The second visit to the newly re-opened Fast Track came a week after it was originally planned, following the late decision to abandon the race, with snow and ice the reasons cited. Once again, the sign-up list was looking a bit thin, and with enough karts for one each, it meant one thing; another iron man. 10 minutes qualification followed by a 25 minute race, on a very cold and damp track.
ENTRYLIST
2. Mike Miller
4. Sam Jackson
5. Sam Foxall
6. (The Fruity One) Marcus Stuttard
8. Liam Lau
9. Tom Smith
10. Mark Foley
19. Josh Overhill
21. Sam Firth
Kart 6 is now known as The Fruity One. Why? No idea. Answers on a postcard.
QUALIFYING
Qualifying gave everyone not only the chance to set a fast lap, but also to get to grips with the tough conditions on track. Indeed, there were a number of spins throughout the session, as well as a couple of yellow flags. The most noteworthy incident was Mike going into the wall on the exit of Turn 1. Mark was the quickest when we visited the track for the first time in November, and proved it again, by qualifying on pole. Marcus was second, with Josh third. (I don’t have the qualifying times however)
RACE
The 9 karts were packed together on the grid ridiculously tightly, the green flag was waved, and Josh got the best start of them all, but the narrowness of the track meant it was impossible to go round Mark, and instead ended up pushing him round the first corner. Josh did however clear Marcus to take second, but slid going into Turn 8 (the tight left hairpin), allowing Marcus back through. The only other change in position on the first lap was Mike passing Sam Foxall for 8th. So at the end of the first lap it was Mark, from Marcus, from Josh, from Sam Jackson, from Tom, from Liam, from Sam Firth, from Mike, from Sam Foxall. Marcus and Josh did for the first few laps keep up with Mark, but never looked like threatening him, and Mark soon turned on the style and powered away from the chasing pack. Mike’s spin on lap 4 dropped him back down to last, which was the only change in position from the first lap to lap 12, in what must have been a horrifically dull race to watch. The only notable battle going on was between Marcus and Josh, but the virtual non-existence of clear-cut overtaking opportunities made it very difficult indeed. Josh did get ahead of Marcus very briefly, but the manoeuvre came at the expense of poor speed out the next corner, and Marcus was back through.
The turning point of the race came on lap 12, just short of half distance, when Marcus spun going into Turn 8, and Josh had absolutely no chance of avoiding him and slammed into the side in what was a heavy impact. Marcus was in the wall, but Josh continued as normal, though his kart was wounded as it was slipping and sliding all over the place the next 2 laps, but fortunately was OK after that. This had allowed Sam Jackson to catch up to the back of Josh, whilst Marcus dropped to 6th behind Liam. Josh maintained a safe distance between himself and Sam, and Marcus was soon back up to 5th place. The incident had allowed Mark to stretch his lead even further, and he was by far the quickest kart on the track.
What happened in the remaining laps? Absolutely nothing. Nothing worth shouting about anyway. Mark was victorious; Josh was second, a whole 30 seconds behind. Sam Jackson rounded off the podium (not that there was one) in 3rd, Tom was 4th and Marcus stayed 5th, rounding off the race by spinning into the wall on the slow-down lap.
The timing system included the slow-down lap in the results, hence they were inaccurate. Here is the amended result
- Mark Foley – 26 laps in 24 minutes and 43 seconds
- Josh Overhill - +30 seconds
- Sam Jackson - +39 seconds
- Tom Smith - + 1 lap
- Marcus Stuttard - + 1 lap
- Liam Lau - + 1 lap
- Sam Firth - + 1 lap
- Mike Miller - + 1 lap
- Sam Foxall - + 3 laps