kart here in Dandaragan from a guy on the local shire whom lived in Moora.

This guy said to catch up with another shire man called Campo.So one day I was advised that this bloke Campo was in Dandaragan so I went at checked him out and he came over to our place at the Redgum Village for lunch that day.

Well to say the least I dont think he was too impressed with my first Kart purchase but said look just come out to the Jurien Bay track next week and get all signed up, have a race or two and go from there.
We had a go and sort of found out my kart was not a competitve one but loads of fun.
Now just as it happens my brother in law was into dirt karting and they were calling through to our place for a stopover to Jurien and brought a few of his mates. Well one of them had a kids kart for sale so we had a good chat and gave it some thought.

Couple weeks later I was keen to buy this kids kart but it was sold.
When I bought my kart I had to go to Kart Mart in Perth to pick up the motor and found the guy there really confusing as I had no idea what I was doing and asked for this guys rebuilt motor. Well I sorta found out here that a rebuilt motor and  freshen up are quite different and I was in no mood to feel I was being ripped off ..anyway I left there thinking how much of a dick I must have seemed to this guy Harvey.

This guy at Kart Mart was my only contact so I went back and said I wanted a kart for my now 7 year old son and well we bought this cheap blue midget kart for dirt racing.

Yes Jonathon wanted to do karting because Dad was doing it and off we went to the Jurien Bay club day.

That was Jonathons start to karting, we will right up more on that later as the story does get quite amusing when we build a home track and Mum has a go and we get Elle into my kart and I buy a proper senior kart.

Jonathon eventually has a go at bitumen karting and now we enter the den of the dragon.

OH MY GOD what a cultural shock going from wheatbelt dirt racing to a AKA open Day.
Once again I will write a interesting story here but not just now.
We are now devoted to Bitumen Karting AKA style, Dad has sold his kart and Elle’s and all things dirt and we trade in the old bitumen kart we bought as old bluey was never going to make the grade here
So Santa gave Jonathon a brand new CRG Picolo with a new Comer S-80 motor.

First year out in Midgets was a interesting experience,

• no official training,
• no actual  induction about track rules and ethics,
• no club entry level gatherings or chat sessions,
• no Dads get together s and discuss issues and most of all
• no apparent anger management classes for the eccentric Dads that believe everyone should follow there rules and there son does no wrong and every 8 yr old kid should be able to drive like a seasoned pro!!!!!

Maybe a little harsh here but wow that was pretty much how we got started. Did the flag questionaire and a few rounds on “P” Plates and yep had to work out the rules ourselves about getting off the P’s and we start racing amongst the pack
There is plenty of help available, some interesting  and some genuine people trying to do the right thing for you.
BUT you must work out what suits you and what type of kart you have, Australian or European, there is a huge difference and there set ups are almost opposite.
We also found a few kart shop owners will do almost anything to get your business and offer a great service. Pretty much comes down to what you can afford and your budget.
Look around and ask lots of questions.

Anyway come WA state title in Wundowie 2008 and we have a real bummer of a run, from sand in the carby to a DNF in the pre-final.
In the final we get the lapped flag with 3 to go, so was a bit disappointing.

Roll on 2009 and we win our first race at Cockburn wooohooo.
As the year progressed we had a slow patch in the middle but we ended up a close close third at State Titles in Karatha.
That was a title we could have won with a wee bit more driver training and some balls, but hey we were over the moon.

Now onto ROOKIES.

Biff bash and crash yep that was pretty much how we started in Rookies, knocked back a sponsorship and suffered 5 gruelling months of rear end finishes, not even a sniff at a victory….

BUT then along came Mark, slow walking Mark, long legged lankyedy Mark Mark Mark…
Know the song do we ? well if you do you are older than me

Mark Elliot lent us a motor and John Woods sold us his Rookie VK 1 CRG Kart
Mixed them together at Wanneroo and we up into the point end and finished that round a creditable 4th.
We also got a few hours driver training from BD at flatouts and found a sweet spot set up that certainly helped plus a few driver techniques.

Next round at Geraldton and yep not just a podium but a 1st podium, what a turn around.

Now the story continues at Melbourne 2010, our 7 week adventure which is written under the heading Melbourne on the header of front page.

We didn’t retire the trusty refurbished Picolo but set it up for Cheyanne as it is a brilliant midget Kart.

Uglii Australia