Night fell on Hull on Tuesday 10^th November, and 24 go-karters went to bed looking forward to an endurance at BUMPS the next day. Or in some cases, in fact probably many, go-karters went to bed on the morning of Wednesday 11^th November, looking forward to the race later on that day.

But that morning, Sam was to receive an unwanted phone call, and shortly after the phones of the other 4 exec’s were all rumbling to texts telling of the unexpected and bad news. BUMPS had cancelled on us, citing “staffing issues.” How seriously their excuse is to be taken is highly debateable, we only lost out on about 5 races with them last year because of this. Could Fast Track save the day? No! Why? “Staffing issues” again. But hold on a second, aren’t BUMPS and Fast Track under the same umbrella, both council run? Couldn’t the Fast Track staff come to BUMPS? Of course they could! Where they going to? No! This totally feasible logic was beyond the staff at the 2 Hull karting establishments. Even Frank Spencer could have worked that one out.

More frantic phone calls were made, and step forward Raceway Karting, or Pontefract as referred to. The well run indoor track has came to the rescue before, but not in these extreme circumstances! Fortunately, there was a slot available at roughly the same time the BUMPS booking had been made, and after much panic, we had a race. But at a higher price.

Fortunately almost everyone still wanted to come, and with enough cars to go around, we made the trip along the M62 from East Yorkshire to West Yorkshire, admidst the rush-hour traffic. The duff directions given by Google Map ensured only 1 of the 5 cars found the track without trouble. But eventually, we had 20 go-karters at the track ready to go, who first had to watch a safety video starring David Coulthard, whilst the teams were quickly determined. Here was the result.

TEAM SEVEN – Kart 1

Sam Jackson

Rob Stephenson

Adrian Hardy

TEAM LEOPARD – Kart 2

Mike Miller

Tom Buxton

Michael Underwood

TEAM MOTIVATOR – Kart 3

Tom Smith

Sam Firth

TEAM SHOT IN THE ARM – Kart 4

Josh Overhill

Kevin Gambles

Richard Bodington

TEAM LIAM – Kart 5

Liam Lau

Ozgun Onal

Jackie Giagnacovo

TEAM BURNLEY – Kart 6

Marcus Stuttard

James Hancox

Their mate (did anyone catch his name?)

TEAM SLOW – Kart 7

Roger Palmer

Sam Foxall

Tom Newbould

The shortest qualifying session in the world saw all the team captains except Tom and Marcus defer to a team mate, though Tom, with the luxury of a 2-man team would be seen again later in the 75-minute race, with team-mate Sam Firth putting in a mammoth 37 minute stint in the middle of the race. But it was Kevin who qualified on pole, for Team Shot In The Arm., with Smith alongside. Tom Buxton qualified a very good 3^rd ahead of Marcus, with Rob, Sam Foxall and Jackie the other starters. The drivers lined up on the grid, the lights came on, 1 light, 2 lights, 3 lights, 4 lights, 5 lights, pause, another pause, a very long pause...... GO GO GO!!! Kevin and Tom stole a march on the rest of the field and had a sizeable lead over the rest of the pack by the end of Lap 1, and thereafter pulled away slowly but steadily, as Tom Buxton held onto 3^rd place ahead of Marcus. Kevin eventually succumbed to Tom’s pressure at around about lap 10, with Tom passing him at Turn 7, the fast right hander in front of the pits, and the leaders soon lost a lot of time lapping back-markers, with Rob and Sam Foxall proving difficult to pass. This allowed Tom Buxton and Marcus to catch right up, and the confusion behind the lapped karts allowed Marcus to take 3^rd, as Tom Smith was out on his own at the front. Marcus was also to briefly take second, only for Kevin to take it back.

But then, disaster for Team Shot In The Arm, as Kevin slid wide at Turn 5 and was hit by another kart, completely wrecking the chassis of the kart. Kevin was able to crawl back to the pits and a replacement kart was given, but a number of confusions and cock-ups with the transponder followed, until what was probably the right number of laps added back on was done so. Tom handed over to Sam Firth for Team Motivator, which allowed Marcus to take the lead for Team Burnley, ahead of the impressive Tom Buxton, before the remianing teams all made their first driver change, with most of the inexperienced drivers now on track, but with Team Motivator lacking a completely inexperienced driver, Sam Firth (in only his third race, the first around Pontefract) was able to re-take the lead and stream away from the rest of the field, whilst Michael Underwood, in his first outing with HUGS, was doing a solid job in second for Team Leopard. Sam Foxall’s solid opening stint for Team Slow had kept the team in touch with the leaders,  and their next driver Tom Newbould was involved in a battle for 3^rd with Shot In The Arm’s Richard Bodington, the 2 drivers persistently changing places.

Over the middle period of the race, there were a handful of yellow light periods, but generally the inexperienced drivers performed well and provided the more experienced drivers with some superb racing to watch from the sidelines, and this time for the right reasons. The barriers of Pontefract proved a much better training ground than the gravel of BUMPS.

The final stint would see the experienced drivers take to the track, with Josh assuming control of Team Shot In The Arm in 4^th place, on the same lap as 3^rd-placed Roger in Team Slow. Mike would emerge less than a lap ahead of the two drivers in second place for Team Leopard. They were to be shortly joined by Tom, who, barring a cock-up of the epic proportions, had the race sewn up, with a lead of 3 laps. Liam, Sam and James were the other drivers on track. With each of the drivers lapping at a fairly similar pace, give or take a few tenths, the race was seemingly going into a lull, but the battle between second, third and fourth was very much alive, as Josh was closing down Roger, and would then look to catch Mike in second. Liam stood in between the battle for third, and overtaking was proving difficult, but Liam did eventually pass Roger, and Josh also muscled his way through a lap later, and would go on to find a way past Liam. Josh then set about closing the gap to Mike. But hang on! Mike was closing in on Josh. (Mike was clearly enjoying the track, whilst Pontefract is by far and away my least favourite track we go to). The blue flags were deployed, a slight question mark hangs over why this was the case, and Roger and Liam were made to let Mike and Tom through, and a few laps later Josh was also shown the flags, despite the fact that Mike and Tom were nowhere near him at the time of deployment. A few laps later Josh obliged, and was now a lap behind. Mike would subsequently be made to allow Tom pass, and with the results up and down the field pretty much nailed on, all that was left was for the time to be exhausted and the chequered flag to fall, and Team Motivator won by a whole 4 laps, with Team Leopard in second and Team Shot In The Arm completing the podium.

RESULT

1. Team Motivator – 173 laps
2. Team Leopard – 169 laps
3. Team Shot In The Arm – 168 laps
4. Team Slow – 167 laps
5. Team Seven – 167 laps
6. Team Liam – 166 laps
7. Team Burnley – 163 laps

FASTEST LAP CLASSIFICATION

1. Tom Smith – 23.20
2. Liam Lau – 23.26
3. Mike Miller – 23.27
4. Roger Palmer – 23.40
5. Kevin Gambles – 23.47
6. Josh Overhill – 23.50
7. Marcus Stuttard - 23.54
8. Tom Buxton – 23.56
9. Sam Jackson – 23.68
10. James Hancox – 23.97
11. Sam Foxall – 24.43
12. Sam Firth  - 24.50
13. Ozgun Onal – 24.83
14. Rob Stephenson – 24.88
15. Michael Underwood – 25.40
16. Jackie Giagnacovo – 25.54
17. Richard Bodington – 25.75
18. Adrian Hardy – 26.22
19. Tom Newbould – 26.30

A number of honourable mentions needed here. Congratulations to Tom for adding his name to the elite list of drivers who have set the the fastest lap at a HUGS event, joining such greats as Pip Hammond, Imran Khan, Jon Beagles, Keith Herbert and Josh Overhill....... What an absolute shot in the arm there.

Others mentions are needed, well done to Mike and Roger for being blisteringly quick in the final stint, as well as Tom Buxton (my personal vote for driver of the day) in the opening stint, Sam Foxall and Sam Firth for solid performances, and all of the relatively new drivers for putting in very competent performances.

And a few thank you’s as well to Marcus, his mate, Tom Buxton, Tom Smith and Rob for agreeing to drive the 50-odd miles to Pontefract instead of the 4 miles to BUMPS. But most of all, thanks to the staff at Pontefract for helping us in our hour of need, and making a race on the day possible. All in all, a good day, and a great race.