Wales Hails Pantera
July 2010 |
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Having benefited from a track walk on Friday by a legendary Club100 champion and sometime journalist, The Skid Marks took an impressive pole position and were right up there with the Inters teams. SAD Racing were alongside them with the ever improving Akita V2 in third and Team DSA fourth. Raggo Racing were well in the mix with fifth and Pantera were down in ninth having only completed 6 laps in qualifying.
It was a satisfactory pole for the round one winners who were obviously delighted with the performance of the kart.
“I have to thank my tutor for his help yesterday I’ve definitely found a few tenths because of that. The new tyres have made a difference as well; it is just a different kart today. The handling is amazing. I guess there is some driver talent but it’s mainly the kart I reckon. I hope we can do as well in the race. Our crashoholic Jake Wallis is not with us this weekend so I’ll enjoy telling him this.”
It was a clean start as all teams funnelled through the tricky first chicane without incident. Both SAD Racing and Akita V2 jumped the Skid Marks off the line with Raggo Racing close behind before they peeled off into the pits for an early stop to get them out into clear air. This left Team DSA, Racewear.co.uk and Pantera Racing to chase down the leaders.
Raggo’s early stop worked to their advantage as they found themselves in the lead after the first round of stops. The excitable Oli Goodacre was obviously buzzing.
“We qualified well and made an early stop which seems to have worked out quite well for us. Dan had a clear run with no one in front of him and when all the stops had played out we found ourselves at the front. We tested yesterday as well and were really quick so we’re fairly confident. We should get a podium.”
Pantera Racing had moved up to second and were chasing down Raggo Racing. It really is looking like this could be their year and Liam admitted they are now thinking about the championship.
“We had to swap our kart in qualifying due to a brake failure but we made a good start and we’re in a good position now so hopefully we can carry on for the rest of the day. Hopefully the pit stops will go well too and we can get another podium. We’ve been there every race so far this year and we’ve been very consistent and have cut out the mistakes. We have spoken about the championship and we know that we have to maintain the consistency to at least be in with a chance of getting a trophy at the end of the season.”
The Skid Marks were still in contention with SMJ also now in the mix. The rest of the field had settled down and spread out so there wasn’t a huge amount of action in the mid field. A few people got caught out by the tricky chicanes and there were a few incidents at the sausage corner but other than that is was a fairly clean race had by all. So much so that the poor journalist was left to pad a report out with a few lines on nonsense like this in order to make the race report long enough.
By half distance Pantera had caught and past Raggo and had built up a nice cushion. The final podium looked like it could go to Racewear.co.uk, SMJ or release The Fury. Further back it was a tough afternoon for Kam Racing. Still missing lead driver Justin Buck as a result of either a skiing accident or just falling over (depending on who you believe) they were struggling near the back of the field.
Back with the lead group and Pantera looked to have it in the bag. Raggo were also comfortable in second and SMJ had established themselves as the most likely to fill the last podium position. This is the order they crossed the line with Pantera making it 2 wins and 3 third places from 5 races to look by far the favourites for the championship. The whole team were delighted after the race.
“Today was just amazing. For the last hour we had no brakes and the only corner we were dated to use the brakes was the hairpin. Everything else had to be a flick of the steering wheel or backing off the accelerator because we had just cooked them. We were both really nervous because we knew we were in first. Apart from that everything else seemed to go to plan for us. It’s great.”
The next race is at Elloguh Park. A little known fact is that Pantera Racing scored the fastest lap in the rookie class there last year which means they should be quick. Can anyone do anything about them this year? Certainly Raggo Racing are starting to show good form now and I am expecting these two teams to be fighting for honours in the second half of the season… so no pressure guys!
