The 2nd BUMPS Practice Race took place on a cooler evening than the first...so little was expected, though as we waited at the Continental Cafe everyone seemed in a good mood and up for a great days' racing. As for me I had such a sore throat and was suffering from some serious man flu, so couldn't talk (a liberating experience for all concerned I was assured)...and as such Nick and Keith did most of the instructions.

We set off to the track without getting lost this time...though we did have to keep quite a tight convoy to make sure of it! The inductions took place whilst the experienced guys played football, and myself and Nick drew the groups out for the Practice Sessions. A few interesting combinations later we went out on track...Session 1 saw Mark, Colin and Tom get out on track early...all 3 of them setting very respectable lap times, and laying down the gauntlet for Session 2. Sadly we don't have all the data, but rest assured that both Tom and Xin were right up there with the top 2 drivers in that first session.

In Session 2 Nick and James set the pace, with Paul only a little slower, but mid 26s were still the best anyone could manage that evening...Ben Mason, after having some serious Afro-Helmet issues, finally got on track and did a good job of focusing on the task at hand, likewise Adam kept his kart in one piece (for once) to set some quick lap times.

Session 3 saw the big boys come out to play with Keith and myself setting the pace with 26.5 and 26.6 respectively...though my average was significantly better thanks to Keith being held up. All the rookies in these first 3 Sessions were very well behaved I must say...apart from a bit of double pedaling there were few complaints, as all were gentlemen (or ladies as the case may be) on track and set some very respectable lap times in the process.

However in Session 4 we were less impressed, as became the theme for the latter sessions...I don't know if the newcomers got overconfident, or just felt it was time to push harder (too hard you might say...), but there were at least double the amount of yellow flags in these sessions as in the opening 3. Will Russell impressed here by being faster than both James Shaw and Mark Foley, though they only managed about 6 clear laps compared with heats that had managed more than 10-12 in the first set.

Session 5 got off to a bad start as Adam 'Kart Breaker' Hibberd does what he does best by putting Kart 2 out of commission and meaning that Mick had to go out in it in Session 6 to make sure it could still drive! Things did not get much better as at least 3 other drivers went off at various other points causing a multitude of yellow flags and even a red flag at one point...I remember sitting there with Paul just behind me and shaking our heads simultaneously at the situation. It was tough out there, getting in a full flying lap was often impossible due to yellows...and so many of us had as few as 2 laps that could count towards our average time unfortunately.

Session 6 was a far more calm affair with Nick taking the spoils with the fastest lap of the day so far...a 26:50 looked great, as we sorted out the finals and watched as Tom F embedded his Kart as far in the gravel as humanly possible!

We put the A Final out first with a random grid based on who jumped in which Kart...I started in 4th, Nick started in last...James started up front, as did Paul and Mark. Keith was at the back, as were Tom and Colin...we set off with Colin suffering an early crash, and Tom quickly falling out of contention. Nick had a stormer, racing from last to 3rd position in a phenomenal display of offensive driving, which sealed his nomination for Driver of the Day at the time. Up front I chased down James and eventually set enough strong lap times to reel him in and take him at the hairpin...and so it stayed until the end. As I came off the track I was astonished to hear that not only had I won, but that also I had set a 25.92...and so I was absolutely thrilled with my day's work!!!

The B Final was always going to be a messier affair, with a whole host of talented drivers with something to prove...and the fellow who showed us all what he could do was Will, who made us feel pretty silly for leaving him out of the A Final with the fastest lap of the race by some way...also on form was Xin, who justified his early pace on the day to take a very impressive 2nd place. Matt Spearey took a great 3rd place, after he had saved us by agreeing to be our 2nd Minibus Driver, many thanks mate! The rest did well to stay out of trouble for the most part...though a huge crash at the beginning of the main straight saw Chee and Ben (for the 2nd week in a row) get knocked out of contention unfortunately.

Now, when we put the C Final out, we expected a slow(ish!) race with a multitude of errors and crashes, and it seemed we weren't to be disappointed...now Brandon had kept a fairly low profile up to that point without even getting under 30 seconds for a lap...having said that he had also been relatively accident free and so had fit in quite nicely...BUT that was all to change as he lined up on pole in the soon-to-be-legendary Kart 5.

As the flag was waved Brandon got a great start, and was 1st into the first corner...literally! The guy managed to drive straight into the tyres on the inside completely unassisted and so went down in HUGS history for the worst ever start to a race since myself and Keith simultaneously span at Teeside!!! However after being set free he set about chasing the rest down and in the process set Fastest Lap of the race by some way, a 29.08 being testament to the fact that he did have pace. However, after pushing too hard and spinning on the Start/Finish straight, sending the watching Pit Wall into waves of laughter, his charge was unfortunately over. But for setting Fastest Lap and having not one, but TWO epic crashes we felt we had to award Driver of the Day to Brandon.

Now there was one other person there that night who wasn't actually racing, and that was Mr Steve Williamson, the former Social Secretary of HUGS...and it was he who kept us all entertained at Karaoke whilst my throat continued to hurt, it was he who took Brandon's Kart 5 legend and made it into "K5", which stuck from then on...although he himself failed to remember it on multiple occasions! And we all eventually sang 'Holding Out for a Hero' by Bonnie Tyler at Karaoke with some interesting backing dancers...for which we can most certainly lay the majority of the blame on Tom Smith. Thanks for that suggestion mate!

The night wound to a close with pizza at my house for a few of us, whilst we laughed at Keith passed out on my floor and enjoyed Steve's borderline racist jokes and crazy theories with a mixture of shock and laughter! Hopefully everyone involved had a great night and we look forward to the next race/social being just as good!