
	OPEN ENDURANCE KART CHAMPIONSHIP

______________________________________________________


	summer chanpionship ROUND 8

	RACE REPORT
	The 8th & final round of the 2006 Open Endurance Championship promised to be an exciting event, with the Championship still wide open. Both Cannonball Racing in the Thunderkart and Box Tech racing a Max had the opportunity to take the championship. 17 karts entered the race. 8 teams entered the Open Class, with Biland, CVT Driven Maxes, ProKarts, TKM 4/, Pro Extreme and World Formula represented. 6 Senior Maxes and 3 ThunderKarts also joined the party. CV Racing and Blue Thunder both made a welcome return to the championship, as did WGS Racing. The half hour practiced saw teams diving in and out of the pits, with at least 6 teams being in with a chance for pole position if they could maintain their times. With the flag falling for qualifying, however, 2 teams jumped to the fore. CV Racing, with their unique drive system, took pole position with a 40.31 second lap. Appliance Maintenance took 2nd, with a 40.5 second lap running a Senior Max on a Prokart chassis. The 2 championship protagonists were, as expected, separated by some margin on the grid. The Senior Max of Box Tech were 3rd with a 40.98 second lap, whilst Cannonball Racing were down in 10th with a 42.74 second lap. Cannonball Racing were however not too worried, as they knew the handicap system would aid them. With a short gap of just 15 minutes from the end of qualifying to the start of the race, there was frantic action in the pit lane. Blue Thunder were the only team not to make the grid, but they did manage to leave the pit lane before the karts came round for the start. With all karts keeping perfect formation, the start was clean. With the Handicaps added, Stanion Slicks took the lead, with Ace of Aces 2nd, Red Mist Racing 3rd, and Cannonball Racing 4th. Championship contenders Box Tech were down in 11th place, but they were not too concerned, knowing that their race pace would help them make up ground. Saxon 1 and 2 were at the back of the field, the minus 2 lap handicap a result of the massive pace of the kart. The World Formula of Saxon Racing suffered early problems that were to see them coming in and out of the pits. Red Max Racing and CV Racing were also to suffer early mechanical gremlins that were to see them drop towards the back of the field. At the one and a half hour mark, with pit stops starting to mix things up, the Pro Extreme of Ace of Aces held the lead, with Stanion Slicks in 2nd place. Championship contenders Cannonball Racing were 3rd. Their main rivals Box Tech, however, had made their way up to 6th place, and 2nd in the Max class. Appliance Maintenance, having moved up to the Senior Max class from ProMax, led their class. With the first round of fuel stops for the frugal Pro Extremes taking place, Ace of Aces dropped dramatically down the field at around 1¾ hours. At this point, Appliance Maintenance had a lead of over 1 lap, with Saxon 1 having stormed up the leader board from 2nd to last to 2nd place, although they were to drop back at the next round of fuel stops, where Red Mist Racing took 2nd place from them. Appliance Maintenance held the lead up until the 3-hour mark, when Saxon 1 took the lead from them. They held 2nd place, with Red Max Racing in 3rd, and Box Tech in 4th. This was not good news for Cannonball Racing, who had dropped to 6th, their progress being hampered by an underperforming kart after a clash early in the race. They knew, however, that Box Tech would have to make more fuel stops, and that would help redress the balance. As the race entered its final hour, Saxon 1 had regained the lead, having set a lap of 39.98, which would prove to be the fastest lap of the race. They still had a good lead when a mechanical problem caused them to pit on lap 331. They would not, unfortunately, make it back into the race. Appliance Maintenance regained the lead at this point, with Box Tech 2 laps behind them. Cannonball Racing were 6 laps behind their championship rivals at this point, and could only hope for a mechanical failure to force Box Tech to drop back. Appliance Maintenance took a well-deserved win, with Box Tech taking 2nd place. This was all they needed to take the Overall championship. TT Sport made it an all Senior Max overall top 3, with the ThunderKart of Red Mist Racing coming home 4th. Ace of Aces once again took 1st place in the Open Class, with Red Mist Racing taking the ThunderKart class victory. Box Tech took the Overall Championship which included three wins, Cannonball Racing pushed them hard throughout the season to take second, with Red Mist Racing third. Class Champions were Ace of Aces - Open; Stanion Slicks - Prokart; Cannonball Racing - Thunderkart; Box Tech - Max 36 different teams competed in the OEKC during the Summer Championship and we are looking to build on this success for 2007. Until then though we have the WINTER CUP to contest. Two Rounds and the Prokarts to beat. Prokart Engineering will be defending their crown on the 3rd December '06 & 4th February '07. We look forward to seeing you all

Regulations