AN EVENT held in honour of a Ringwood teen who died in September has raised £1,000 for charity.

Ringwood Raceway held the Sam Cheetham 400 Memorial Race, for the friends of the 15-year-old who had idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension, meaning his heart struggled to pump blood through his lungs, who died on September 7.

Dave Wright, race director at Ringwood Raceway, said Sam discovered the club two years ago, and after taking a look at it, decided he wanted to have a go He said: “He had infectious enthusiasm and after a few months, he became the man to beat.

Dave added: “All of the Junior Club members are friends so they were very upset to hear that Sam had died, and I honestly didn’t realise how much of a part of the family he had become. The overwhelming reaction was that we should hold a race for Sam and it just went from there.

“We had people from across the south come along and are glad to have raised a decent amount of money with all the race fees included.

“All of the Junior Club members are determined not to forget him.”

Karen Cheetham, Sam’s mum , said: “We still support Great Ormond Street Hospital and specifically the Sam Cheetham Bright Achiever Fund, which was set up in his name.

She added: “Sam had been a member of the club since November 2011 when he first started racing slot cars at their Saturday Junior Club. “His competitive nature meant he was soon on a mission to win the championship, which runs from January for the whole year.

“In 2012, his first full year of racing, he came second.

“This year, he was winning at the time when he sadly passed away and the team had every confidence he would have won the championship.

“Sam was so involved in the club and all it represented, that we chose to hold a celebration event there on the day of his funeral, called Sam's Victory Lap.”