Overdraft charge to win
July 2010 |
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It was a one-off local entry of Saga Racing who took the pole ahead of the on-form BIX2. Another new team occupied the third slot, although Stuart Martin, Geoff Saunderson and Tim Clark are all experienced sprint drivers and were expected to deliver a good result. Alpha K were back for a one-off appearance and showed they had lost none of their speed by lining up 4th on the grid. Lucid Initiatives were back in 18th and Drive Fast Don’t Crash were looking well out of sorts down in 20th but fairing better than Keen As Mustard, Rum Racing and Gaucho Productions who were 23rd, 24th and 27th respectively.
Andy, Sam and Greg from Saga Racing were happy enough with their qualifying performance but were cagey when asked about their race pace.
“We thought we’d come along and give it a go. It’s Andy’s local track and we’ve done the BUKC so we thought we thought ‘why not?’ The lap itself felt good. I didn’t realise it was quite there so I’m happy. We are feeling quite confident so we’ll have to see how the race goes.”
The front few teams sped away as the flag dropped. Everyone got around the tight first chicane unharmed. Over the next few gaps the top 4 maintained position and gradually spread out. Keen As Mustard and Drive Fast Don’t Crash were carving their way through the traffic in tandem.
It was another tough afternoon for the luckless Lucid Initiatives team. As in 2009, after such a promising start to the season, they have failed to maintain the same sort of performance and are struggling to repeat their early season form. Clive Morphett explained what the problem was.
“The kart seemed okay in practice but it’s just got no mid-range coming out of the esses so we’re struggling again today. I think we will have to bring it in and get it tested”
After the first round of pit stops, Saga Racing still held the lead over BIX2 and the fast charging Overdraft Racing who were looking rapid in the middle part of the race. Gaucho had come up well from the back of the field and were looking good for some solid points again.
Back together for the first time this year, the Alpha K duo were looking rapid. Darren Price was enjoying his race having also competed in the morning’s Clubman event.
“I always try and look rapid. I’ve got all the gear but no idea. It is just a one-off race for us. Tom and I raced together briefly last year but he couldn’t afford to do a full season this year. He is just doing the odd race so I thought I’d step in and help him out.”
Sadly, despite their rapid pace, the curse of the journalist – or more likely the curse of being managed by Rich Higham - struck them soon after and they dropped several laps behind after an unknown mystical gremlin struck them.
It was a sorry day for rapid Hire Racing as well. Matt Kavanagh was less than amused by the antics of one of the Akita teams who wiped them out of the race. Gaucho Productions were obviously struggling as well with Allistair Weaver suffering with a rib injury courtesy of some banger racing exploits earlier in the week.
Rum Racing were having a rather quiet afternoon. Having qualified poorly they were struggling to make much of an impression during the race much to the annoyance of team captain Pat Nicholls.
“We should have had the kart tested in practice. We don’t know what the issue is to be honest. It is nothing we can put our finger on. It’s just a damage limitation exercise now really to see if we can get ourselves back into contention. It’s a shame because we were hoping for better today. We were on the front row here last year and”
After a lacklustre qualifying, Drive Fast Don’t Crash had worked their way up into fourth position. Jon Maycock was at a loss to explain his poor pace in qualifying but was happy to be ahead of all of his main championship rivals in the race.
“I don’t know what happened in qualifying. I wasn’t blocked or anything and I thought I was going quickly so I just don’t know. We are running well now so I’ve said to Dave we should be happy with fourth or fifth because we’ve got a big lead. Solid points is all I’m after.”
It was a similar story for one of their main rivals, Spleen and Blustered. An average qualifying performance followed by a good recovery drive. They would eventually finish behind Drive fast Don’t Crash.
Maybe it is because of their loud race suits or maybe it is because there is a secret vendetta against them but either way, having looked comfortable in second, BIX2 suffered another setback when Rich Wade was put into a spin whilst overtaking a backmarker. Fortunately the damage was minimal and they only lost one position. Still, there is little more that can be said about it as deputy team captain Pete Bunton instigated a media blackout around the team. Still, the sneaky press managed to steal a few words with the team’s PR lady who cannot be named for legal reasons.
“It is a shame we couldn’t get second which we would have had it not been for an unfortunate mishap but third is still good. We still get a pot so I guess the team will be happy with that. It is our first trophy of the season so that is something good we can take away from it.”
At the flag it was a comfortable win for Overdraft Racing who cruised over the line to win by 40 seconds from the grateful Saga Racing. BIX2 secured their first podium of the season to really kick-start their championship campaign. Drive Fast Don’t Crash, Keen As Mustard and Gaucho all had good recovery drives after poor qualifying performances to round out the top 6.
The victors were happy with their first race together as a team, as well they should be. It doesn’t get much better than a win.
“Today went really well. Tim qualified us third and we were just consistent. We were all similar in terms of pace and the pit stops went well. We will be doing a few more races together this year. We work well as a team so we will have to see what happens.”
