The Hull University Go-Karting Society Old Boys Race had been eagerly anticipated by all concerned since it has been first mooted, and even more so when it was confirmed. The sign-up list was looking strong, with Old Boys that included last year’s executive quartet, and the reigning Stock Hatch Class B champion Pip Hammond, as they joined current members which included all 7 of those that were on the executive team this year or will be next year. If there was anything that was disappointing about the list, as Keith had pointed out, it was that there were no drivers from the very early years of HUGS. Indeed, no driver involved had raced in the first 3 years of HUGS, from 2002-2005, though there were several drivers who raced in the academic year of 2005-06. Of the 18 people that had been (or in Sam Firth and Marcus’s case, will be) on the executive team in the society’s history, 12 were on show. Nonetheless, there was a full grid of 25, even if a couple had never actually been at the university. Not that we had ever thought this was possible, even on the morning of the race. On the Monday before the race we had 18, when the preview was written on Thursday, it was written with the belief that there would be 20. But thanks to some late sign-ups, and people realising they could race after all after initially stating they weren’t, we reached the maximum. As I’m sure you all know, usually it’s the other way round! (i.e. losing drivers at the last minute instead of gaining them)

The 2 hot topics going into the race were who would win, with many believing it to be a 3-way battle between Pip, Imran and Jon, and, just like every F1 race this season (maybe apart from Bahrain!) the weather. Weather forecasts had been contradicting each other all week, with them ranging from it staying dry, to a 90% chance of rain. But as we arrived at the track, it was overcast, and although it was dry, there was a lingering prospect of rain.

ENTRY LIST

1.  Jon Beagles

2.  Jon Whitwell

3.  Jane Cummings

4.  Brock Hayes

5.  Pete Szedlak

6.  Keith Herbert

7.  Tom Smith

8.  Paul Hutton

10.  Matt Batten

12.  Tom Buxton

13.  Ben Best

14.  Marcus Stuttard

16.  Dan Naylor

17.  Lawson Whiting

18.  Rich Towers

19.  Josh Overhill

20.  Phil Blanchard

21.  Mark Foley

22.  Imran Khan

23.  Graham Reeds

24.  Pip Hammond

26.  Sam Jackson

27.  Nick Drewett

28.  Mike Miller

29.  Sam Firth

Several drivers chose the numbers that they bore on HUGS shirts (Tom, Nick, Josh and Keith). Pip chose 24, the number that his favourite NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon is synonymous with. I have no idea why Jon chose kart 1....

Middlesbrough may have been voted the number 1 worst place to live in the UK, but it does have one thing going for it; an awesome kart track, as everyone was aware. The drivers had 20 minutes to familiarise themselves with the track and set a quick lap to ensure a strong grid position. While it is somewhat easier to overtake here than other tracks we visit, a high grid position was just as important. While there were no major incidents to report during qualifying, everyone was in for a surprise as the karts lined up on the grid as Mike took a rather unexpected pole position. It certainly led to confusion from those behind him. Later, it emerged what had happened; Mike had spun going into the hairpin at the end of the back straight, and re-joined the track having missed a part of it. Despite waiting in order to avoid this from happening, he still crossed the line having posted a time nearly 3 seconds quicker than the next. Surely the marshals must have noticed this? Nonetheless, he was on pole (for the record, Mike would have been 11^th otherwise), with Jon 2^nd, and Pip 3^rd. Execs of this year Mark, Tom and Josh locked row 2, having been separated by just 6 hundredths of a second. Nick was 8^th, sandwiched by the social sec elects of Marcus and Sam Firth, who was a brilliant 9^th. Imran could only manage 10^th, but was clearly a victim of a poor kart.

QUALIFYING

1. Mike Miller –
2. Jon Beagles – 50.212
3. Pip Hammond – 50.351
4. Mark Foley – 50.718
5. Tom Smith – 50.728
6. Josh Overhill – 50.772
7. Marcus Stuttard – 51.052
8. Nick Drewett – 51.062
9. Sam Firth – 51.064
10. Imran Khan – 51.135
11. Sam Jackson – 51.172
12. Phil Blanchard – 51.397
13. Keith Herbert – 51.406
14. Paul Hutton – 51.806
15. Lawson Whiting – 51.863
16. Rich Towers – 51.879
17. Ben Best – 51.964
18. Matt Batten – 51.986
19. Pete Szedlak – 52.033
20. Jane Cummings – 52.528
21. Brock Hayes – 53.083
22. Jon Whitwell – 53.268
23. Graham Reeds – 53.483
24. Tom Buxton – 53.738
25. Dan Naylor – 53.786

RACE

Once everyone was lined up on the grid, the Union Jack was waved and the race was underway. Mike got a decent start, but not enough to hold the lead into the first corner, with Jon taking that honour, whilst Pip’s was not so great as everyone dived into the first corner, but all 25 karts emerged facing the right way. Contact and confusion going into the right-hand hairpin before the back straight saw Mark into 2^nd and Josh into 3^rd, proving that a good start from the outside row was possible. The top 3 stayed that way at the end of the first lap, but it was still very close as Pip was now back into 4^th. It was still the same order at the front at the end of the 2^nd lap, but as the karts streamed into the left-hand hairpin at the end of the back straight on lap 3 Tom’s rather ambitious move failed to come off, and clipped the side of Josh’s kart before spinning into the path of oncoming gaggle of karts. The resulting melee saw several karts facing the wrong way, including Marcus, who whacked Tom’s stricken kart, and others taking avoiding action. Tom himself lost only a handful of spaces, and was soon on a charge through the pack, as was Marcus, who had dropped to about 20^th. The contact saw Josh lose momentum going into the next corner, and Pip was past and up into 3^rd, and set about closing down the front two, whilst Nick found himself up into 5^th and a quick starting Sam Jackson into 6^th.

Tom and Marcus were doing well in recovering from their earlier collision, and they climbed back up to 7^th and 8^th respectively, passing drivers such as Mike, Imran and Keith in the process. Josh was for a long time clinging onto the coat-tails of the front 3, without making any inroads, whilst maintaining a relatively safe gap between Nick, who was having to defend a spirited drive from Sam. Further back, Keith was running consistently, whilst Rich and Graham were fighting their way through the field from their respective lower grid positions.

Jon, Mark and Pip were now running nose-to-tail, but back-markers were beginning to become a factor, even though it is, as previously mentioned, easier to pass here than any other circuit we visit. They overcame a massive group of lapped karts without the positions changing, but the same could not be said for the following karts. As Josh came to lap Brock and Jane, the only way past was going in between them as the 3 karts moved onto the back straight. While it looked as if that was going to work at first, Brock moved off his line, and pushed Josh into Jane, spinning her round at high speed. It got worse, the loss of speed from the contact allowed Nick through into 4^th. Josh wasn’t the only one to lose places by Brock’s erratic driving, as he then tipped Sam into a spin at the end of the back straight 2 laps later, demoting him to 9^th. This saw Tom into 6^th, Marcus in 7^th and Imran in 8^th. Mike was another one to lose places, as he fell behind Keith and Rich. Meanwhile, pre-race favourite Pip passed Mark and moved into 2^nd.

The battle between the top 3 was raging, as Pip was challenging Jon for the lead with Mark too close for comfort. There was now a bit of a gap between the chasing pack, with Nick holding off Josh. In truth, although Josh got alongside Nick a couple of times down the back straight, that was as good as it would get. However, Nick may have been fortunate to even finish the race, as a plume of smoke blew from the back of one of the engines, but that would prove to be only a scare (though Nick was unaware of it until he was told about it after the race). Tom and Marcus held onto 6^th and 7^th respectively, but with them running at virtually identical pace to Nick and Josh, neither would close in. Meanwhile, Jon  fell foul of lapping backmarkers, and Mark briefly held the lead, but not before Pip’s do or die attempt to take the lead when awry, resulting in a spin, dropping him down to 3^rd and out of contention for the win. Only rain could save Pip and Josh now...

But it didn’t rain. And that was how it stayed until the chequered flag was waved, in what certainly didn’t feel like 40 minutes. Jon had won, and was the first winner of a HUGS Iron Man at Teesside, in what will hopefully be the first of many. Mark was 2^nd, and Pip completed the podium in 3^rd. Nick held off Josh by just 3 tenths of a second, next up was Tom, Marcus, Imran and Sam, showing the supreme strength of the current members. Keith completed the top 10. However, Keith, and the marshal waving the chequered flag, had a hairy moment, as he was forced to slam on the brakes to avoid the slowing Jane, and came close to running said marshal over as he dived for cover. Nonetheless, the high standard of the race showed; 11 drivers finished on the lead lap, no-one was 3 or more laps down in the end, and 11 drivers posted times of less than 51 seconds.

RESULTS

1. Jon Beagles – 42 laps in 39:04.279 – 50.272 ( lap 4)
2. Mark Foley - +0.384 – 50.445 (lap 8)
3. Pip Hammond - +6.190 – 50.287 (lap 4)
4. Nick Drewett - +13.505 – 50.619 (lap 20)
5. Josh Overhill - +13.891 – 50.556 (lap 7)
6. Tom Smith - +18.803 – 50.541 (lap 37)
7. Marcus Stuttard - +23.034 – 50.510 (lap 4)
8. Imran Khan - +30.516 – 50.761 (lap 12)
9. Sam Jackson - +30.700 – 50.482 (lap 40)
10. Keith Herbert - +49.245 – 51.226 (lap 16)
11. Rich Towers - +56.414 – 50.995 (lap 3)
12. Mike Miller - +1 lap – 50.865 (lap 10)
13. Graham Reeds - +1 lap – 51.554 (lap 31)
14. Paul Hutton - +1 lap - 51.351 (lap 29)
15. Pete Szedlak - +1 lap – 51.508 (lap 31)
16. Phil Blanchard - +1 lap – 51.284 (lap 3)
17. Matt Batten - +1 lap – 51.745 (lap 3)
18. Sam Firth - +1 lap – 51.081 (lap 6)
19. Lawson Whiting - +1 lap – 51.584 (lap 15)
20. Ben Best - +1 lap – 51.486 (lap 31)
21. Brock Hayes - +1 lap – 51.348 (lap 40)
22. Jon Whitwell – +2 laps – 53.089 (lap 27)
23. Dan Naylor - +2 laps – 52.846 (lap 39)
24. Tom Buxton - +2 laps – 53.065 (lap 39)
25. Jane Cummings - +2 laps – 51.542 (lap 15)

For the second race running, the marshals commented on how good the racing was. Kind of makes a mockery of the complaints against us at the start of the year, doesn’t it?

But on a serious note, thanks to everyone for racing, really was a great race and such good fun. We are thinking of making this an annual thing, so if we don’t see you all before, we will hopefully see you at HUGS Old Boys Race 2011. Who will win that one?

I leave you all with a random but useless fact:

This was the 2^nd year running we had been to Teesside on the 8^th May.