On the 30th and the 31st of August the 7th round of the Easykart UK championship was held. This year it was held at Whilton Mill and luckily the weather looked clear. I had been looking forward to the race at Whilton mainly because it is my local track, so not too much travelling, and some of my family were coming to watch.
 |
| Me with my Grandads and the kart |
We dropped the trailer off and set up the awning on Friday night so that when Matt and Jacob arrived on Saturday (they were sharing our awning for Saturday) they could set up even if they were there before us.
Saturday - Practice day. We arrived before Matt and Jacob so we were pretty much sorted for the first session before they arrived. Matt and Jacob had recently bought an Easykart Junior, #70, with the intention of racing in Juniors next year. My brake pads were close to gone after Llandow and both myself and dad agreed that if I were to go out in the first session without new brake pads - I probably wouldn't survive the session. My first session gave me a low 48 second lap as my fastest, not very quick but as I wasn't going full on with the brakes I felt pretty pleased.
 |
| Bit of a gap between me and 3rd place |
The second session was quicker but I was still quite a way off the pace. It wasn't until lunch that I got some tips from a couple of seniors who were set up behind us that I realised I was taking most of the corners too slow. In the next session I took the lines they suggested and took half a second off my lap time - getting it down to a 47.01 second lap - fastest.
Sunday - Race day. My mum arrived at the track before I went out for the warm up, Juniors were the last class to go out. I went out for warm up and did a 48 second lap - which was about as fast as I wanted to go on the new tyres.
Qualifying. Now this has to be one of the best qualifying sessions I have ever had. Not least because I qualified second, but because I felt quick. I got a 46.450 second lap - 0.110 seconds behind Esmee but 0.140 seconds ahead of Mitchell. I should have come in a couple of laps earlier rather than staying out as I pulled a couple of other drivers along a bit - might have had an effect, but it might not. I came in and all dad did was symbol "2nd" to me and I couldn't stop laughing inside - more out of nerves than anything. I had never qualified on the front row before...
 |
| In the background after being spun in the Final. |
 |
| Attempting to weave my way back up after spinning out |
The Heat. Having never been on the front row before I hadn't got much experience with holding the rolling starts. I always used to go whenever the person in front went. Anyway my start was close to perfect as I held my position and kept behind Esmee, at least for the first corner. We hadn't got the tyre pressures right so my grip was no where near what it was in qualifying. I held onto my position for a couple of laps but then Jenson made a clean pass on me and got through, shortly followed by Sam Faulkner forcing me to jump a kerb to avoid him. Unfortunately I spun and ended up down in 10th position. Having to fight my way back up from about a quarted of a lap behind 9th was not something I looked forward too. I finished in 6th so a few good places gained.
Pre-Final. In the Pre-final I jumped the driver in 5th on the start and kept on the bumper of Bailey Acton (4th) for quite a few laps. I chose my moment well and got past him cleanly and into 4th. I managed to hold my position until the last lap board was shown, at which point I started to brake slightly earlier to make sure I didn't spin out. This worked for most of the lap until the boot section, when Jenson came flying up my inside to take 4th position. I had a better line through the next corner but clipped a kerb, throwing my front end out and costing me speed. This unfortunately meant I wasn't able to reclaim my position into the last corner.
 |
| 6th place on the rolling up lap |
The Final. In the Final I was starting in 5th place so I was hoping that, so long as I could hold onto the group ahead of me, I could get lucky and get a podium. It was not to be. I was taken out on the first lap and dropped down to 11th place. I was not happy as such a promising day seemed to have been washed away. I was angry at myself and whoever knocked me off, but I had to get over it, I couldn't change it. My lap times were quick in comparison to the people infront of me, but I was quite a way behind so it took a couple of laps. Then I got stuck behind 2 guys and although their lines were pretty good, their braking was not the best. Finding a way past was more difficult than I expected. Eventually I got passed them and was up to 7th (2 other drivers had spun). I now had to focus on trying to close down a gap of about a third of the lap to the next two drivers. Although my lap times were quite a lot quicker than theirs the gap was just too large. In the end I finished 7th. Congratulations to Mitchell White on getting his first podium at the weekend - Hopefully I'll be on it next time.
Looking forward to Ellough Park for the next round.
