Freshers Karting Report
| After a ‘misunderstanding’ with Raceland, the inaugural EUMSC event of the academic year moved to Livingstone for what promised to be an interesting evenings racing. We were given a taste of things to come when exiting the Crags, as Ben Cartledge-Leek dealt with some local youths in the only way he knew how, to floor it, getting the back end of his MX-5 sliding out, only to control it a millisecond later. NEDs now scared senseless and very nearly run over, our convoy made it’s way to the track, an unforgiving concrete mistress, which made incidents a likelihood and had a sin-bin in case we were really naughty….. |
The first heat got under way with Neil starting on pole, a position he deserved as he led from start to finish, with the competition far behind (due to a mishap with a backmarker from Scott). This was the first of two heat wins, which would see Neil finish an impressive 3rd overall.
Joining Neil on two wins was Ben L, who after some consistent driving qualified easily for the Freshers’ final and on pole position. Subsequent heats saw some admirable driving, and some fast lap times, several dipping under the 20s mark, and Ian breaking the track record that was so quick that even the timing software couldn’t handle it. Ian posted this time after getting so bored with running away from the rest, he felt he could let Scott and Ben C-L past while continuing his 100% win record. In this he was mistaken, as Scott wasn’t driving quite that badly, and Ben was growing a reputation for being a challenge to pass. Ian still despite this minor blip, finished with 4 wins and top of the points board…
Joining him at the top was Daniel, whose dominance in his heats saw him to 3 wins and a second place. The rest of the heats saw Paul, Harry, Tim and Ben C-L pick up good wins, and Stevie pick up 3, only missing out on a fourth due to some unfortunate luck with passing back-markers. So that was it, after 21 gruelling races we had our 6 Freshers’ for the final, Ben L would lead from pole followed by Andrew, Marc, Tim, Paul and James. After the pre-race interviews were done it was down to business, with Ben L using the consistent form that got him to the final again, to win by quite a margin. Andrew and Marc despite posting faster lap times were 2nd and 3rd.
After the trophy presentation it was back to the pub for drinks, discussions on a few of the ‘racing incidents’, including Ben and Ewan’s threat that Scott wouldn’t make it past the first corner (he got to the third) and meeting Scooby-Doo while touching up on our German. All round, a good evening was had by all, many thanks to Tasha and Neil for organising this wonderful event, especially after the farce with Raceland. And remember, Karting is a non-contact sport…
Results:
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Freshers’ Final 1. Ben L 20.21 2. Andrew C 20:10 3. Marc G 19.99 4. Tim 20.37 5. Paul H 20.22 6. James H 20.37
All Drivers 1. Ian M 39 2. Daniel O 38 |
3. Neil A 37 4. Steven C 36 5. Scott D 36 6. Ben L 35* 7. Andrew C 35* 8. Ben C 34 9. Marc G 30* 10. Jamie S 30 11. James H 30* 12. Tim 29* 13. Harry E 28 |
14. Paul H 27* 15. Michael S 26 16. Clement C 25 17. Ewan L 22 18. Mark S 22 19. Bruce H 20 20. Ki Cow 20 21. Jasmine H 19 22. Chen J 18
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