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Location	Lakeside Raceway, Thurrock
Date	01/06/2009
Cost	£95
Spaces	36
Deadline	26/05/2009
Event Information	This event has now taken place.

Event Results Available

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Event Report

What a scorcher. It was baking by 9am. By mid-day it was getting ridiculous! This was Thurrock, not the South of France.

The temperature did have an effect on the racing, with some cars seeming to overheat tyres through the day and suffer from huge amounts of understeer entering the two hairpins. This saw the times of the karts vary through sessions and made for an added layer of uncertainty at the beginning of each race.



The early practice and race sessions saw the first timers live out a baptism of fire. It didn't take long for them to get up to speed and by the end of the day, they were flicking their machines around with the best of them - but that first session must have felt a little off-putting with the experienced racers zooming by down all the straights - and round a fair few of the corners to boot!

The drivers in the second practice session went straight into their first race of the day. All I wanted was a bottle of water - not another 15min track time! Still, you have to suffer for your art and all the drivers put the heat and dehydration to one side as the lights turned to green.

It was a fast race as well. The whole fields best times were only spread by a second. However, that second is all crucial when things are this close and we saw some of the normal A finalists dropping to the bottom half of the results and therefore planting themselves in the B final. At the top of this heat were Alan W, Tom B and Fern. It was very close a little further behind with Kevin W, Gary M and Andy R all coming home within 0.6 seconds and Andy R therefore missing out on the cut for the A final.

The race 2 pace was slightly more spread out and generally a little slower than the first heat. The field was also much more spread as a result. John Y took a comfortable win by 15 seconds from Ashley and Mark D a further 5 seconds back. Oli W found himself in a bad kart and was lucky to make the cut for the A final. Lance Robinson just missing out.

The B Final saw 3 places on offer to gain promotion into the A final. And there was going to be lots of competition for these places with lots of competitive drivers having missed out on the cut.



There was a lot of jostling through the early corners and with some spinners there was a good deal of movement. Rob R had found his way through to the lead from 12th on the grid, followed by Chris H from 10th. Drew was initially right up there was well but got caught the wrong side of a spin and lost the ground he had made up.

An early caution period after Kev T had embedded himself in the armco closed up the field and helped those drivers which hadn't made it through the early corners unscathed. Rob pulled a gap again all the way to the flag. Behind, Chris H, Mark F and Peter S were all having an epic race long battle. Drew also joined in half way through the race. Peter and Mark were both faster than Chris and did make it though. Only for Peter to clip Mark through the hairpin and allow Chris and Drew through. Drew then also lost it at the same hairpin a few laps later. Peter recovered and took 2nd late on and Chris just stayed ahead of Mark for 3rd. Drew recovered to 4th but missed the A final spot.

The A final itself was fast and furious as ever. With the differing kart pace, there was again a lot of movement through the field. Tom B made steady progress through the field from 6th on the grid. Tom hitting the head of the field. A little further back, Oli W was also ploughing through from a 10th place start. It was a race long battle through the field "A few more laps without traffic and I'd have been at the front!" reports Oli! Certainly, there was only 2 seconds between Tom and Oli at the line.



Ashley had a great race starting and finishing 3rd. John Y continued a great days results with a 4th and Alan W dropped a few spots in a difficult kart.

A well earned lunch break for all.

The Enduro turned out to be a bit of a classic. The lead was never really in doubt throughout, with Rob Reynolds and John Yalden finding their way from the back to the front very quickly and then never looking back. They were nearly a lap ahead of second by the end of the 90 mins. However, the battle for 2nd and 3rd on the podium was a real race long slog. Oli W and Martin N teaming up against Fern G and Tom B. Every single lap of the 90 mins counted. Tom had a slight advantage over Martin on track but Oli was faster than Fern during their stints. In the end, it all came down to the final few laps, with Oli having put Martin out ahead of Tom but Tom able to close down the lead. Going into the final few laps of the race, it wasn't clear how Tom was going to get past but traffic proved decisive and Tom was able to sneak through.



Martin almost got the place back right at the death but it wasn't to be and an epic race ended with 0.8 seconds gap at the line. Great to watch.

And so, we move on to pastures new. The next round taking place at Surbiton, Worcester Park, Surrey on 27th July. It's sure to be popular, so get your entries in early to ensure your spot.

See you there.

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