2023 Club100 Senior Championships
Lightweight Sprint
Round 5
Clay Pigeon
Overview
An escape to Dorset. Stayed in town the whole weekend, the first time doing so contrary to travelling on race day. Treating myself to 1st class return trips on the train, too. Indeed, I'm writing from the return trip, after a round in which I achieved a lot of firsts on and off the track.
Format
3x 7-minute heats, results from which qualify the grids for the 12-minute finals. The grids for the heats are random and released midweek, novices towards the back. I'm in Novice Class 3 (NC-3), starting this round of heats P17, P11 and P16. Whether you're a Novice Class 3, intermediate Class 2 or experienced C1 racer, it's your average heat finishing position that determine whether you make the C final, B final, or fastest A final.
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| Photography by @johnnyp5000 |
Heat 1 (Heat 4) P17 > P11 | P3, NC-3
A good 3 positions are gained on the opening lap. Another 2 are gained so that I'm sitting in a decent P11 behind original club racing buddy Sam Morris. We have a running joke that whenever we're near each other on-track, we completely mess each other's race as per our first encounter at Rye House. Fortunately, the Class 2 racer was clear enough we did not need to exchange the same tarmac.
Instead, I was on the defence from Kart 90 the whole sprint. They were very keen to exploit the fact I could not yet take "The Esses" chicane flat. The resultantly poor exit onto Sturmey Straight lap-after-lap, and into the long hairpin that follows. In short, I'd struggle with this section the whole day. We'd exchange 11th place a few times because of this. Fortunately, I had enough pace everywhere else around a lap to respond and retake position. A feat I'd hold onto come chequered flag.
Heat 2 (Heat 6) P11 > P9 | P1, NC-3
By contrast, starting on the outside of the grid this time, I lose two positions on the opening lap. Nevertheless, the next lap, I'm back up to P11, where I started. The response continues into Lap 3, up to P10. But such efforts are reciprocated by fellow C3s Karts 86 and 175. Both of whom eventually get penalties for gaining advantage by contact. As such, I assume P1 in class. But chicane to hairpin is really undermining the performance I have the rest of the lap. I'm not content.
Heat 3 (Heat 9) P16 > P8 | P2, NC-3
Resuming first lap powers from Heat 1, I gain more than a handful of positions on the opening lap. After bump-drafting multiple karts through the melee out of the chicane, I'm sitting in P7 with the C1/C2 upper echelons of the grid. With a comfortable gap behind into Sector 2. Then the false start flag is waved. Come on!
We go again. I'm swamped into Turn 1, but then chaos ensues through the chicane. I stay wide of any interaction. A queue forms onto the back straight. I spot space to the left of a kart returning from the grass. And lunge for it, diving to the other side of the straight - Mika Hakkinen, Spa 2000 styley! I complete the move; gain a ton of positions from it. Then, collect more positions by running around the outside of the tricky right-hander. Eventually, I complete the opening lap in P10.
By Lap 4, I'm up into P7. The lead C3. Which made the deficit through the chicane so frustrating, because I could have defended this lead. Instead, I concede it onto the penultimate lap. But by some strong consolation, I fend off further advances from a C1 behind to the flag. For emphasis, me, in novice class, successfully rebuking a Class 1. And better still, finishing ahead of multiple C1s. The first time I can recall doing so. All in an incredibly action-packed heat where I gained 8 to finish P8 on the road, albeit an understating P2 in class.
Heat 3 opening lap. Watch full race highlights on YouTube.
B Final P15 > P9 | P4, NC-3
Saying that, I averaged P9/P10 in the heats. So it's my best qualifying: P15, or P4 in class, for the B Final. I'm gridded up on the inside for Turn 1. The theoretical advantage. But this is where it gets pack up. Seeing a gap open at Turn 1, I steer right to extract the desired innermost line for the chicane. But the karts behind have sandwiched me into the karts in front, so I'm awkwardly locked in position and cannot rotate the wheel.
The karts behind collect the prized line. But then it gets messy into the chicane, so these aggressors end up handing back their gains to its true intendant: yours truly. Keeping it clean earns another eight positions gained. From P15 to P7, end of lap 1!
A further two positions are gained the following lap. So from qualifying P15, we're +10 into P5. Now I just need to hold onto as high a position as possible for 12 minutes. With my deficit through the chicane, onto Sturmey Straight and around Hairpin, this would be incredibly challenging.
B Final opening lap.
I feel more confident to take the chicane flat. But in racing conditions, exploring refinement whilst fighting for position is incredibly distracting. A sharp entry would invite oversteer. A wider entry would invite understeer. So would the racing line! Therefore, rather than seek a unique approach into the chicane to take it flat, I find the best thing to do for consistency is a brief lift on entry to mediate stability through the chicane, then minimise threat to track position the following section. That was my personal limit, in racing conditions.
But this was not enough. I had to respond to the competition and master the chicane. Something I'd struggle to achieve ... until two laps to go. By which point, I had slowly but surely dropped back to P12. Penalties applied, I finish P9 at the flag. And most frustratingly of all, I realise post-race that the guys who overtook me late in the race, finishing in P6, P7 and P8, were all NC-3s. As a result, notwithstanding a few net track positions gained, I finish pretty much where I started - P4 in class.
I really wanted more from this round. Nevertheless, consistency kept me in the game. I gained 6 positions in the first heat, a remarkable 8 in the second and another 2 in the third. Earning a direct grid spot into the B Final with P15 - my best sprint qualification so far.
Furthermore, P9 in the B Final is my best sprint result to date. So despite not fully acclimatising to this circuit, the bigger picture shows we're moving in the right direction on all fronts. Now halfway into the sprints, I'm P5 in class standings, with only 20 points separating myself from our current leader. All to play for.