After round 5 which saw drivers head out on the International circuit, the SG Petch Sprint Championship returns to Teesside Karting using the shorter National circuit with the inclusion of the "front D".
With this round being only the 3rd round in which DO Racing has taken part this season, any hopes of a top 3 finish at the end of the season have long since disappeared. Dave is still expecting a good weekend however after a good performance in round 5 with a P2 in class and P5 in the general standings.
Booked on! Yep, Dave is confirmed for round 6 of the SG Petch Sprint Championship and preparing for a tough weekend as he hopes to take what he learnt last time out on the International circuit and apply it to the National layout.
A Mixed Weekend
Following a week of hard training by the end of which I could hardly walk, the weekend looked set to be a good one with good weather and a dry track. Turning up at Teesside Autodrome for round 6 of the SG Petch Sprint Championship I was expecting a tough weekend with many drivers having competed in the British 24 hour race just weeks before.
As per usual we had the drivers briefing and picked our karts at random before heading out on track. In practice/qualifying I wasn't sure about kart 7, I had been keeping pace with Adam Delmont which is usually a good sign but as he pulled into the pits doubt was cast in my mind as to how good my kart actually was. I decided not to change my kart as it felt good and there was nothing I could identify as being a problem.
A Good Result
We got to the end of the session and lined up for gridding, 6th was a good result behind the obvious contenders including Karl Parkin and Owen Burton, Adam had lined up 7th with a confused look on his face. The grid was lined up when Ben Stuart, who was just in front of me on the grid in P5, raised his hand with an engine cut out and despite the marshalls trying their best to start it again a change of kart was innevitable. This was a blessing in disguise, despite being frustrated at the delay it meant Ben started on cold tyres allowing me to jump in behind him off the start and dive up his inside into the first braking zone.
By this time Adam Delmont had already got past meaning a net P6 at the end of the first lap and while the lap chart on Alpha Timing might show a straight line for me through the whole race, this race was as close as you want it to be. Lap by lap Carl Seamark, Ben and myself were trading lap times with gaps marginally increasing and decreasing but always seeming to remain the same. I was trying every trick in the book, tucking down for reduced wind resistance, braking on the absolute edge and clipping every apex, despite everything though we would finish in P4, 5 and 6.
A Poor Result
As I mentioned already it was a mixed weekend and with race 1 beign a good overall result, race 2 was bitterly disappointing. Starting P10 on the reverse grid I was immediately concerned when I walked over to my next kart and found one of the engines stalled, this is never a good sign! I jumped in regardless and got a marshall to restart the engine it was then a case of keeping it alive until the flag dropped.
As we got underway the kart in front of me on the grid had an engine cut out, leaving me one of two options, dive right clip the grass and maybe hit a marshall or duck left and battle it out in traffic. I decided to go left and spare the marshall and fortunately found some space into the front D. The first couple of laps were horrendous, the kart was towing right so right handers were super twitchy and turning left was like pushing an elephant, I lost 5 places in those laps until I got to grips with the kart and started to drive round the issues.
Sat 15th I started to pull back the gap to those in front, gradually picking off another place every few laps and when Ben Stuart had an issue on lap 10, we found ourselves in an even closer battle than in race 1. This time, Ben came out on top as I struggled to get the pace from my kart on the long straights after almost 10 laps of battling hard.
That was my race run with a lonely 11th place secured meaning a P10 overall, super disappointing; that said, there was some great racing through both races and I have a lot of time for those who race cleanly and fairly.
Early October sees the last round of the season and while I can't win anything due to too many dropped rounds this year, I'll be there fighting to improve.
