| OPEN ENDURANCE KART CHAMPIONSHIP |
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| ROUND 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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RACE REPORT |
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The inaugural round of the Whilton Mill Open Endurance Championship was greeted by sunny skies and a light breeze, weather that was to stay all day. Ten teams attended, with the most supported class being that of the ThunderKarts. Senior Max, ProMax, Biland, and TKM 4/ were also supported. Most teams used the 30-minute practice session to the full, and all teams except one were on the track when the flag came out to signal the start of qualifying. At the end of the 10-minute session, the Senior Max of G&W Racing had pole position with a 40.55 second lap. Behind them, GWS Racing set a 42.34, with the following 6 karts covered by less than a second. In the middle of this group, SAS Racing and Le Maverick both lapped in 42.59. After a short gap to allow for refuelling and minor adjustments, all karts except for Le Maverick, who were suffering with mechanical gremlins that would last all day. As the karts approached the start line, it looked from the perfect formation that the start would be flawless. A slight error on the part of Piranha Bros saw them clip the kerb on the inside of the first corner, which sent them spinning into the air. Several other karts left the circuit in the melee but no one received any damage serious enough to require a visit to the pits. Immediately G&W Racing started to pull out a lead, setting fastest lap of the race every few laps. Within the first 15 minutes, they had got to within 0.16 of a second of their qualifying time, an excellent showing from a team in their first endurance race. Meanwhile, the team on the move was Box Tech who, having struggled in qualifying and started in 6th Place, had made their way to 2nd place. After 49 minutes, having gained 2 laps on 2nd place Box Tech, leaders G&W Racing pitted for fuel. This was not enough for them to rejoin in the lead, and they dropped to 5th, promoting Box Tech to the lead. This lead was to be short lived, however, as the ProMax had to stop for fuel shortly after. Cannonball took the lead, which they were to hold for 50 laps. The extra speed of the Senior Max was showing, however, and they retook the lead after 1 hr and 20 minutes of racing. At the 1.5-hour mark, G&W Racing suffered the first of 2 problems that would see them drop down the field. A loose throttle stop showed itself after the 2nd stop, when they had to return to the pits to locate and fix the problem. SAS Racing took this advantage and held the lead for over 130 laps. With just over an hour to go, Team Slick took the lead. They were to hold on to this lead for the rest of the Race, handing them both the overall and ThunderKart class win. WGS Racing were the first major mechanical failure, when a cracked chassis caused them to retire. Shortly after, Le Maverick retired after a clutch failure bringing to end a day they would rather forget. The ThunderKarts of Blue Thunder and Mojo also retired, Blue Thunder after loosing over 80 laps after a transponder was displaced from their kart twice, and Mojo after a clutch failure. Over the last 45 minutes of the race, the positions remained static, but the race still showed much excitement, with G&W Racing finally breaking into the sub 40-second bracket with 39.94-second lap. Also finding late race pace were Piranha Bros, setting a personal best of a 43.55 second lap, and Cannonball setting a best lap of 42.39 seconds. With close racing between classes, round 1 of the championship has shown that the mix of karts works very well. More teams are commiting to the series, and growth in all classes looks promising. The next round will take place at Whilton Mill on May 29th, and we look forward to seeing you then. The final results were:
Andrew Hornsey Whilton Mill Open Endurance Championship |
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