The first race of the decade saw HUGS travel to Leeds to take part in a Monday Night Club, which is starting to become a bit of a fixture on the calendar, due to the loss of BUMPS, you may or may not be glad to hear. The purpose of the race was to get some mileage in ahead of the Inter-Uni race next month, as well as breaking up the tedious revision over the exam period. Oh, and we hadn’t been karting since the start of December.

14 drivers were present, including Old Boys Jon and Keith, whilst Marcus, Paul, Pete and Roger made their Leeds debuts. With it being teams of 4, Mark and Keith formed a team with 2 randoms (in Kart 13). The other three teams were Jon, Sam, Roger and Dan (Kart 9); Josh, Marcus, Adam and Pete (Kart 8); Tom S, Tom B, Will and Paul (Kart 6).

The first stint saw Will (6), Pete (8), Roger (9) and Keith (13), take to the track. Will lapped solidly and consistently, as did Roger. Pete could count himself very unfortunate to be black flagged after spinning another driver around who cut Pete up, and a couple of spins didn’t help his cause either. Keith fought his way up, having started in a lowly position. But the bar would be very much raised by some of the others.

Kart 13 led the private battle between the 4 teams, but dropped back as the 2 randoms took the second and third stints. This gave Kart 6 the lead, with Tom Buxton at the wheel who again put in an impressive performance, as did Dan Naylor in Kart 9. Some very consistent times there. Adam did a sterling job in Kart 8, breaking into the 43’s, but set a number of times in the low to mid 44’s, which will be very useful in the Inter-Uni race. Marcus (8) and Paul (6) went even quicker, both put in incredible performances considering it was their first time at the track, both posting times well in the 43’s. Jon (9), already lightning quick at the track, and sporting his brand new overalls, blitzed the HUGS record with a mid-42.

The final stint was all set for an epic battle, with Karts 6, 8 and 9 all barely covered by half a minute, with Tom Smith (6), Josh (8) and Sam (9) the three drivers involved. Mark was also on track, as the 4 execs looked set to slug it out, with 10 drivers on the sidelines looking forward to what was sure to be some entertaining viewing.

Sadly, they wouldn’t get it. Kart 8’s throttle stuck open, which led to the kart needing to be changed, and Josh was forced to wait for what felt like ages for the replacement kart. The fact that the laps weren’t then given back dropped the team out of contention. The new kart was an absolute shit-heap, so it was probably a blessing in disguise when that kart lasted all of 9 laps before that too decided it had had enough, and Josh returned to the pits again. The third kart would suit alot better. Mark also had his kart replaced, a broken seat mounting the problem there. Mark had originally fed out behind Sam, but the unscheduled stop brought him out just in front of him. Would there be a third incident between the president and vice-president? (In other words, would Sam punt Mark again?). No, as Mark managed to establish a gap (and a couple of karts) between the duo.  Josh closed in on the pair of them, but when a slower kart spun at Turn 1, the driver then thought correcting himself right in front of 2 karts (one of those being Josh) was a good idea. The engine of Kart 8 then died,  and when restarted Josh was now chasing Tom. Josh did catch him, but were unable to close in on Sam who was just a bit up the road. Tom made it clear that Josh wasn’t coming through, but ultimately the time was exhausted and the race was over. However, a good days work from the executive quartet. Mark and Josh became the quickest active members of the society, split by an incredible 3 thousandths of a second, and just missing out on joining Jon in the 42 club. Tom showed his A Team credentials, and Sam was also well in the 43’s.

The final result in the private result was Kart 6 the winners, with Kart 9 less than a lap behind. Kart 13 and 8's races were ruined by the aforementioned kart problems in the final stint.

So all in all a good start to the new calendar year. We now have 12 (9 active) members who have posted times below 44 seconds. How many do York have? And how many do Durham have? The number bares an uncanny resemblence to the letter O. And with several others in the 44’s, and a few others who aren’t but are capable of doing so, York and Durham will not know what has hit them on the 24^th February. What an absolute shot in the arm. Hull 1-2-3-4-5 anyone?

Here are the laptimes, in brackets is where they are in the overall standings if they improved.

1. Jon Beagles  -  42.583 (1^st)
2. Mark Foley -   43.026 (2^nd)
3. Josh Overhill -  43.029 (3^rd)
4. Tom Smith -   43.445 (7^th)
5. Paul Greenbaum – 43.523 (9^th)
6. Sam Jackson – 43.606 (10^th)
7. Marcus Stuttard – 43.645 (11^th)
8. Adam Hibberd – 43.974 (12^th)
9. Keith Herbert – 44.156 (14^th)
10. Will Russell  – 44.553
11. Tom Buxton – 44.674 (17^th)
12.  Pete Szedlak – 44.892 (20^th)
13. Roger Palmer – 44.954 (21^st)
14. Dan Naylor – 45.178