The final round of this year’s Inter-Uni series took us back to old favourite Teesside Autodrome, the round picked by York. We had of course already visited the track this year, courtesy of Durham being stupid enough to pick York’s favourite track when they had another, Warden Law, virtually on their doorstep. The race was also held rather late on, in accordance with the whims of Durham. Quite why this was done raises eyebrows, especially after they messed us about with last leg, feebly whining that PPIK would “reduce the standard of competition” and nearly costing us a fair chunk of cash.
But anyway, onto this race, and with the race taking place during the height of Hull’s exam period, and just as York and Durham were winding down for theirs, the grid was looking unsurprisingly sparse. But out of those who were present, the sign-up list was looking strong. York had president of last year and Teesside ace Daniel Maddox, up from a placement year in the wonderful city that is Cambridge, Durham claimed to have their “big guns” and Hull had their first choice A Team trio, that were cruelly denied a big victory in the cold and damp back in November by a faulty engine. Leeds were expected to be in the mix as well, but for reasons still unknown, failed to show on the day despite saying they definitely would be.
Hull were down on numbers, largely due to the exam period being in full swing, and as such would only be able to field 3 teams. Imran Khan, Josh Overhill and Mark Foley made up the A Team, Marcus Stuttard, out-going president Sam Jackson and incoming president Tom Smith, would form the B, whilst the C contained Paul Greenbaum, Sam Firth and Kev Gambles.
QUALIFYING
The long straights of Teesside mean that the difference in speed of karts is noticeable, and with the mechanic deciding to bugger off home early, the karts would not be in the best shape, so the choice of karts would be a bit of a lottery. As the 10 karts headed out on track, following a delay seemingly longer than the latest DFS sale, Josh did 1 lap in a kart with non-existent straight-line speed before getting it changed, while the B Team required 2 kart changes over the course of the 30-minute session. With there being no timing screen, who was where sparked more confusion than Fathers Day in Liverpool. However, this confusion was resolved when the karts lined up on the grid at the end of the session, with York A on pole, Durham A 2nd, with Hull’s A Team only 5th.
RACE
As is the case at Teesside, the Union Jack was waved, although a half-finished gantry on the straight suggests that the track may move into the 21st century soon and have starting lights, and the 10 karts streamed into the first corner. As far as Hull were concerned, when describing the start the words “tits” and “up” spring to mind, though the former may have already been on the minds of some, especially as there was a Nuts magazine in Josh’s car, which featured a countdown of the world’s finest (how the hell was Lucy Pinder only number 4?!). Anyway back to more relevant matters, Sam Jackson got a good start, only to clip Mark, which caused them both to lose time. But it didn’t quite stop there, a spin for York A’s first driver (Jamie Garside) caused mayhem which disadvantaged Hull’s top 2 teams further (with Sam hitting him), and meant that Kev in Hull C was Hull’s top placed team. At the front, Durham A (Kart 9) lead, followed by York drivers Sam Welch (Kart 11) and Alex Maunders (Kart 7).
Mark was on a charge, and was soon up into 5th place, having dispatched Kev, another York driver, and another Durham driver. Sam was battling with York’s Jamie, with him showing displeasure to Sam’s driving. But out in front, Durham A held a commanding lead, and maybe the warnings about their “big guns” should have actually been taken seriously by some. As Mark attempted to climb further up the field, it was evident Hull A’s kart 10 was at a disadvantage down the straight, as he would gain ground in the few corners that lay around the circuit, only to lose it again down the straights. But he was eventually able to make the superiority through the corners work, and was up into 3rd place. As it things got better for one Hull team, it got worse for another, as for no apparent reason, Kev was called into the pits to get his kart changed, dropping Hull C to last place.
Then came the first round of driver changes. Josh took over for Hull A, and crucially, jumped ahead of York’s kart 11 and climbed into 2nd place, and also made up time on the leaders. Marcus was now at the wheel for the B team, and Paul for the C. York had their teams holding 3rd, 4th and 5th, with their A team, now in the hands of their president-elect Michael O’Neill, recovering to the latter position. Michael was definitely on it, catching and passing his fellow York competitors and now up into 3rd place, set about closing down Josh. This meant that the three A Teams held the top 3 positions. But Josh was not about to give up 2nd place without a fight, but hanging onto it was never going to be easy with a kart which had poor straight-line speed. Several laps of Webber and Vettel-esque argy-bargy (as Michael later put it) and David Coulthard 2000 French Grand Prix finger-pointing from 2 very competitive drivers followed before 2nd place was well and truly that of York A. Durham A were out of sight, with their second driver proving that weight is a massive factor round here. Marcus had been lapping solidly, before Hull B experienced yet another kart failure, this time a snapped chain. As for Paul, well I assume he did alright.
Hull and Durham both gambled not to re-fuel their karts at the next driver change, whilst York did do so. This was after the marshals decided to keep us guessing as to whether the kart’s fuel tanks would last the 2 hours or not. Despite a delay in the pits, Hull A with Imran were back up into 2nd, with York A back into 3rd. Tom and Sam Firth were the other Hull drivers on track. York A’s Daniel Maddox was lapping much quicker than everyone else, and it would be close as to whether Imran could hold onto 2nd. Further kart issues for Hull B saw them in 7th place, and Hull C in 9th. From then on, the excitement petered out, and the only notable incident was that of York A re-taking 2nd place. In answer to those wondering whether the fuel tanks last 2 hours, the answer is yes. Durham A took the chequered flag after leading the entire race, a full lap ahead of York A, with Hull A just 9 seconds behind.
RESULTS
- Durham Kart 9
- York Kart 18
- Hull Kart 10
- York Kart 7
- York Kart 11
- Durham Kart 8 then 15
- Hull Kart 4, 6 and probably a couple more in there as well
- York Kart 1
- Hull Kart 13
- Durham Kart 19
POINTS
The points system was a linear scale of 9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 for each of the uni’s 3 best teams, so only York’s last team were discounted. So:
York: 8+6+5 = 19
Durham: 9+4+1 = 14
Hull: 7+3+2 = 12
Hence York take not only the victory, but the series win as well, with a scoreline of York 5, Hull 3 and Durham 1.
Hull will be seeking to take the crown in 2010/11 when things hot up more, with the permanent addition of Leeds, possibly even more teams, and more rounds.
The drive home for Hull saw McDonald’s wrappers, paper, water, returned assignments and socks being launched at Marcus and Josh’s cars from the passengers inside those cars down the A19. Josh ended up driving home with a piece of paper stuck to the front grill of his car, while Marcus took a wrong turn and got lost.
Asylum later that night wasn’t too bad either....
And finally, 18 races this year, 18 reports, 17 from me and 1 from Mark. I do hope you’ve enjoyed reading them, whoever you may be. It’s been a great year, notable off-track moments and nights out including President Sam Jackson shaking a girls hand in Asylum on the first night of Fresher’s Week, before leaving the building to avoid Sci-Fi girl just days later, the infamous topless social, the Superhero Social a week later, Mike getting out-drunk by his missus, myself getting extremely hammered on the Foam Party night, and my antics on the dancefloor ending up on camera, French Paul and Magic Kev chasing anything with a pulse, Pub Golf, Pub Tennis, I could go on.... And then of course everything that went down in Salou.
As for on-track, while some of the race attendances were rather disappointing, there were some absolutely awesome races. The Pontefract races just before Christmas were brilliant, as was the one just after (which included me lapping the entire field), a fantastic Inter-Uni win at PPIK in February, myself and Liam’s tremendous battle at Warden Law, the amateur dramatics from the newbies at BUMPS (which probably isn’t so great now in hindsight, but was funny at the time), Sam Jackson’s multiple accidents, but best of all was the brilliant Old Boys Race at Teesside.
Well, that’s it for this year, but HUGS will be back and back with a bang in October, with plenty to get excited about. For all involved, what an absolute shot in the arm.