Following a break the previous week, after our excellent win in the Inter-Uni series the week before that, HUGS were back in action, and were to embark on the long trip to Warden Law, Sunderland. Not only was it a chance to try out a new track, but also to familiarise ourselves with it, as there is a strong chance the third and final round of the Inter-Uni series will be held here.

The journey there was long, with the cars being held up by lorries, tractors, villages and woman drivers. We also had to contend with constant signs for Thirsk, and were made to sweat when we saw a sign saying Thirsk was just 2 miles away, but fortunately we subsequently turned onto the dual carriageway section of the A19 and we were safe. (For those of you not in the know about the Thirsk joke, just ask.... actually...... don’t).

We finally arrived at Warden Law, far, far away from Thirsk, admired the track and prepared to race.

The format would be a 15 minute practice/qualifying session, followed by a 30 minute race. There would be 13 karts on track, 9 HUGS members (one being alumni member Matt Batten), and 4 locals. While it would not be ideal that there were other karts on the track with us, this did mean that we could race on the full layout (we wouldn’t have done otherwise apparently).

QUALIFYING

The 13 karts left the pits, but pretty much everyone would get a shock when they got down to Turn 4, the first major braking point of the circuit, as the karts seemed to go straight on, with the brakes in the karts being virtually non-existent. The rest of the session would generally see people warming the karts, managing the “brakes” and learning the circuit. All of these seemed more important than setting a quick time, even though it was a qualifying session. Everyone would set their quickest time on their final flying lap, and after the chequered flag the karts were lined up at Turn 11, ready to be put in their correct grid positions. Josh was on pole, Liam just a quarter of a second down. Mark was the next HUGS driver in 4^th, a whole 3 seconds slower. Matt Batten, the only HUGS driver with previous Warden Law experience was 7^th.

1. Josh Overhill – 71.144
2. Liam Lau – 71.377, +0.233
3. Local 1 – 73.040, +1.896
4. Mark Foley – 74.222, +3.078
5. Local 2 – 74.399, +3.255
6. Marcus Stuttard – 74.809, +3.665
7. Matt Batten – 75.026, +3.882
8. Local 3 – 76.830, +5.686
9. Mike Miller – 76.942, +5.798
10. Tom Smith – 77.263, +6.119
11. Local 4 – 77.378, +6.234
12. Tom Buxton – 79.624, +8.480
13. Richard Bodington – 81.206, +10.062

RACE

There was a slight delay as the karts lined up on the grid, as Liam’s kart refused to start and Josh’s kart decided to move off on its own. The delay turned into confusion as the marshal appeared to wave the field off before the green light came on, and Liam was away. Josh didn't move before the local who was wearing a quad bike helmet creamed into the back of him, having started directly behind in 3^rd. Josh subsequently started as everyone else did, with only the karts at the back actually seeing the light turn green as it was hurriedly switched. The start was not aborted, and Liam was ahead of Josh, who quickly cruised up to the back of him, but overtaking was going to be difficult. Surprisingly given the length and quality of the track, there weren’t really any clear-cut overtaking opportunities. The leading duo quickly left the rest of the field for dead. Further behind, it was obvious that others were struggling with poor karts, most notably Mark and Tom. The battle for 3^rd was between 4 karts, 2 locals plus Marcus and Mark, but Mark would soon drop back and fall into the clutches of Matt.

Josh saw his first opportunity to pass a few laps in, when Liam clipped a tyre on the exit of the dogleg at Turn 4, and Josh dived down the inside going into Turn 5, but wasn’t close enough to make it stick and Liam was ahead by the time they got to Turn 6. The lack of brakes wasn’t helping the cause as far as overtaking was concerned, and Josh was already on thin ice with the marshals having received a contact warning in qualifying. There would be perhaps be a chance to pass when it came to lapping back-markers, but as they lapped the first few, Liam was still ahead.

On lap 13, about half-way through the race, Liam again clipped the tyres on the exit of Turn 4, and this time Josh was close enough to capitalise and pass on the inside going into Turn 5. He then had to defend robustly going into Turns 6 and 7, but by the time they had exited the chicane at Turn 8, Josh had the position nailed on. But he couldn’t rest for a second, as Liam made several attempts to re-pass, largely thanks to his superiority in straight-line speed. Whether this was the karts, the big difference in weight, or a combination of the two isn’t clear. But Josh would have to defend robustly going into Turn 1 and also through the sweeping Turn 9 going into Turn 10, the downhill, right-handed hairpin. The threat of being baulked by a backmarker was still there, with the absence of the blue flags that were promised during the briefing. But thankfully, most would jump out of the way when it was necessary.

Marcus held 3^rd briefly, as he raced the 2 locals, their battle being every bit as close as that at the front. Mark maintained 6^th ahead of Matt, who was instantly recognisable with his bright yellow helmet. Tom Buxton ran Tom Smith close for 8^th, with the huge lack of straight-line speed being apparent.

As the race entered its closing stages, Josh still, just about, had the lead, but there would be a couple of hairy moments, most notably as they came to lap Mark and Richard who were racing each other (though not on the same lap). Josh was forced wide going into Turn 6 whilst lapping them, and Liam was almost through, but Josh defended through the chicane and held on. The chequered flag awaited at the end of 25 laps and 30 minutes of racing, and Josh won the race, by just 8 tenths of a second. Marcus was 5^th, behind the 2 locals, the trio covered by just 2 seconds, but were nearly a minute behind the front two. Mark was 6^th, a lap down, narrowly ahead of Matt in 7^th.

RESULTS

1. Josh Overhill – 25 laps in 29 minutes and 18 seconds
2. Liam Lau - +0.801
3. Local 1 - +58.609
4. Local 2 - +59.724
5. Marcus Stuttard - +60.644
6. Mark Foley - +1 lap
7. Matt Batten - +1 lap
8. Tom Smith - +1 lap
9. Tom Buxton - +1 lap
10. Mike Miller - +1 lap
11. Local 3 - +2 laps
12. Richard Bodington - +2 laps
13. Local 4 - +2 laps

RESULTS WITHOUT LOCALS

1. Josh Overhill
2. Liam Lau
3. Marcus Stuttard
4. Mark Foley
5. Matt Batten
6. Tom Smith
7. Tom Buxton
8. Mike Miller
9. Richard Bodington

FASTEST LAPS

1. Liam Lau – 68.960
2. Josh Overhill – 69.100
3. Marcus Stuttard – 71.199
4. Mark Foley – 72.865
5. Matt Batten – 72.867
6. Tom Buxton – 73.748
7. Tom Smith – 74.387
8. Mike Miller – 74.843
9. Richard Bodington – 75.455

All in all, a good day out and a good race, despite the long car journey (and the signs for Thirsk). However, with so many duff karts amongst the fleet, I would be sceptical at this time should York choose to race here. Maybe it will be Teesside again after all. We’ll see