OPEN ENDURANCE KART CHAMPIONSHIP

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  ROUND 3  
 
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RACE REPORT		  
 
Round three of the Whilton Mill Open Endurance Championship took place of the hottest day of the year to date. The temperature was in excess of 32 C for most of the day. 9 teams attended, with the ThunderKart grid once again being the most supported. A trio of Subaru WRKs were also in attendance.

With a busy half hour practice for most teams, it looked set to be an exciting race. ThunderKarts took the top 3 places on the grid, with the TKM 4/ in 4th.

After a short gap to refuel the kart, all of the teams except for Box Tech made the grid. 1 rolling lap was all that was needed, and a textbook start led to a clean first lap.

Within 3 laps WGS, who had dropped to 5th at the start were up to 3rd place. A lap later they were in 2nd and 2 laps after that they took the lead. The WRK's were running nose to tail, with Guest Driver Martin Capenhurst out in one of the karts for the first stint. Their lap times were a little off the pace of the ThunderKarts.

With the leaders completing 50 laps, Box Tech joined the race, having located the problem that had caused them to miss the start. They were soon on the pace, and within 10 laps had set the fastest lap of the race.

With 1.5 hours of the race gone, Team Slick led by 1 lap over Blue Thunder. WGS Racing, having already stopped for fuel had dropped to 3rd at this point.

As the sun beat down, the teams continued the lap at an unabated pace. Gremlins were sure to creep in with such extreme weather, and before long Box Tech had returned to the pits with a reoccurrence of the problem that had eliminated them from the start. This was traced to a battery problem with at least 2 of the 5 batteries in their possession.

At the 3-hour mark, Team Slick still held the lead, with Blue Thunder closing, a little over a lap behind the leader. The team on the move, however, were Red Mist Racing, who had jumped up to 3rd place.

Box Tech were soon to retire, with both team members racing whilst not 100% fit. The weather got the better of them & the fuel pump bracket had also broken, they retired with a little over an hour remaining. Soon to join them were 2nd place Blue Thunder, a fuel tank problem forcing them to retire. Also joining them were WGS, breaking a seat stay, an integral part of the TKM chassis.

As the race drew to a close, the WRK's were still running line astern, although they were separated by 17 laps.

With 367 laps completed, Team Slick took the chequered flag first, with Red Mist Racing just 3 laps behind. SAS Racing came in third on 363 laps.

A slight drop in numbers in round 3 should be reversed in round 4, and interest has been shown by at least 4 new teams looking to join the series by the end of the year.

The next round will take place at Whilton Mill on July 10th.

Andrew Hornsey
Whilton Mill Open Endurance Championship

 
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