Before I begin, there were 2 “guest” karts which took part in the race, who had nothing to do with either York or Hull universities. I am going to write this report as if they weren’t there. I am also going to revert back to third person..........now.
And so. Here it was. The final hurrah for the execs Jon Beagles, Keith Herbert and Nick Drewett, who have been so great for the society this year. The race was the third and final part of the Hull v York series, which you would all know, unless you have nothing to do with either society, was tied at 1-1. Hull taking the lead in December at a frozen Grimsby, York equalising in somewhat changeable conditions at Teesside in March. This provided a great chance for the departing exec trio to go out on a massive high, in terms of the karting year. However, there was also a chance the trio could go out on a low. What was it going to be???
Hull fielded arguably their strongest ever team in their 7 year history for an inter-uni event. As well as the regulars, Pip Hammond and Imran Khan were back, whilst the already strong field was bolstered by the likes of Phil Skop and Ian Simmons. This would make team selection difficult, as several strong drivers would find themselves in a seemingly low-down team. As it was, the A team would contain the 3 departing execs and Imran, the B team was made up of 4 of next year’s 5 execs, whilst Pip’s presence in the C team ensured 3 teams had a decent shot at glory. No-one had seemed to be put off by the Champions League Final. And quite rightly so.
York were, unfortunately, down on numbers again, and only able to field 3 teams. But their A Team would still be very strong, including Alex Drage, who according to Pip was as quick as himself, Daniel Maddox and James Viszok.

Hull Teams:
A Team: Nick Drewett, Imran Khan, Keith Herbert, Jon Beagles
B Team: Sam Jackson, Mark Foley, Tom Smith, Josh Overhill
C Team: Will Russell, Alex Tweed, Ian Simmons, Pip Hammond
D Team: Liam Lau, Phil Skop, Tom Buxton, Mike Miller
E Team: Dan Naylor, Dave McDermott, Amy Charles, Adam Hibberd

The initial proposal of a 30 minute practise and a 90 minute race was scrapped in favour of a straight 2 hour race, with the grid order being the A team’s first, then the B team’s and so on, with each Hull team being ahead of their York counterpart (so the grid went Hull A, York A, Hull B, York B etc.)
At the start, Nick made the most of his pole position to lead away, whilst third-placed Sam resorted to holding the rest of the field up, before speeding up when the chasing drivers least expected it, which worked to a certain extent, but was now far behind the first 2 when the race had barely started. If York’s Alex Drage was as quick as Pip had said before the race, then it would have been expected that he would close up to the back of Nick and put him under a vast amount of pressure, but as it turned out he was barely able to keep up, as Nick was driving superbly. Further back, Hull D were in the wars, as Liam spun out going into Turn 1, and had to wait for a marshall to get him facing in the right direction, which took time. One person who was not hanging around was Will, as he was soon up from 5th to 3rd, whilst the 4th placed Sam maintained a safe distance between himself and the driver for York B, in such a way that he was unable to threaten. Behind all this, the returning Dan Naylor was driving consistently for the E Team, whilst Liam’s attempts to get the D Team back into contention were thwarted by another spin.
Nick soon became the first driver to break the 44-second barrier, and had opened up a bit of a gap, as he carved his way through the lapped drivers much more efficiently than his rivals, whilst Will was performing above expected expectations in third place. Sam was given a scare when his kart’s engine died coming out of Turn 1, and needed to be restarted on the side of the track. The incident had cost Hull B fourth place and about 20 seconds, but with the first round of driver changes looming, here came a good chance to re-gain some time. Before anyone could make a driver change however, York A’s charge was halted by a black flag, as the seat mountings on the kart had come loose, and deemed unsafe. This had cost the team about 30 seconds, and promoted Hull C up to second.
The driver changes saw Nick come to a conclusion of a highly successful stint, and also the conclusion of the kart he was using, as for reasons unexplained, Hull A’s second driver Imran was sent out in a different kart. Sam handed over to Mark, Will made way for Alex, whilst the other Hull drivers on track for the second stint were Phil and Dave.
Mark immediately set about closing down York B, with both drivers closing in on Alex and York A, the 4 drivers separated by not much at all, and were allowed to close in on Imran slightly when he spun going into Turn 9. York’s Daniel Maddox was clearly struggling with a poor kart, and after a delay in the pits was given a new one, and also given the laps back to ensure York A were still second, whilst Mark had passed Alex for 4th and was now battling with York B for 3rd, but a good performance from the York B driver ensured that Mark stayed behind him for the remainder of his stint. When York B finally made their driver change, Mark was kept out for another lap in a bid to try and leapfrog them in the pits. Tom Smith took over for Hull B, but agonisingly just missed out on stayng ahead of York B, ensuring the B teams were 3rd and 4th. Imran made way for Keith, with Hull A now enjoying a healthy lead over the rest of the pack. Ian took over for Hull C, now down in 5th. Tom Buxton was now in control for Hull D, and Amy for Hull E.
Second-placed York A were now closing in on Hull A, and pulling away from the rest, as Keith found himself in the middle of a gaggle of karts, in which York B had closed up to, as had Tom and Ian. Ian was the quickest driver on the track at this point, and had soon found a way past both Tom and York B’s driver to put Hull C back into third. York A was now coming up to lap Tom, but with their being no presence of blue flags, this looked like a job for his famous defensive driving. Tom has demonstrated this on several occasions this year such as at BUMPS and races at Grimsby and Teesside, and with the narrow track at Leeds, it was going to be very hard for York A to pass. And so it showed, with Tom holding him off, but in a fair and legitimate manner. This allowed Keith to open up a bigger margin, even though Hull A were already more than a lap ahead. Ian, who was driving absolutely superbly, was now closing in on York A, still behind Tom. If there was one downside, York B were being allowed to pull away. York A’s driver did finally get through, but with very little time left before the third and final round of driver changes.
A solid stint from Keith saw Hull A ahead by over a lap, and Jon was handed with the easy task of bringing the kart home. An absolutely barnstorming performance by Ian saw Hull C within touching distance of York A, and with Pip next out, York A’s second place was under threat. Josh took control of Hull B, down in fifth, and 30 seconds behind York B. Mike was out for Hull D, and Adam for Hull E.
Within minutes, Pip had put Hull C into second by passing York A on the track, he was followed through by Josh, though he was merely unlapping himself. Josh’s main focus was to pass York B on track, and although it looked as if he was barely catching him at first, Adam was able to keep the York B driver behind him for several laps, allowing Josh to close in. With Hull teams now first and second, it was very much in the bag for Hull.
Further back, Josh had now got into the groove, and was now catching York B hand over fist, cheered on by those who had already done their stint, who were standing behind the wall on the exit of Turn 10. This was despite the fact that York B’s driver had passed Adam. With about 10 minutes to go, Adam adhered to the signals from the wall telling him to let Josh through, and Josh was now within striking distance of York B and fourth place. The driver must have realised he was in for a hard time, as Josh was now all over the back of him, and York B’s driver tried everything he could to keep him behind, nearly putting Josh in the wall going under the bridge. The pass was imminent, and going into Turn 6, the left hand hairpin before the sweeping left-hander, he braked very early, the brake lights on the back of the karts about as useful as the bottom half of a mermaid, and contact was inevitable. The contact had forced him wide, Josh saw his chance and took him going into Turn 7, behind warned by a marshal as he did so. This led to a mass cheer from the Hull drivers, almost certainly would have been a contender for track moment of the year had it not already been decided. The marshal quite rightly dismissed the pass as accidental contact, to the annoyance of some at York. The York B driver then took his frustration out on Adam, putting him in the wall, and Josh was now closing in on York A, was a Hull 1-2-3 on the cards?
A yellow flag was brought out following a crash, and during the yellow flag/light period Jon, Adam and York A’s driver were all black flagged, after they were deemed to be going too fast, putting Josh and Hull B up into third. The drama at the front didn’t finish there, when Jon returned back to the track, he did so right in front of Pip, the two on the same lap. A lap later the chequered flag fell, and incredibly, Hull A beat Hull C by 1 second. Josh brought Hull B home third, and thus an incredible 1-2-3 for Hull. York’s B and A teams had to be content woith 4th and 5th. With only the top 3 teams counting, Hull beat York by the biggest possible margin. But more importantly, Hull won the series 2-1, their first ever series victory. The outright first place for Nick, Jon and Keith (along with Imran) meant that the 3 departing execs went out on the high they wanted, a win for Hull, and a first place for their team.

RESULTS
1. Hull A – 155 laps
2. Hull C – 155 laps
3. Hull B – 154 laps
4. York B – 153 laps
5. York A – 153 laps
6. Hull D – 149 laps
7. York C – 146 laps
8. Hull E – 143 laps

FASTEST LAPS
1. Pip Hammond - 43.136
2. Nick Drewett – 43.813
3. Jon Beagles – 43.973
4. Ian Simmons – 44.017
5. Imran Khan – 44.143
6. Mark Foley – 44.214
7. Will Russell – 44.258
8. Josh Overhill – 44.446
9. Keith Herbert – 44.633
10. Phil Skop – 44.636
11. Liam Lau – 44.680
12. Sam Jackson – 44.770
13. Mike Miller – 44.783
14. Adam Hibberd – 45.427
15. Tom Smith – 45.518
16. Alex Tweed – 45.576
17. Tom Buxton – 45.711
18. Amy Charles – 47.426
19. Dave McDermott – 47.687
20. Dan Naylor – 47.818

Compare that to York’s best times:
1. York A 1st driver – 44.042
2. York A 3rd driver – 44.322
3. York A 2nd driver – 44.357
4. York B 3rd driver – 44.629
5. York A 4th driver – 44.784
6. York B 1st driver – 44.856
7. York B 2nd driver – 44.876
8. York B 4th driver – 45.332
9. York C 3rd driver – 45.779
10. York C 4th driver – 45.841
11. York C 1st driver – 46.379
12. York C 2nd driver – 47.030

And combined (York’s in red to distinguish them better)
1. Pip Hammond – 43.136
2. Nick Drewett – 43.813
3. Jon Beagles – 43.973
4. Ian Simmons – 44.017
5. York A 1st driver – 44.042
6. Imran Khan – 44.143
7. Mark Foley – 44.214
8. Will Russell – 44.258
9. York A 3rd driver – 44.322
10. York A 2nd driver – 44.357
11. Josh Overhill – 44.446
12. York B 3rd driver – 44.629
13. Keith Herbert – 44.633
14. Phil Skop – 44.636
15. Liam Lau – 44.680
16. Sam Jackson – 44.770
17. Mike Miller – 44.783
18. York A 4th driver – 44.784
19. York B 1st driver – 44.856
20. York B 2nd driver – 44.876
21. York B 4th driver – 45.332
22. Adam Hibberd – 45.427
23. Tom Smith – 45.518
24. Alex Tweed – 45.576
25. Tom Buxton – 45.711
26. York C 3rd driver – 45.779
27. York C 4th driver – 45.841
28. York C 1st driver – 46.379
29. York C 2nd driver – 47.030
30. Amy Charles – 47.426
31. Dave McDermott – 47.687
32. Dan Naylor – 47.818