2023 Club100 Senior Championships
Lightweight Sprints
Round 8
Ellough Park
Overview
Following an adventurous road trip to Llandow is another expedition - to East Anglia. The Greater Anglia displays the glorious extent of our British railways by getting me from London into the eastern coastline on the Saturday in 2hr 30mins. I would rest here overnight, escaping the prevailing trend of rail closures that would ensue the railways on race day.
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 P14, P10 and P13. Whether you're an NC-3, intermediate C2 or experienced C1 racer, it's your average finishing position that determines whether you make the C final, B final, or fastest A final.
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| Photography by John Patterson @johnnyp5000 |
Sprint 1 (Heat 2) | P14 > P8 | P2, NC-3
I'm starting on the outside line for 2/3 heats today, so holding my own through the starts would be crucial to good results. I follow fellow N-C3 Keir Hobson through but then get bogged down on exit of the hairpin. By which point, I'm learning from the karts around me to figure out both circuit and where I stand in the order.
Pace is strong enough to engage in a number of entertaining battles which lead me into an exchange with Kart 38 - Dan Grocott (C2) for P7. I dive for the inside of the penultimate corner, which I acquire before apex. I turn in, but feel a bump on the outside as Grocott tries to hang on. Fearing a potential advantage by contact (ABC) penalty in the eyes of the stewards, I return the position. I hook it up out of the final corner for a drag race to the line - to no avail, this time. Penalties applied, P8 at the flag. P2 in class.
Sprint 2 (Heat 5) | P10 > P7 | P2, N-C3
Another outside start, but a gap opens on the pole side of the grid into which I slot for Turn 1. Some loading from the kart behind means I cannot capitalise on Dean Everest's brief detour off the track. Alas, I get Kart 30 into Turn 1 the very next lap and send one past the initial aggressor into the hairpin for P9.
Next up, Dan Grocott - again. Learning my lessons from the previous heat, I achieve a cleaner move past them in the same place, but they switch back on exit and regain position. I back out into Turn 1, instead lining one up into Shoemaker and finally complete an overtake on Mr Grocott for P8.
Within a lap, a train of karts led by P4 backs into my path. So I join in. Eventually, I pick off another C2 into P7, the highest position I've ever been in the heats so far. I push for more, but a final lap challenge on the leading N-C3 is unsuccessful on this occasion. P2 in class again, albeit well up the order and challenging the Top 5.
Sprint 3 (Heat 12) | P13 < P16 | P7, NC-3
Finally - starting on the inside line. So, of course, this side bottles up into Turn 1. Allowing for the likes of Tommy Lee to sweep around the outside from the back of the grid, straight into the lead of our class. I have no desire whatsoever to go 3-wide into the sweeping double-apex right-hander that follows, so fall back into P15.
I navigate a way up to P11. Then seek to clear the N-C3 ahead for P2 in class. On the final lap, karts in front start to back up into our path. In advancing on them, my rival in Kart 69 is taken off line through multiple corners into the descent by pit entry. I'm right on their bumper, anticipate an error. Indeed, they go very wide outside pit lane, bog down on exit; I get on the power early, switch back. However, as I get alongside, they return to the racing line, shunting me off into two tyre barriers and a flag post. Race over.
B Final P15 > P9 | P3 (P6 - overall), NC-3
The F-up continues before the B Final even starts - this time, on my part. I realise, very late, my pedals are not adjusted correctly, so I delay out of pit lane. Joining the grid, I use the wrong kart as reference and slot into P19 instead of P15! I only clock the error coming out the last corner, by which point you cannot break formation.
Thank goodness for a decent start. I'm up into P13 by the end of the first tour and after a few exchanges, including a final joust with Dan Grocott, assume P11 by Lap 4. Next up, two C3s. Kart 143 - Mortaza Hassan is ahead, showing great pace all day. I have a moment to pounce but Mortaza ensures the door is firmly shut. Alas, we use our relative pace to clear another C2. I'm into the Top 10.
As a result, I finish the race in P9. P3 in class in the B Final, but 6th by virtue of three N-C3s making it into the A Final for the first time this season. Again, a remarkable showing from novice class as I match my best overall sprint finish again, but the potential is there for more than P9 at the flag now!
I wonder if I could have finished in the Top 5 for the B Final for the first time. Had I not concede a position in the first heat for fear of an ABC penalty; had I just backed out of that move in the last heat instead of compromising five qualifying positions; and, had I not dropped another four positions before the final even began ... ! Perhaps I would have made the job a lot easier. Tidying up is now the objective.
Otherwise, another solid performance to record my highest heat finishes so far. After a blip, I respond with a fine drive, gaining the most positions of anyone in the B Final to match my best overall finish P9. As a result, I hold onto P4 in the championship. I have significantly gapped those next in class and more crucially edge closer to P3 in the standings. A healthy takeaway from Ellough Park, with two more rounds to go.