After several racing meetings at BUMPS with individual racing formats, it was time for an endurance race. Indeed, it was the first HUGS endurance race since the “Give-It-A-Go” race 10 weeks previously, at the same circuit, and it was the 8th time HUGS had visited BUMPS this academic year (not counting the races that had been cancelled) The standard of the racing for this meeting was somewhat bolstered by the HUGS powerhouses of Imran Khan and Pip Hammond, as well as the return of Danny Carlin, who had raced in previous years, but this was his first time this year. There was also a newcomer, Liam Lau, who had had plenty of previous karting experience.

Teams:
Just Team : Sam Jackson, Rob Keeves, Pip Hammond (c) - Kart 1
The Kart Fixers : Rosie Norrell, Mark Foley (c), Adam Hibberd – Kart 2
Team JML : Liam Lau, Mike Miller, Jon Beagles (c) – Kart 3
Team O’Glock : Alex Tweed, Sam Foxall, Josh Overhill (c) – Kart 6
Team Ego : Nick Drewett (c), Roger Palmer, Will Russell – Kart 8
Team Beard : Keith Herbert (c), Dave McDermott, Danny Carlin – Kart 10
Team Dave : Richard Coram, Tom Smith, Imran Khan (c) – Kart 11

Josh Overhill’s 6 month wait to be able to use Team O’Glock in a race was finally over, Keith and Dave created the apt Team Beard, there were no surprises who was behind Team Ego, and The Kart Fixers was a somewhat ironic team name given the presence of Adam. The teams adopted a variety of tactics, with only 2 of the team captains starting the race, along with all 3 newcomers, whilst several of the quick drivers were set to go out last. Interestingly, Mark elected to go second for his team.

Before the grid could form, there was a delay as Nick's kart's engine cut out on the way to the grid. But it was Alex who led away, making most of the random grid giving Team O’Glock pole position. Behind, Keith jumped from 7th to 4th, as he, Sam, Liam and Nick battled for second place. However, the race was soon stopped, admidst confusion over whether the transponders were working properly, and the fact that the kart Sam Jackson was driving did not have it's fuel cap down properly, and was spilling fuel onto the track. When it was discovered that the transponders were working, and the offending fuel cap was tightened, the race was back underway. The 4-way fight for second resumed, giving Alex the chance to build a slight lead, whilst Keith was forced into the tyres at the exit of Turn 6. Nick had also bumped Keith in a separate incident, earning him a black and white flag, which he thought was black and returned to the pits, only to be told he didn’t need to. Nick rejoined the race in 5th, but had lost time on the leaders. Keith and Liam had both found a way past Sam, and were now both closing in on Alex, and were soon past, demoting Alex to third, but was able to hold off Sam for a while. Nick had also caught up with them, and he was soon back up into third place, whilst Sam had passed Alex thanks to a backmarker, but Alex was soon able to repass and regain 4th. Behind them, newcomers Richard and Rosie were both acquitting themselves well, there have been much slower people to have come to BUMPS with HUGS this year. At the sharp end, Keith was opening up a lead over Liam, and had finally set a sub-26 second time, something which had previously alluded him. Liam and Nick couldn’t have been closer, both setting a 26-dead.
It was soon time for the first round of driver changes. Keith handed over to Dave, the impressive debutant Liam made way for Mike, and Roger replaced Nick for Team Ego. A crash at Turn 5 had lost Dave time though, and he had slipped from 1st to 3rd, whilst Mike and Roger were nose-to-tail as they fought for the lead. Mike was able to pass Roger, and although Roger briefly re-took the lead, it was Mike who was quicker and as soon as regained 1st place, he begain to build a gap. Further behind, Mark Foley’s attempts to bridge the gap between The Kart Fixer’s and the rest of the field were being denied by Tom Smith, who produced a superb display of defensive driving to thwart any attempt made by Mark to overtake. However, Team O’Glock were slipping away, and shortly before it was time for the second round of driver changes, Sam Foxall spun, bringing out the yellow flags and ensuring an even bigger disadvantage.
Then came the flurry of driver changes, as Pip, Imran, Jon and Josh all took to the track. Josh was armed with Nick’s helmet after he was unable to bring his own gear. But by this point, the field was really spread out, in terms of both position and were the karts were on the track. The only battle for position on the track was between Imran and Josh. The two managed to overtake Will Russell and Danny Carlin, and as they headed into Turn 5, Josh managed to get his front wheels level with Imran’s back wheels, and was able to outbrake him into the corner, to re-take 5th place. The only overtaking anyone really did after that was to pass Adam, and these weren’t really much of an overtaking manouvre as he was allowing people through. With the fast drivers on the track so spread out after this, a couple later commented that they considered slowing down and allowing another fast driver to catch up, in a bid to make more exciting for themselves and for those watching on the pit wall.
Before the race had started, the BUMPS staff had maintained several times that there was enough fuel in the karts to last an hour and a half, but with about 10 minutes to go a couple of karts were clearly struggling with a lack of fuel, so it was decided to stop the race early and declare a result. And so, the winners were Team JML, 2 laps ahead of the second placed Team Ego.

RESULTS
1. Team JML – 161 laps – 25.87 (lap 146)
2. Team Ego – 159 laps – 25.99 (lap 136)
3. Team Beard – 158 laps – 25.83 (lap 40)
4. Just Team – 156 laps – 25.96 (lap 140)
5. Team O’Glock – 155 laps – 25.69 (lap 138)
6. Team Dave – 155 laps – 26.08 (lap 135)
7. The Kart Fixers – 144 laps – 26.79 (lap 104)

FASTEST LAP CLASSIFICATION

1. Josh Overhill - 25.69
2. Keith Herbert - 25.83
3. Jon Beagles - 25.87
4. Pip Hammond - 25.96
5. Will Russell - 25.99
6. Nick Drewett - 26.00
=. Liam Lau - 26.00
8. Imran Khan - 26.08
9. Sam Jackson - 26.35
10. Alex Tweed - 26.37
11. Mike Miller - 26.49
12. Mark Foley - 26.79
13. Tom Smith - 26.93
14. Roger Palmer - 26.96
15. Danny Carlin - 26.98
16. Rob Keeves - 27.42
17. Dave McDermott - 27.76
18. Richard Coram - 28.24
19. Sam Foxall - 28.81
20. Rosie Norrell - 30.48
21. Adam Hibberd - UNKNOWN

It was endurance race, it was a nice warm day, there were several new drivers, so there were bound to be many changes to the BUMPS laptime leaderboard. And there was.

Josh's new personal best (25.69) sees him move up to 4th. Keith finally joined the 25 club, with a 25.83, which sees him to 5th. Mark drops two positions to 6th as a result. There is another new member of the 25 club, a fantastic effort from Will Russell. sees him in with a 25.99. The impressive debutant Liam came agonisingly close to being an 8th member, his best time of 26.00 couldn't have been closer, but it sees him 8th in the table.
There were 5 new entries to the leaderboard, given that this was the first time Imran and Danny had driven on the track with the timing equipment. Imran's best time of 26.08, is only good enough for 11th though. Danny is in 26th with his time of 26.98. Richard is in at 32nd, and Rosie is in at 60th
Several drivers improved their times greatly, Alex is up to 13th with his time of 26.37, Mike's best time of 26.49 sees him into 16th. Roger is in 25th, Rob is up to 28th, Dave is up to 30th and Sam Foxall is up to 47th.

Although I did have my permissions updated so I could change the laptimes myself, I can't work out how to do it.

Driver Of The Day

3rd place- Rob Keeves - barring one incident at Turn 5, a much improved second outing, a consistent drive, and much quicker
2nd place- Will Russell - going almost unnoticed, smashed his personal best laptime, managed to get into the 25's, and quicker than Nick (albeit by 1/100th of a second), when the 2 were in the same team.
1st place- Liam Lau - extremely impressive debut. He may have had plenty of karting experience before, but on a track he's never been to before, to be able to mix it with the likes of Nick and Keith is extremely impressive. Let's all hope he comes down regularly now