A Harry Hill Stig special
September 2010 |
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In fact Hill qualified the team on pole position ahead of Team Awesome. KOKS were again sporting former Premier champion Trevor Randall who was having fun and games partnering the (literally) colourful Dyll Davies and Ronan O’Hare, who I think strikes an uncanny resemblance to Steve Kendall. Anyway, Randall could only manage 3rd on the grid. Auditing Armageddon had their most competitive showing yet with 4th ahead of Teamcraft. Es Car Go once again struggled in qualifying down in 17th but fared better than the likes of Loose Heads and The Student team who were 31st and 34th respectively.
InkJet Racing had Red Steel’s Lee Stig-Clackett racing with them today. Keith Perkins was suffering with a back injury sustained while carrying out his duties as the Stig on Top Gear. He also admitted to having taken a lot of top gear prior to the race to alleviate the pain.
“I’ve been in the hospital a couple of times this week because I’ve had a real problem. I wasn’t going to do this race but I couldn’t get Ian to do the whole race on his own so I said I’d come down and see how I got on. I did about ten minutes in practice and had to get out. I’ve taken about eight Neurofen but fortunately, as Red Steel had four drivers, Lee said he would help us out.”
HAZ had a poor start and lost ground at the start. This allowed the flying Teamcraft to jump into the lead ahead of them with Team Awesome in third. HAZ took the lead on the following lap as Teamcraft dropped to 4th behind Loud Pedal Racing.
Harry Landy, who was revealed to be the Stig, was more than happy with Jordan Stig’s pole lap and was confident about his team’s chances in the race.
“Yeah Jordan did a great job for us in qualifying. Unfortunately he got a terrible start and was bumped down the order. We bought him in for an early stop to get him out in clear air but Team Awesome had the same idea so we’re now battling with them. I think it could be a good day. Fingers crossed.”
Their battle with Team Awesome would come to an end when Oli Allwood, fresh from testing duties as the Stig, spun off at the bottom of the circuit, much to the surprise and annoyance of James Akehurst.
“Oh bollocks! We did have quite a good lead but it looks like we’ve lost nearly a lap because we were battling with Jordan. Bollocks! Bollocks, bollocks, bollocks!”
Behind the battle for the lead, Teamcraft were looking strong in 3rd while Auditing Armageddon were maintaining their strong position in 4th. InkJet were working their way up the field after an average qualifying and by half distance were looking in good shape for a podium finish.
Five Gloves were having a day from hell. They were stationary at the hairpin for a number of laps and made several visits to the pits during the course of the race. They would ultimately lose 16 laps and finish dead last.
The Ginsters were having another good day and looking good to add to their tally of points. Tom Foy was pleased with the progress his team has made so far this year.
“We had a reasonable qualifying and a great start. We’re running pretty consistently so I’m quite happy at the moment. Consistency is key because we are quite well up in the championship so it’s just about getting the points really.”
After a few disappointing races with a mixture of mistakes and mechanical failures, Teamcraft were looking on course to secure their first podium of the season. Henry Stig-Jones was pleased with the team’s newest recruit.
“We are running well at the moment and chasing down second. We’ve got Dan Underhill standing in today. Liam doesn’t think he’ll be able to do the rest of the season so he’s proving to be a bit of a super-sub at the moment.”
I have it on good authority that Dan Underhill could well be the Stig. You can read all about it in his upcoming book: An A-Z guide on how to win a sprint race.
Back to the subject of racing and The Man’s An Animal were not a happy bunch of students; plagued with various performance issues with their machinery. After changing their kart after qualifying and opting to start at the back of the grid, they decided to exchange it for a diesel powered kart and struggled for pace all day.
Club100 veteran and all-round nice guy Martin Stig-Joyce was enjoying a good afternoon with his Rag Tag team. He was very modest when asked about his prospects.
“We are having a reasonable afternoon; nothing fantastic but nothing terrible. I would say we are good to average at the moment.”
They would go on to secure their best result of the year.
Back at the front and as the race entered its final stages, HAZ had a good lead over InkJet. Teamcraft were running comfortably in 3rd with Es Car Go in 4th. They would end the race in this order. However, Es Car Go would be one of 3 team excluded for being underweight along with the KOKS and HB Racing. This promoted JWM to 4th, Rag Tag and Bobtail to 5th and Loose Heads to 6th.
With the winners unavailable for comment after the race due to their ongoing legal battle with the BBC, I decided to make it up. Jordan Hill:
“I am happy to win. I am better off in Clubman because I’m really rather useless and not really premier material. I have to get back home because I’m married now and have to do all the housework because I’m under the thumb.”
