FOUR COUGH RACING & ES CAR GO START
CHAMPIONSHIP PUSH IN WALES
I Can't Believe It's Not Button Also Makes Up Lost Ground On KAD & Absent MTR
The 2007 Rookies remains the most open and competitive championship
in the Club100 family. KAD Racing doubtless entered the double
header with the reasonable hope that in the absence of MTR, that
they could further extend a 30point advantage to third placed PB2.com,
who’ve been a bit quiet of late, and put some clear blue water
between themselves and the chasers. Maybe as much as a decisive
lead, going into the 2nd half of the season. But Llandow for KAD
would be damage limitation exercise; they owe their continued lead
to a modest sized grid, after being taught a lesson about kart
management and mechanical sympathy, with losses of engine mounts
in both races, Karl Headleand, “Well. What can I say? 9th and 4th,
result? Really cementing our lead! But really, it all started well.
Obviously lady luck was having none of it. I’ve said it before,
and I’ll say it again. To win a race in this championship you really
do have to get everything just about right. At least the sun was
shining!” If anything Llandow served only to complicate the championship
picture, as the lower order of top 6, Four Cough, Es Car Go and
I Can’t Believe Its Not Button, significantly out pointed the top
half of KAD, MTR (obviously) and PB2.com. Maiden victories for
Four Cough and Es Car Go, and podiums in their other races, have
lifted them from 4th and 5th, to 2nd and 3rd respectively. For
Four Cough to just 10points off the lead going into the rounds
out at Rye House, Darren Price, “Not only had we finally got a
trophy, we'd managed to pull off our first win! It's still very
tight at the top though!” Sentiments echoed by Es Car Go’s Geoff
Symonds, “The celebrations on Saturday night were good and I don’t
think the camp site appreciated us getting back at 3.00am! The
championship is really close now so we are looking forward to a
close fight for the rest of the year.” The ‘Buttons managed their
first podium of the season, after threatening to score a good result
from round 1, and if they’d waited any longer they might have missed
the bus as the championship begins build up momentum, I detect
more modest aspirations however, Grant Crofton, “We’re buoyed by
our first trophy for the team and were hungry for more to share
around. We need three more so everyone can have one!” To get a
true picture of how the championship is shaping up, one which I
suspect has MTR’s Jim Mardlin and Nick Tonks smiling, drop two
scores, not unrealistic given that were over the championship hump,
counting 4 scores from 6, KAD lead by 15points from MTR and Four
Cough, the top 5 covered by 30 points. It begs the question how
long can the Rookies remain so tight? Could a 5 or 6-sided battle
go all the way to Buckmore Park?
Round 5
Al Bull for KAD Racing set the pace in qualifying, from Darren
Price and Tom Rendall for The ‘Buttons. Bull chipping away to wrap
up pole with 52.06,
Rendall would join on the front row for the start, Mobile Chicane and Welsh
Wizards settled on row 2, while Andrew Johnson for Blues Bros would start
from P5, despite only a minimal 5 laps, Price joining him on the third
row. From the start, it was Bull versus Rendall, KAD leading with
fast starting
‘Button pilot on right on Bull’s case, fellow Button Grant Crofton, “An
excellent start by Tom kept us scrapping with KAD. After a couple
of slightly over
ambitious late-breaking moves at the hairpin before the start/finish, Tom
finally made it stick a lap before KAD pitted.” All was not well in KAD,
Headleand, “The first few laps went well, dicing with Tom and they still
managed to get a lead on the chasing pack. Then Al started using our well-rehearsed
sign language. He was spinning his hand then pointing down, or behind him,
or possibly to the side, but definitely spinning his hand. Between the
5 of us watching on we decided that something was up. Maybe something
to do
with a lasso. But he pitted early and we soon discovered he was using a
‘universal’ sign for a lost engine mount. Whilst we pitted and
had the mount replaced,
Tom did a lap, pitted, and left ahead of us. This was not good. I exited
the pits an unlucky 13th!” Behind Mobile Chicane excellent qualifying had
been shown up for just that, and Melly Smith starting for Four Cough had
needed a couple of laps to clear them. But she was through, as Welsh Wizards
slipped backwards and Team Wheeled followed Melly through to head the chasers.
Running the leaders down and dropping Johnson in Blues Bros. Championship
aspiring PB2.com ran in the midfield, also not showing was Geoff Symonds
in Es Car Go, qualifying a poor 14th, then going backwards, team mate Ross
Andrews, “Kart allocation had given us a bit of a rogue, both Geoff and
I were treated to electric shocks from the spark plug during practice.
Plug
changed it was clear that we were way off the pace in qualifying, by lap
4 we thought it was game over for the 1st race when the chain fell off
and Geoff had to be pushed back to the Pits. But we set about trying
to better
our worst finish at Whilton.”
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So with KAD joining Es Car Go in the mechanics in 10mins, The
Buttons’ Pete Leatherland picked up the lead from Team Wheeled
as they ended the first fuel stops 10mins later, chasing hard 8secs
behind was Darren Price, there was then sizeably gap, of 15secs,
so early in the proceedings to Simon Pughe in Blues Bros, 5secs
behind Race Kart Ya Ya’s making the most of an early stop lead
the main field 30secs off the lead. Just as the race had strung
out, there were only 8 of 18 karts on the lead lap; the race was
red flagged, for a heavy shunt for Elizabeth from debutants Southville
Racing on the back straight.
Some time later the race restarted, Leatherland leading a single
file echelon managing to get away, to get away with Price, but
able to put some distance into Pughe, immediately due t the lapped
traffic in the line, Crofton again, “After the unfortunate red
flag situation, a slightly nervous Pete had control of the race
start - and thanks partly to a slight misunderstanding of the pace-kart's
signals, he managed to ace the restart and put a good few kart
lengths ahead into Darren!” But it didn’t last long, Darren Price,
“I was soon tucked right up behind Pete. Exiting the hook on the
3rd lap I managed to get a great drive and the inside line heading
in the sausage corner complex! Next time round, I saw Melly excitedly
jumping up and down and clapping, so it was head down to try and
pull away. During the ambulance period, a quick walk around the
karts on the track and having a nosey at different fuel tanks,
had showed that we were in a good shape, due to the fuel we saved
during qually, we’d pitted at least 4 laps after the bulk of the
runners and we’re doing well with the fuel strategy for a splash
and dash at the end.” Leatherland had pitted 12mins into the restart,
one again Four Cough got another 4laps before Smith went back in.
Pughe got a lap on the front before pitting himself, a good stop
pitched them back into a fight for 2nd with The Buttons, Guy Middleton
going in, and his dice with Blues Bros allowed Smith to push clear,
Darren Price again, “Blues Bros and ICBINB did us a massive favour
fighting over 2nd, it allowed us to extend out lead, so we could
actually pit just passed the 60 minute mark (late again) and emerge
still in the lead.
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An extra 30secs in the pits at the next stop for Blues Bros and
the Buttons were 10secs clear of Race Kart Ya Ya’s with Blues Bros
then the final kart on the lead lap, off it The Speed Muppets were
clear of KAD and Es Car Go, the red flag probably helping to minimise
the losses they had felt. KAD needed another red flag… Headleand,
“We’d been making time on the front-runners, putting in respectable
times, generally doing the leg work to see what could be something
scavenged. Dan pitted in 5th. Another average stop (we really must
work on these). Al was back on the track and slogging away. Pitting
from 4th it wasn’t looking so bad. But no… A loose exhaust mount
that had to be replaced left us in the pits for nearly 4 minutes.
That put a bit of a dampener on things.” With 30mins to go, things
looked slightly more promising at Es Car Go, Es Car Go were running
down Race Kart Ya Ya’s who were running well but a slow fuel stop
put them in Es Car Go’s cross hairs, Andrews again, “After a slick
change from Angus Boath to Geoff again we were solidly in the top
6. Another solid, quick paced stint from Symonds meant we were
sitting pretty in 5th. Our pit stops had been a topic for discussion
prior to the race weekend and we knew that if we were to get anything
more out of this race the last few had to be DTM style quick. All
went according to plan and with me back in the seat and about 20
minutes of the race remaining it was time to dig deep.” Andrews
had 20secs in his pocket over Ya Ya’s, who had The Speed Muppets
pressing on to worry about just 4secs behind, Ross was by now just
7secs down on a podium spot, as Blues Bros honed into view. Four
Cough’s Smith executed their final splash and dash 8mins from the
end without incident, The Buttons could only get to within 20secs
to finish a best 2nd, Crofton, “After a little too-ing and fro-ing
with Blues Brothers (in the pits, perhaps?), we came out in a solid
2nd place and it had been a case of not falling off, there on,
although the charging Es Car Go worried us slightly, we maintained
the pace and managed to secure our first podium! And about time
too. Quite sad, I confess, that fate would dictate our first bit
of silverware would be won when I wasn't actually driving, but
I like to think my 'race manager' role played its part, so I didn't
feel too much of a fraud collecting the magnificent 2nd place trophy!”
In a race of first’s Simon Pughe returned to Blues Bros to anchor
them to a first podium, one lap down, as Andrews in Es Car Go came
up 10secs short, in their ‘Great Escape’ bid and had to settle
for 4th, ahead of Ya Ya’s, while Speed Muppets were the only team
2laps down in 6th.
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Four Cough’s Darren Price, “When I’d gone back in the kart with
45mins to go I’d pegged the gap to The Buttons, and I knew this
was our best opportunity to get on the podium, let alone stand
on the top step. I was dying to see the pit board every time I
went round, but instead saw Melly sunning herself and drinking
bottle of bottle of water. After our penultimate stop with 20mins
to go I knew we had it in the bag. After pushing Melly out I legged
it up to the screen to watch the laps tick by, and saw Mel extending
that lead ever so slightly. With no-one in the pit lane, Mell splash
and dashed.” Game over.
Contributors
Grant Crofton
Simon Pughe
Darren Price
Karl Headleand
Ross Andrews
Denis Jehan
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.
