2023 Club100 Senior Championships
The Club100 Novice Experience
Round 1
Buckmore Park
Format
The Club100 Experience, newly introduced in 2021, offers a less demanding race calendar than the sprints with 6-7 rounds. Entrants are compensated with longer sessions, the format a 15-minute practice which transitions into a 5-minute qualifying session. Qualifying determines the grid for Race 1. The results from Race 1 determines the grid for the final, Race 2. Both races are 20 minutes long.
Practice and Qualifying
35 entries complete a healthy grid for Round 1. Our fourth visit to Buckmore Park in 5 months, I was not sure what to expect from myself this occasion. Strong one-lap pace has yet to reflect in the fact that my average finishing position here is P8. And in practice, I'm in amongst the early pacesetters doing high '49s and eventually do a lap good enough for P1 with a '47-flat.
2023 XP Champs R1 Results - Practice
5 minutes left on the clock. Qualifying. Typical - the track becomes at its most congested. I try to back out into clear air, but need to hurry if I'm to get a lap in at all. I finally get a push lap in ... there's more in this. Push again. Spins and traffic mean aborted laps. I cross the line with 30 seconds to go for another push lap, but a series of yellow flags brings an end to the session.
The timing sheet confirms I'm two tenths off in Sector 1. However, I'm fastest in Sector 2 and matching the pole sitter in Sector 3. Enough to qualify P3 for Race 1.
2023 XP Champs R1 Results - Qualifying
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| Photo | John Patterson @johnnyp5000 |
Race 1
The inside line is the notably favoured starting position at Buckmore Park. So starting P3, I get a very good launch and dare look up the inside of the leader for Turn 1, but think better of it. I hold station for Hairpin 1. This works out a charm, for I'm P2 on exit and alongside P1 for Hairpin 2. They have a better exit, so I slot in and follow through to complete the opening lap.
On Lap 2, I'm immediately invited to challenge for the lead. However, they defend well and hold position. From here, admittedly, after a few advances, I start to suffer some fatigue. So use each other's pace to create a gap to the field. Which worked out fine until half race distance, when an unanticipated dive from behind into Garda demotes me to P3. The new P2 acknowledges my pace, gesturing to follow them through and challenge the race leader again. Encouragement against my flailing durability, we start to check out from the rest of the field.
However, around 5 minutes to go, the race unravels. P1 has caught up to the back-markers. No blue flags issued in this format, so we start tripping over karts we're trying to lap. Playing into the hands of those we had done much to get clear. P4 teleports into P2. I've dropped another position, then reassume P3. Suddenly, the clean racing and raw pace that had shaped the whole race is dismantled by last lap mania. I'm shunted off into Hairpin 1, again out of Hairpin 2 and cross the line, enraged, in P-frigging-7.
2023 XP Champs R1 Results - Race 1
Race 2
Top 3 finish. That's the target. Into the first sequence of corners, I use the favoured line to my advantage and gain a position. Once the race settles, I concentrate on how to pick off the rivals ahead one by one.
It takes longer than I would have thought, given our pace advantage in Race 1. Anyhow, I start gaining on the rivals ahead. One of them spins off into Turn 1. I'm into P6. And eventually, I'm invited to do the work myself, overtaking another into [name where] to collect P5. I feel the pace advantage to P4 and P3, who are only a second ahead. Plenty of time to catch them and make a move.
Many corners after entering this position, the kart behind comes from a long way back to dive into Hairpin 1. They out-brake themselves, spin and career into meet me at the apex. I'm taken out from P5, to goodness knows where. Pissed. The podium? Forget it. Vex. The only thing to do now is go as fast as possible.
The response? Fastest lap of the race: 46.578, but only P6 overall. So the Buckmore Park theme continues. I push. Have promising moments. Then ... unforced error, or unsporting behaviour from a rival. I get angry. And light up the timing screens. A finishing position yet to show for it.
2023 XP Champs R1 Results - Race 2
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I shouldn't be too downbeat coming away from this one, anyway. P6 is my highest finishing position here and fastest lap of the race with a 46.5 is a solid benchmark for the season. So next time, I'm coming away from Buckmore Park with nothing left on the table.
A short interval now - some endurance racing should contribute to better stamina and dispatching traffic more proficiently is another objective to meet when the XP Champs return to Planet Lydd!