Back In The Kart!
After missing round 3 of the SG Petch Sprint Champs at Teesside Karting, it was nice to be back for round 4. I arrived a little early as I'd forgotten what time the lightweight category were out on track, though this was a great opportunity to watch the heavyweight class take to the track.
The circuit layout for this round was the National track without the chicane just after the start line, also known as the "front D" and as I've only raced this configuration once before, it was good to see some of the racing lines being taken into the first corner. This proved hugely useful in my races as I found I often closed on the driver in front of me through turn 1.
I managed to live stream and film some of the heavyweight class while I was watching too. You can watch the start of race 1 and race 2 below.
SG Petch Sprint Championship Round 4 Heavies Race 1 Start
SG Petch Sprint Championship Round 4 Heavies Race 2 Start
With the heavies on track it was time for the drivers briefing, there were a few faces I'd not seen before, or certainly for a while which always makes the racing interesting. Briefing done, we headed out for qualifying and where normally you'd be looking for space on track to avoid distraction or slower drivers, getting a tow down the straights makes a big difference on a short circuit.
Another thing which helps is following a driver who you know is quick, so I was lucky to drop onto the back of Adam Delmont towards the end of th session. Not only did this give me a great tow down the straights into the two fast right handers, but also allowed me to understand where I was losing lap time. For me, this is still the same problem of the last hairpin which innevitably costs you time down the start straight. Normally this is less of an issue as the front D allows opportunity to regroup, but on this circuit configuration it's a real issue.
Race 1
Quali done, it was again time for that awkward wait to grid up. It's like picking teams at school, everyone wants to be first and every time someone is picked infront of you, it hurts a little bit more. This time round I secured P10 on the grid for race 1 and with karts which seemed to have exceptional parity, I was just 0.01 seconds behind P9 and 0.003 seconds in front of P11. As a demonstartion of just how close the karts were the top 10 were separated by only 0.766 seconds.
Getting into the race, it was always going to be a real contest into a fast turn 1. Without the front D the field left the grid and entered the esses two by two and as a result there were a significant number of overtakes in the first half of the first lap. I dropped 2 places to a fast starting Robson Jenkins & Andy O'Donnell after moving out wide off the grid, a bad choice on my part.
Of course you can't win a race on the first lap, but you can lose it, so after settling into the first few laps I retook the place from Andy whose race seemed to go from bad to worse, eventually finishing P16 in race 1. My race settled into some close racing with Greg Elder, Matt Brayne and for a time, Paul Clarke with very little separating most of the field. The battles continued through the race, I managed to take P9 for a period before disaster on lap 20 where a heavy handed move up the inside out of Southbank saw me drop places to P13.
Fortunately a quick regroup, blast to the finish and incident for Paul Clarke saw me recover to P11, a fantastic net result considering the amount of close racing and overtaking throughout the session!
Race 2
P11 in race 1 meant P5 on the grid for race 2, lesson learned I stayed to the inside from the start into turn 1 where everything seemed to resemble bumper cars. By the end of lap 1 I had made one place to P4, awesome! Lap 2 & 3 however were shockers, seeing me drop from 4th to 7th then 9th as some questionable overtakes saw a close pack come through one after another.
This really set the rest of my race up to try and recover places. By lap 10 I'd dropped another place to 10th, this was turning into a disaster of a round, game on! The last 9 laps were a battle, it was a hot day and everyone seemed to be quick. Lap 16 & 17 saw me make up a place per lap at one of my favourite overtaking spots, the hairpin after the esses, P8.
Lap 19 saw me take P7, all amidst close racing and defending to keep the places, the short track and kart parity meant that your rivals were never far away. Coming into the last 4 laps, positions 5 to 9 were anything but certain. A hard charging Ross O'Meara continued his battle through the pack from 14th, while George Davies' defense of 5th was wavering. Lap 21 saw Ross take George which signalled his demise to 9th after also being passed by me, Robson Jenkins & Ben Thornton. This saw me promoted to P6 and what was almost a great recovery after a poor start until the last lap when I don't really know what happened as I fell from P6 to P8 and a bitter end to what could otherwise have been a decent race.
