MTR PICK UP WIN FROM WHERE BUTTER FINGERS KAD
DROP THE BALL AGAIN…
KAD & Es Car Go Complete
The Podium, 3 Races, 3 Podiums Each… Four Cough, Es Car Go & I Can’t Believe Its Not Button Get, Complete The Top 6 & The
Championship Chasing Six Pack…
KAD Headleand - At halfway, “Dan Moore
went for a Montoya inspired overtake… around the outside of a
back marker… unfortunately he ran out of track… as did our rather
pleasing 34secs lead.”
But… KAD nearly got it back, from what now appears
to be their rival in chief, among a group of six title contenders,
MTR Racing’s, Jim Mardlin, “It could have been a disaster. Nick
(Tonks) knew we were leading with 15mins to go and thought he could
see the second placed kart well behind him on the track. Sadly
what he actually saw was ‘I Can’t Believe It’s Not Button’ and
not the hard charging Karl Headleand in KAD Racing who were closing
him down fast. Coasting along and enjoying the Dorset sunshine
Nick told me after the race that had KAD caught him he would have
waved them through as he didn’t want to get caught up with a back
marker with the win in the bag! He would then have crossed the
line in 2nd pumping his fists in the air whilst blissfully unaware
that he’d just thrown away the race. How embarrassing. I told him
that I would never have spoken to him again if that had happened.
That could have proved tricky, Nick’s Best Man at my wedding in
3 weeks time! (More of that later). For KAD everything had been
going their way, on top of home field advantage, the disappointing
entry of 16, had made for a trouble free opening, in which KAD
could open up a half a minute lead when the field turned for home
at half distance. But Moore got casual, and probably tried to force
a pass on a back marker who wasn’t prepared to play ball…
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Karl Headleand, “Dan had qualified a strong 4th and with a grid
of 16, the start was pretty uneventful, Dan taking I Can’t Believe
Its Not Button early on, moving into the lead when Four Cough and
Blues Brothers pitted ahead of him early”, MTR’s Mardlin running
on long in the lead after Moore’s stop. When the fuel stops were
over by 20mins, Al Bull had a 12secs lead over Es Car Go and Blues
Brothers, with Tonks replacing Mardlin, who’d started only 9th
on the grid, MTR sacrificing grid position for a long opening stint.
After the next round of fuel stops, it was as you were, apart from
Blues Bros’ Simon Pughe, he’d started the race from his own excellent
pole position, and had been able to control the race, “Initially
my kart felt very loose which let someone get a run on me on lap
2 through the last corner and down the main straight. I could see
he was there on my right, through Billy’s so I let him out brake
himself into the corner at the bottom of the hill and I switched
back inside him into the Esses. My tyres felt better then so I
pushed a bit harder and was able to pull out a small lead just
before out 1st stop.” Darren Price slotting in behind, the Buttons,
in Four Cough until Darren started the first fuel stops, earlier
than most, itself a legacy of both Melly and Darren’s attempt to
qualify up the front to run with the contenders, “After the downpour
that was last year, it was the first time either of us had driven
the track dry, we’d decided to split our qually into 2 sessions,
with Melly staying out straight from practice to post a 40.78,
before I’d blasted in a quickest of 40.09, good enough for 3rd.”
Once again, ICBINB had qualified front row, and once again they’d
show strongly in the opening stint, Price in 3rd behind them, then
4th, as KAD came through, the ‘Buttons to go missing after their
first fuel stop to end 4 laps off the lead in 7th at the finish.
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Returning Pughe, at the 40min mark and why he had dropped to the
tail of the top 6, who’d come back in for team mate Andrew Johnson,
“I managed to stall the kart at the end of the pit lane, costing
us around 19secs although we were very fortunate, as a pusher kart
was quick to salvage my error.” This put MTR through to 3rd, but
Mardlin coming back for MTR had made no inroads into KAD, the gap
still at 25secs, and he was only 8secs ahead of Darren Price back
on board Four Cough, following a strong and long 2nd stint from
Melly Smith. Running into the next round of fuel stops towards
the hour mark, KAD looked to have the measure of the competition
once again, and the race appeared to be about 2nd, Mardlin had
edged into Es Car Go, though Price had closed to less than a second,
and looking for a way back and sitting just off this group were
the remaining cream of ’07 Rookies in Blues Bros’ Pughe working
hard to get back into contention and racing with PB2.com, who themselves
had lost 20secs on the field in their first fuel stop, their mistakes
put them both just off the lead lap. Es Car Go, Four Cough then
KAD pitted, Dan Moore going back in, Mardlin was temporarily into
the lead, as he went for fuel, it was at this point Moore made
his ill fated move, Headleand again, “At this point our perfect
race went a little awry. Dan went for his Montoya move. Coming
out of the infield hairpin he was catching a back marker at pace;
not quite on him by the exit it was all or nothing through turns
6 and 7. An overtake round the outside was in order, unfortunately
he ran out of track, and cement run off, and nearly used all the
grass. (I think he might start a forum poll looking for some track
widening at Clay!). Dan went from karting to grass track racing
in a moment, and was going in circles a moment later. Fortunately
he missed the tyres and ended up only having to pull the kart a
couple of feet back onto the track. Not really the best plan, and
certainly not covered in our ‘consistent quick laps’ plan!” With
a below par pit stop by Es Car Go, Nick Tonks returned in the lead,
2secs ahead of the Geoff Symonds, Moore’s faux pas was not too
bad, he was already closing on PB2 and Blues Bros, both of whom
had moved to within 16secs of the lead with KAD’s banana skin.
Further back Four Cough had dropped to the rear of the top 6 pecking
order, Darren Price again, “I’d had a heart stopping moment, lapping
Genetically Modified around the outside of Turn 2. Going into the
Esses they moved left to line up the corner and forced me wide
onto the kerb and outside wheels onto the grass. I don't think
they saw me. Thankfully I managed to keep it pointing in the right
direction but heard that inevitable sound of a cluck and metallic
rattle of my engine mount bouncing on the track behind me! When
I pitted they managed to get it repaired very quickly for which
I must thank the pit boys! A superb job and we only lost approx
35 seconds. But this would be very costly at the end of the race.
Melly emerged back in P6 fortunately she was pumping in some very
consistent 40sec laps.”
Its rather unfair that the top six are rather monopolising another
report, but the battle for 7th was two laps off the lead. At half
distance the Pistachios led The Speed Muppets, but the ‘Buttons
were always going to run them down, assuming they didn’t bin it
again. They did not and the Buttons would be two laps ahead of
The Speed Muppets by the finish, and they in turn led Mobile Chicane
and Roaring Forties rounding out a close battle for the bottom
of the top ten. Mobile Chicane picking off KW Karting and the ‘Forties
in the last ten minutes.
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Up front, Moore had been busy fixing what he’d broke dispatching
Blues Bros from 4th as Symonds joined Tonks in the race for the
lead, Mardlin again, “Thanks to Es Car Go for a great battle. Good
clean driving all round and nip and tuck all the way. Nick had
a great tussle and I had the same during my last stint. Focussing
on chasing or defending was a great tonic to the fact that we were
bloody knackered!” By the time Jim had returned to the chair to
continue the dice with Es Car Go, Moore had moved passed PB2.com
for 3rd, and Al Bull had returned to KAD, he was pushing hard and
with just over half an hour to go the lead had been reduced to
13secs over the leading pair. Es Car Go’s Ross Andrews pushed passed
the tiring Mardlin, and maybe, just maybe Es Car Go began to think
a maiden win is on the cards, Ross Andrews, “It was a bloody good
race on Sunday for us, and it was nice to make it to the podium
too. Although perhaps looking at the lap chart we maybe should
have been a step or two higher!” He was the first to make the final
fuel stops with 25mins to go, and the top 6 had squeezed back together,
Es Car Go were only half a minute ahead of Four Cough 6th, so when
Angus Booth exited pit lane, he was back in 6th, hoping to pick
up the lead again with the other stoppers. Blues Bros dropped in
behind him, so did PB2.com, but Booth had had a slow out lap, Mardlin
and Bull had pitted and both Tonks and Headleand had slotted in
ahead. Price had been pushing hard for Four Cough and briefly overtook
Mardlin, before his pit stop, Darren going into double stint.
The sprint for the finish, over the last 15mins, split in two,
Headleand chasing after Sunday driving Tonks, 5secs ahead, then
Es Car Go managing a 5secs lead over Blues Bros, though Price was
going to see about that, as he’d gone back in to try and grab a
step of the podium, Price again, “I knew it was close between the
top 6, who were all still on the lead lap, I emerged in 5th having
dispatched PB2.com with a much faster final stop. Those pesky Blues
Brothers I’d been following at the start and I managed to out brake
Andrew going into Turn 1 and got good momentum through the Esses
for an easy pass and a wave down the back straight. Pit signals
were telling me, I was rapidly catching 3rd place and I was desperate
to edge up behind Es Car Go. Ironically we set up our pit wall
right next to them in the pit lane and could see all of my team
and theirs chewing their nails as I was driving past trying to
look at the pit board. For the next 10 laps or so, I was catching
on average over a second a lap, but there was just not enough laps
left for me to do it! In the end we rolled over the line a tantalising
5 seconds off the podium and just 19secs behind the leaders. That
engine mount cost us 35 seconds!!! That’s a 2nd race in a row that
on raw pace (throttle cable at Rye and engine mount here) we should
have won!” This left a blissfully unaware Tonks to ‘cruise’ in
ahead of Headleand for the win, Karl again, “A few traffic laden
laps saw the gap increase by a couple of seconds before I started
dragging it back. MTR might have eased off at the end, but I think
we showed some blistering pace, even with a spin we missed the
top spot by just 0.94 seconds. The top 6 of the championship are
all looking pretty racy and close. Round 4 has shown that a win
absolutely relies on a clean and tidy race. No more mistakes.”
Well I have been telling you this universal truth since Buckmore.
Mardlin one last time, “Another clean race for us with 5 good
pit stops. It just reinforces the fact that consistency is a race
winner. We didn’t break 40secs all day but kept the pace high throughout
and benefited from others falling off.”
Amen.
Oh, and the significance of his Jim’s wedding in 3weeks? “With
momentum like this we should be looking forward to the double header
at Llandow but sadly it clashes with my wedding day and with Nick
as the Best Man the MTR driver cupboard is bare. I’m seriously
considering sending a substitute… to the wedding! With those 2
scores definitely being dropped at the end we can only afford one
more dropped score from the remaining 5 rounds after Llandow. The
pressure will be on but we hope to be in contention by the time
of the last round at Whilton Mill in November.” DOH! I mean congratulations,
best of luck and all that.
Contributors
Simon Pughe
Darren Price
Karl Headleand
Jim Mardlin
Ross Andrews
Photography
Karl Headleand
Ross Andrews
Darren Price
Contributions always welcome for future rounds. If you want to
read about yourselves, you need to contribute. Email the Bard on chris-simpson@ntlworld.com,
with the skinny on your team’s day.
