February 2015
After the BRKC 2015 event last month, I was back at my 'home' circuit in February for a series for a series of different races over a 3 week period.
First up would be an 'F1' format Members Race, which consisted of a practice & qualifying session then a race with a mandatory pitstop where the driver has to change karts mid-race. The event was dominated by Krystian Matuszkiewicz who completely destroyed the rest of the field. A bit of misfortune struck Mike 'Dutch' Westhoff & I as a bit of miscommunication with the Pit Marshal led us to rejoining the race after our stops with the kart pedals set in completely the wrong position. We both like to have our karts set up so that the pedals are at their furthest away from us, but both had been set at their closest (which unless you're under 5ft tall is no help) Dutch decided to stop again to have his re-adjusted, whereas I carried on uncomfortably for the rest of the race. To make it worse, my kart seemed to have no breaks & a lot of understeer. On top of that, I'll admit I was struggling to get used to the brand new tyres that had been fitted to all the karts a week previously. I came home an unimpressive behind Jeremy Woodward, who I had been battling with in the early stages. Well done to Krystian for the win, completely untouchable.
Next up, a Weighted Team Challenge event, with drivers pairing up for an 80 minute race with penalties for those teams falling below an average weight limit. My teammate for the event would be Chase the Ace Champion Oliver Bayani. We'd be going up against a number of other Teamsport regulars, including the team of Krystian & Connor Taylor, & Dutch-who was paired with staff member Martin Savage. All of is would hopefully be in the thick if the action at the end of the 80 minutes, although you could never discount some of the other teams from springing a surprise.
After a short qualifying session where each team's drivers best time were averaged, we found ourselves on pole position! I opted to take the opening stint, ahead of Connor & Dutch in third. We weren't sure what the others would be doing tactically, but Ollie & myself had decided early on to just split the race 50/50, given that each of us also had to serve a 13 second penalty. Krystian & Connor would only be serving 9 secs, so we knew it was going to be close.
The start went really well as I got away cleanly on the inside of the grid, & to my surprise Dutch had managed to squeeze past Connor! A few laps later Connor was back up into second but then the race was interrupted by a red flag as one of the karts further back suffered a mechanical issue. At the restart, I was able to keep Connor at bay, feeling a lot more comfortable in the kart than the week before, & I came in to serve my time penalty with about 1 seconds advantage.
Now, Connor has a bit of a reputation for being very aggressive when passing (even when lapping someone) as evidenced by his penalty in the last Weighted Team Challenge. Basically, if a team receives 3 warning flags for bad driving, regardless of the driver, whoever is out on the circuit at that point hen the third warning is shown must do a 30 second penalty on top of their individual 'weight' penalty. Unfortunately for Krystian, by the time his stint came around, Connor had already been given 2 warnings..
I was a couple of seconds behind Connor when he stopped, & Krystian emerged just a few seconds back after a ridiculously fast driver swap. I came in a few laps later, Ollie jumped in & he was away. Almost straight away, he was back in to serve his weight penalty, & emerged around 18 secs down on Krystian, who had caught one of the backmarkers who was making it his business to literally battle with any driver who was trying to pass him! Krystian made his weight-penalty stop but then got caught up in an incident which saw my team mate squeeze past, & he duly picked up his teams 3rd warning flag & thus another penalty, effectively ending their challenge for the win. Dutch & Martin had been making steady progress, but had split their stints into 20 minute runs, so although they wouldn't be taking the top step of the podium, they were in a fight with Krystian & Connor until the end of the 80 minute race. Ollie in the end was untroubled as he took the flag for our team & we celebrated in the pits whilst offering condolences to Krystian, who had again been outstanding.
I've got to say, it felt really good to take the too step of the podium with Ollie, whilst being joined by Krystian, Connor, Martin & a delighted Dutch. This, for me, is what karting is all about!
The 5th & final round of the Chase the Ace Winter series would likely be a battle between Zac Venn & Sam Slater, with a Ollie starting at the back having won the last round. Krystian would again likely be in the mix, whilst Dutch was missing owning to personal circumstances.
Zac grabbed pole position after the single-lap qualifying, ahead of Sam with Krystian in 6th & me behind in 8th. Once again I'd stuffed up my lap with a huge understeer moment but was more confident in the kart if be racing in, having set a decent time during practice. I got away cleanly at the start, kept position & tucked in behind Krystian, who quickly gained 2 places getting past a squabbling pair of drivers who a couple of laps later had a coming together coming off the flyover. I gained a place during the altercation & another lap later I pulled off my favourite overtaking move under the flyover, braking late & catching the other driver off-guard, before setting did in pursuit of Krystian.
Oliver Bayani had also got a great start & was very quickly moving up from the back of the grid, passing Jeremy Woodward & closing down on me at an alarming rate. I made my first pitstop (Two mandatory 20 second stops were the order of the day) and emerged with a clear track ahead. Now, I always find it difficult to judge my pace when I'm alone on the circuit, as you never really get a sense of gaining or losing time unless there is someone just ahead. I always try to use reference points around the track to figure out where others are, & then check lap by lap as to whether they're closer or further away. Ollie was off doing his own thing & it seemed I was keeping pace with Krystian, more or less, & decided to carry on until I got a better sense of my standing in the race, or got caught up in any fighting amongst the other drivers.
Krystian made his 2 stops in quick succession, allowing me to lead ahead of my final stop, which I took a few laps later so as not to waste time trying to get past backmarkers. As I accelerated away from the pits, I could see Krystian making his way through the esses & onto the back straight- it was going to be close!!
I came out of the pits marginally ahead, but with Krystian on the inside & another kart just ahead. I had to make a split-second decision as to whether to keep my foot in & take the line around the outside, or give up the place. I chose the former, & we both entered the fast right under the flyover at maximum speed. I held my position, & took the place ahead of Krystian into the following left-hander. We were quickly past the other kart, & very soon Krystian was on the attack. I assumed we were fighting for a position in the top 5, so went about driving as defensively as I could without wanting to hold either of us up. Krystian managed to almost pull aside coming out of the esses, but this time he was on the outside & I simply held my line to keep the place. He was determined to get past, however, & a couple of laps later going along the main straight he got phenomenal driver out of the final corner & repaid my earlier compliment but driving clean around the outside of me as we went into the fast right turn at the bottom of the circuit.
Now I need to touch on this a minute, because it was for me one of the purest bits of racing I've ever been involved in- it was just unfortunate that I was on the receiving end of a great move rather than doing it myself! Memories of Fernando Alonso's pass on Michael Schumacher at Suzuka in 2005 (around the outside of 130R!) came to mind, although obviously on a much smaller scale. The trust involved when making moves like this is unquestionable, & there are certain things you can do when racing with some drivers that you know you can't with others. It's not a case of being weak, just being fair- & knowing when to fight for a place & when to concede. Some drivers will fight tooth & nail for everything, even when being lapped- they're the ones who you second-guess when overtaking. I feel that with Krystian, Dutch, Ollie, Martin, Andy that I can trust them not to do anything stupid, whether they're overtaking it being overtaken. Sure, you're going to get a bit of contact from time to time, but you know they're not going to drive you off the road. Anyways, I just wanted to say well done to Krystian for pulling off such an awesome move!
I did my best to stay with Krystian as the race entered it's final 15 minutes, & we cut our way through more backmarkers, never more than a few seconds apart. The rest of the race passed fairly uneventfully, apart from me giving Zac a hard time whilst he was trying to lap me (I thought it was Ollie trying to get past for position- unbeknown to me, Bayani had already leap-frogged both me & Krystian during the pitstops!) The chequered flag fell & the drivers returned to the pits- Zac was triumphant, Ollie won the overall championship & Krystian just missed out on a podium finish. Stories were shared & there were pats on the back all round after an enjoyable race & championship. I was happy to finished the race in 5th place having started 8th, behind only Zac, Sam, Ollie & Krystian- & I'm already looking forward to getting on track with them all again soon!
Until then,
Ben
1st March 2015
