Just So on a roll
July 2010 |
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There were a few notable driver changes for this race. Having run away from the EasyKart championship with his tail between his legs, Jamie Jakins was back with Red Steel. He replaced Graeme Coombes who found sanctuary at Galliard. Wolfie had two new faces joining Jordan Hill in the form of Will Tew and ex-Super 1 star George Lovell. Ex Target Racing superstar Chris Bell made a one-off appearance for RBB in place of the still injured Liam Hegarty, raising more question marks over his future with the team. Michael Roots was another one finding the EasyKart life not so easy, especially on his ribs. He missed this race because he is a big girl’s blouse. Darren Teal was almost certainly not getting Tanked Up in Dubai and his place was filled by last year’s regular Brenton Miller.
Having been left in the lurch by uncle Tim, Jordan Hill was happy to have got such a competitive team together.
“Tim left me in the s**t earlier in the week so I managed to get Will Tew in and on Thursday I spoke to George, who had been asking for a drive on the forum. He’d never been in a Club100 kart before but he is going really well and looking damn quick.”
Slipstream took the pole ahead of Vagisil and the impressive Club16-48. George Lovell proved his credentials with 4th on his debut. Red Steel were the first of the championship contenders in 6th with Tanked Up further back in 9th. Having set the 11th fastest time Just So opted to change their kart after qualifying and would start from the back of the grid.
Paul Railston did the honours for Slipstream in qualifying and was in confident mood prior to the start.
“Yes I’m very happy with that. The mechanics did a great job and I’m hoping it will be a good day. We are definitely going for the win today.”
Having been shunned by the ruthless Red Steel, Graeme Coombes seemed to be enjoying the more relaxed environment of the mighty Galliard team.
“I just hope I don’t let the boys down. I’m still learning the circuit and my lap times weren’t brilliant in qualifying but I’m sure we’ll be alright in the race.”
Vagisil soothed their way into the lead on the opening lap ahead of the pole sitters who made a pit stop as soon as the fuel bay opened in order to get a clear track. Just So also made a strategic first lap stop. Team Red Steel and High Times soon passed Vagisil and it wasn’t long before the championship contenders started working their way towards the front.
Just So had done a fantastic job to get themselves into contention for the win early on and the race became a 3 horse fight between them, Red Steel and Slipstream. They all battled nose to tail for many laps in what was turning out to be one of the most exciting races of the year. The 3 of them jostled for position and the lead changed several times on track. Sadly, Slipstream’s race would come to a premature end with a rare mechanical failure.
Further back and RBB were having another miserable day. Simon Young refused to be drawn into any made up stories by the Club100 gutter press about Liam Hegarty’s future and insisted that he is making a good recovery from his gym related shower accident and is looking forward to returning soon. Chris Bell gave his view of events in his first appearance for the team.
“We had a pretty poor start, the kart bogged down but then we just got on with the job. Unfortunately Si was taken out by a backmarker and that cost us a lot of places as we had to come in and get a wheel replaced. We’ll just have to see what we can do from the back.”
Despite an altercation with a backmarker just one lap before their pit stop, Club16-48 were running well in 7th and looking on course for a solid result. Being something of a Llandow specialist, Steve Kendall in particular was looking very rapid. Tanked Up benefited from the demise of Slipstream and moved into a podium position, although they looked to be catching them beforehand. High Times and Vagisil were both quietly getting on with the job and looking on for solid top 6 finishes, although High Times were complaining about a lack of brakes. Richard Higham was still happy and had no personal complaints whatsoever about either the kart, equipment, staff, the state of the economy or even Parmveer Nijjar.
The battle at the front was intensifying between Red Steel and Just So and it would come down to the last pit stop. Even the Guv’nor was hoping to see a close finish as he admitted he wanted to see the championship fight go down to the wire for a change.
Unbelievably, Red Steel had a slow last stop and lost several seconds to their rivals – slipping behind Tanked Up and losing second as well. This left Just So able to cruise across the line to take win number 3 and extend their lead at the head of the table.
It was once again the incredibly modest and self deprecating Brian Trott who spoke in the post-race press conference.
“It’s a great result because it didn’t look like it was going to be a very good day to begin with. We spent most of qualifying and practice in the pits with various issues. Qualifying was awful so we decided to change kart and do an early stop. It worked out well. I was massively fast in the opening stint and managed to hook it up better than anyone else so I just let my talent do the talking. Jamie was driving very defensively and taking funny lines to try and keep Pethers in the mix but it didn’t work. We kept falling back in the pit stops but as soon as we were on track we just blew them away.”
The next stop is Ellough Park and Just So’s rivals will be pulling out all the stops to try and prevent them from making it four in a row.
