[Back to events archive]

Location	Rye House Circuit, Hoddesdon
Date	02/03/2008
Cost	£95
Spaces	36
Deadline	23/02/2009
Event Information	This event has now taken place.

Event Results Available

View results from this event

Event Report

Well, a great start to the season. Great weather. Good karts of a similar pace. Good attendance by both old and new members alike.

I arrived late on so missed some of the normal morning banter, but there were the normal assortment of track walkers, coffee drinkers and, for the less weight conscious, breakfast eaters.

Rain forecast either side of the event but Allan's normal agreement with the greater powers led to fine spring sun throughout the day.

There's always a great buzz at the first event of the year. So many questions, hopes, dreams even! The morning safety briefing was positively animated with the same old video - sadly, still not featuring the right Butler-Henderson sibling. I think I could probably quote that video word for word now - and probably could do it with more enthusiasm to boot!

So, onto the track for practice and heat races. The standard of drivers around was certainly pretty high for this event. I felt a little for those that had not karted before as normally our fields are a little more balanced. Still, this didn't last long as it turns out that even those that hadn't touched the track before were soon up to speed and getting stuck in.

The heats saw some pretty frantic action. I know that I felt a little like a pinball at one point getting "flippered" and "bumpered" left and right and generally falling down the field. However, there was some great close racing even at this early stage.

The crucial 2nd heat for everyone threw up some interesting results. Russ and Dave P figuring right at the sharp end, Tom showing well but Drew only just making the final. I missed the cut off and wasn't in the A final for only the second time... Rob R also found himself down the field - although I'm not altogether sure how he got there! In the other half of the draw, things were a little less controversial, apart from Dave M missing the cut off after an early helping hand into the barrier that he wasn't able to fully recover from.

The B Final was offering it's normal 2 spots to make it through to the A Final, but with Rob and Dave locking out the front row and them proving to be right on the pace in the earlier races, these were pretty much taken before the race had even started.

The early laps felt close and frantic with some "enthusiastic" overtaking and "artistic" blocking going on. However at the end, things were largely settled through the field. Dave made it past Rob early and was 10 seconds down the road at the line. Kevin T getting a great podium and myself 4th after being kept locked up behind Kevin W for the majority of the race. On the last lap, my steering column exploded after all the effort of getting past and sent me spearing into the wall down the straight. The big gainers were Ian D and Roger B and Peter S fell down the field through the race.

The A final threw in some interesting results. It was a great race and there were some great battles all through the field. Philip and John Y slipped down the field from their initial lofty starting spots. Further up through the field, 8th - 11th places were still clumped together right at the end of the race with around 1.5 seconds covering the lot. Ashley and Drew were ahead of this battle and had made some good progress through the race. Ashley making up 8 spots from his start position. Russell and Fern showed very well at the front of the field but were just off the podium positions which were taken by Andy R in 3rd, Alan W in 2nd and a great result for Tom B in 1st. The positions changed on the last lap after Alan ran into problems with a back marker.

With the morning activities done and dusted, it was time for a well earned lunch break. During this gap, Allan decided on an entirely random team selection for the afternoon enduro. 100 minutes for teams of 2 drivers. Arms were going to feel this one! Some great close action was seen through the race but it all came down to the race for 1st, 2nd and 3rd. Often, enduro's can see one team romp off into the distance, however, today the front 3 teams were never far apart with the pit stops playing a crucial role as well as the relative speeds of each of the pairings on track ant any one time. Throughout, the top spot swapped on way and then the other and it all came to a head in the final stint. Dave M had the speed to overtake 3rd placed Tom and 2nd placed Dave but Tom was closing down fast on Dave and in the closing stages, made it past. Dave fought on valiantly, even getting back through to 2nd at one point but from the looks of him after the race, fatigue had caught up and he eventually lost out once more to Tom. On the last lap, Dave got caught out with a back marker and Tom was able to close right up - but there was no swap of positions. This meant the top 3 teams were covered by just over 2 seconds at the line. Great stuff. So, Dave M and Nick B took the honours, with Tom B and Chris H up next and Fern and Dave G taking the final spot on the podium.

Well done to all, especially the new comers who held their own in a very fast grid of experienced racers. Thanks to Allan and Drew for all their organisation and to everyone who turns up and makes these events happen.

See you at Whilton Mill.

[Back to events archive]