Another Sunday, another round of the SG Petch Abarth Sprint Championship at Teesside Karting and given the torrential rain of Saturday a wet circuit was half expected for the second round of 2019. Following a poor showing at round 1 I was hoping for a better outing this time round and with the International Circuit ready for racing, it was going to be an exciting race day.
Qualifying
As per usual, following the drivers briefing it was time to kit up and head to the karts. Following last time out when I suffered with rear tyre grip I applied my knowledge and made sure to check all the wheels, good job too as the rear left was flat; the only annoying this was that I'd already put all of my ballast and number boards on the kart. I was advised to change karts so moved all my kit over and got ready to head out.
Despite having a choice of kart, after a couple of laps out on circuit I didn't feel like the kart was picking up very well out of the corners, meaning I was slow down the straights. I decided to bring the kart back to the pits where it was changed for another kart, unfortunately by the time everything had been moved to the new kart, I only had an out lap and a fast lap before the end of the session.
Lining up to be gridded, the hope was, as ever that I'd posted a good time. Sadly quali hadn't gone to plan as I watched driver after driver line up in front of me. There was a slight crumb of comfort in that Karl Parkin was still sitting, waiting, alongside.
When I was finally called to the grid, it was into position 24... 24!
Race 1
Well that was rather unexpected, but what can you do apart form head down and race on. The flag dropped and we were off, previous experience has taught me just getting through the front D in a pack is a challenge, especially on the first lap and this was no different. Off the line a gap opened up on the inside and 2 wheels on the grass got me past the row in front, P21 before turn one!
Squeezing through the first esses, the action all started after the first left kink with a big pack all fighting for position. Ahead, someone went sideways and left, staying right to avoid the carnage I saw two drivers head through the tyre wall, yes I said through the tyre wall! In my years of racing at Teesside Karting, I've never seen anyone crash through into the extended pit lane exit.
By the end of lap 1 I was up to 18th, result and I wasn't done yet. Keeping Karl Parkin in check I was able to stick with him and follow him through the pack lap after lap while having a great battle at the same time, something which would continue through into race 2.
After the chaos of the first lap everything settled down and I quickly caught a group of drivers in front who were battling hard for 14th to 17th positions. Having been in similar situations before, I knew I didn't want to get involved in in their fight and decided to bide my time. It seemed to work well too, after hanging back for a lap the drivers in front began to fight hard with each other and I was able to get up the inside and take 2 positions into Southbank.
While it was never going to be a race win, I carried on picking up places through the next few laps, eventually climbing to P11 before a battle over the last few laps saw me drop to P13.
Race 2
With the reverse grid for race 2 and a P13 in race 1, I was on the front row of the grid for race 2. Obviously I'd rather have finished higher in the first race, but I'll take the 11 positions I made up.
The first third of race 2 was a mix of swapping positions, from P3 on the grid up to 2nd, down to 4th before climbing up to take the lead of the race after a close fight with leader Karl Parkin which lasted a number of laps. Some close racing saw a number of passes over the laps and close racing, through the esses side by side and so on, it was give and take which eventually saw me take the lead on lap 6 and that was where I'd stay until...
The last corner of the last lap, Karl and I had begun to battle again over the last few laps which had allowed Paul Clarke to catch from third and we entered the last lap almost nose to tail. I'd managed to fend Paul and Karl off for the whole lap until the final hairpin when Karl found half a gap and in the resulting slide he and Paul managed to squeeze through, demoting me to third.
It's not the end of the world, I finished where I started, but having lead the race for two thirds of the laps I can't help but feel disappointed that I didn't take the win.
Overall I took P4 across both races which is good, but if I want to progress in the Championship this year, I need to make every race count!
