Clay Pigeon 2013

Saturday 20th April, Practice Day. Practice day, well all I can say is I wish it was the other way round. The track on the Saturday was amazing, it was quick and grippy. I really felt as if something clicked on the Saturday as for ages my dad has been saying "Brake later," "Carry more speed," and my response had always been that I was braking as late as I could and if I carried any more speed through the corners I would have spun out. Well I was proved wrong. I could brake really late into the corners and was carrying a lot more speed. I was quicker than Sam Nicholas. I didn't get out in the first session as we were still sorting out the kart, and fitting the engine on after the rebuild. We made it out for the second session however I could only go about half speed on the straights and full speed through the corners as I was told shouldn't and mustn't over work it, so much later braking... We finished the second session and Sam still hadn't arrived, it was now about 12:00 to 1:00 and we were starting to think maybe he wasn't coming when out of nowhere we saw the silver zafira that signals the arrival of Sam and David, but there was no trailer. So Sam and David had arrived with no kart or awning, but everything else. Apparently their trailer wheel had come off on the motorway at 70mph, but I think they meant 60mph as you cannot tow a trailer and go 70mph, unless you are breaking the law... Yes it must have been 60mph. Anyway to cut a long, boring story short their trailer eventually arrived on a AA flatbed and they were sorted. We both made it out for the third session and I was told to take it easy for about 5 laps then slowly build it up to full speed. My fastest lap was a 37.71 second lap which was very good as I had out lapped, if that is the word, Sam for I think the first time ever in practice save the e plate. The afternoon went about the same as session 3, me beating Sam and feeling very smug. I also nailed the hairpin and did an out braking maneuver on Matthew Rainbow which I held and also did in the race against Sam.

We picked Sam and David up and went out for a meal as we normally do. We went to the Quicksilver Mail which, if you are ever racing at clay pigeon or in Yeovil, I definitely recommend as the food is brilliant and so is the service, a nice little country style pub with good ale and beer according to my dad.

Sunday 21st April, Race Day. Well at least this time I got a cooked breakfast. Thumbs up for little chef. We arrived at the track at about 9:00 to set up what ever we had to set up which wasn't much. My dad being my dad he decided that it was a good investment to buy an AMB Tranx transponder, unfortunately Club 100 didn't notice that he had put the number on the sign up sheet so I had to go and tell them. The warm up was ok and, unlike Sam, I only scrubbed in my new tyres and did about 4 laps, he decided that it was a good Idea to go flat out the whole time and almost wrecked his tyres. He said that it was better to get to know the new tyres before qualy than during.
Qualifying next, I put in a half decent time and managed to get 19th out of 22 with Sam as my partner in crime, he was to the left of me for the heat.
The heat went ok and I finished where I had started, 19th but not by luck, I had terrible acceleration, did for the whole of Sunday actually, so my start was terrible, I think I got down to 21st or 22nd place. I made up the places though, taking Sam on the last corner I think.
The Pre-final. Pretty much the same as the heat, we still couldn't get the acceleration so I just had to deal with it and brake slightly earlier so as to be able to accelerate earlier, I wouldn't brake as much but it worked. I finished 19th again but at least it wasn't a negative movement.
The final, now this was pretty good. We somehow managed to get a bit of acceleration out of the kart so I managed to hold my position during the start. I had been tailing 2 people, Mantas and Jessica, for a number of laps and, at the hairpin, I managed to get an amazing drive out of the corner and power past not only Jess for 18th but Mantas as well for 17th. Mantas later had to come in as his engine was "without power". Mitchell crashed at the hairpin and had to stop. On the last or penultimate lap Jess got past me and in my attempt to regain the place I had to take evasive action so as not to crash, slowing me down and unfortunately allowing Brandon Bishop to pass. Somehow though I managed to finish 16th which I believe is my highest finish to date.

All I can say is bring on Shennington.
oh and as requested here is your mention Matas.