Winning a race on my taxes? Shameful
July 2010 |
|
Tweet |
|
There was confusion between Loose Heads and TeamCraft. Somehow they both ran with the wrong transponder on. So for this race Loose Heads were actually TeamCraft and TeamCraft were loose heads or the other way round. I’m not sure. Maybe both. Anyway, Liam Nolan explained.
“We’ve had to swap names with Loose Heads for the day. I don’t know what happened there but when we got in the kart we had the wrong transponder on. We thought we had qualified second but actually we were about eighth so we started second anyway.”
Es Car Go took pole position just ahead of TeamCraft or Loose Heads, I’m not sure which. InkJet Racing were up there as well and looking as rapid as ever. The student team AKA “The Man’s an Animal” were next up in 4th having probably not showered. Auditing Armageddon and British Columbia rounded out the top 6. Further back, Five Gloves, Team Awesome and HB Racing all had their work cut out for them starting in 28th, 29th and 30th respectively.
It was a good qualifying performance by TeamCraft but not for Loose Heads. Actually it might have been an outstanding performance by Loose Heads. Either way, one of them was looking like challenging for a podium today. Maybe both of them. In any case, with such a competitive field full of teams capable of winning it was looking like being an exciting race.
Es Car Go led off the line ahead of the charging Loose Heads who came storming through the field from near the back of the grid if the timing screen was to be believed. As it happened, TeamCraft were in their place so maybe they didn’t make quite such a good start after all. Are you with me?
The running order remained largely unchanged over the next few laps with Es Car Go holding the lead. A battle began to ensue behind involving Loose Heads or TeamCraft, British Columbia, InkJet and the tax dodging BUKC team. As the first round of pit stops approached, this train of karts started swapping places, making the pit stops crucial.
After the first round of stops, Es Car Go found themselves with a good lead over TeamCraft. Of course it could have been Loose Heads – who knows? By this stage, the students had finished off their weed and started to gather momentum. By half distance they had taken the lead and started pulling clear.
Further down the order, Five Gloves were struggling at the back; the Whilton winners not looking like repeating their victory here. HB were another team failing to make much of an impression and appeared to be struggling for pace.
Team Awesome were having another troubled day. More kart changes meant that they were playing catch up for most of the race. James Akehurst gave his views during the race:
“We’re now on our third kart and it is just as bad as the other two. We’re about a second off the pace but we’re currently fifth in Clubman so it’s damage limitation really.”
His team mate, the frank Finn Sami Seppala described the race as “average drivers in an average kart”.
The Ginsters were not enjoying the best race either. Tom Foy gave a rundown of his team’s woes.
“It’s pretty shambolic to be honest. We had a mediocre qualifying and started well, up to about fourteenth position but then Alex’s exhaust spring came off and he was unlucky to get a black flag so that was two unnecessary stops and we’re now last on the road. I think we’ll be dropping this round.”
Back to the fun and frolics of transponders and Henry Jones was struggling to comprehend things on top of his struggles with the kart.
“I knew it was wrong but I went with it and assumed I was just going mad. The race started fine, then got to the slow stuff and it all became apparent something was up as we tumbled down the field due to no bottom end. After an hour of battling with the timing screen we finally realised we were in fact Loose Heads for the day. One to forget about.”
Tyre wear was a big issue at this race and many drivers were complaining about the level of grip. This didn’t seem to bother the leaders as they continued to pull out a healthy lead over their rivals as they sped away like… well a student running late for a lecture.
At the flag they won by a comfortable margin over Es Car Go. InkJet were third ahead of Loose Heads who picked up more useful points with 4th thanks to TeamCraft. Of course Loose Heads might actually have finished in that position and not TeamCraft. I’m just too confused to work it out. Team Awesome recovered well after their poor qualifying performance to round out the top 5.
Neil, Hayden and Ian from “The Man’s an Animal” revealed the secret of their success and it was no surprise to hear what it was.
“Basically we got really drunk last night and got up this morning with a really bad hangover so I think that has contributed greatly to our efforts. I think from now on we are going to drink a crate of beer before every round and see where that gets us. Seriously though the last two rounds were beyond our control but hopefully we should be alright for the rest of the season and we’ve just got to make sure we don’t drop any more rounds.”
And finally, the ruthless rivalry between Team Awesome and Loose Heads (not TeamCraft) took another turn after leaked reports revealed that Loose Heads have attempted to poach Awesome’s star driverette Kathryn Goodwin. As she is reportedly under a long-term contract with Team Awesome, it is now rumoured that they are negotiating with Lee Kemp’s management about a works drive for the Llandow race. With the reigning Lightweight champion allegedly demanding a six figure sum for his services, it remains to be seen whether he will join them. Watch this space!
