Freshers’ Karting Report 2008
Round 1 for the EUMSC karting championships is complete and what a night it was.
The venue : “Racing Karts” at Livingston
It was 4:45 on a beautiful Sunday afternoon when the EUMSC hit the crags (but not to drink of course! That came later…) I thought I’d get there early on so I could welcome everybody, but to my surprise I must have been the last to turn up (what a bunch of keen Karters!).
After solving the ‘minor’ car issue (and realising that we actually had enough cars to transport the whole of Edinburgh to Livingston) we set off in search of rubber, petrol and racing! On arrival everything went smoothly and all racers were signed up, kitted out and given the ‘safety’ talk (more on that later).
Round 1 of 14 of the heats was underway on what only one could best described as a stone cold track and stone cold tyres (a personal favourite of racer, isn’t it?). The heats saw a multitude of victories from many talented new freshers and of course a fair old number of bumps, crunches and my personal favourite ‘plunges into the tire wall’. Points go to Richard for receiving the first of a number of warnings and black flags! More points go to Richard for also setting the fastest lap of the day with a 21.09!!! VA VA VOOM!
The end of the heats saw newcomers Calum H and Tim in the lead as the fastest freshers as well as the committee, Richard C, Scott D and myself (just to show you how its done muhaha)!!! The semi’s beckoned which would decide the fate of the final and a last chance to grab some very valuable points. HOWEVER, before the semi’s even starting we had a ‘small chat’ with the marshals about our aggressive behaviour, bumping and tyre plunging which is very bad, VERY bad and warrants a telling off BUUUT…..I don’t know about you but good on you lads (and lass!).
After the semi’s (and many more black flags, yes even i got one) came the final!!! The final saw a strong line up and also a string of really bad luck for one driver. Calum H’s kart stall (X2) saw him rapidly fall back to second to last place, however determination and A LOT of speeding on a yellow light saw him take 3rd (with a lap time of 21.32) place with 2nd place going to David F and 1st place going to Tim (setting a tyre screeching time of 21.31), not much in it guys!
Well done and congratulations to all drivers! And also many thanks for showing up to our first kart event. The first leg out of 6 is over and the EUMSC look forward to seeing you again next month!
A special round of applause goes to Erin for putting up with all the testosterone and finishing a brilliant 18th overall.
Furthermore awards go to Bruce and Richard for racking up the most black flags, was it 4 or 5 in total?!
Special thanks again to Ian Munro for organising the event and we look forward to him coming and taking part next time (well I don’t as he will kick my ass………)
And finally, thanks again to you newcomers who made the event so worthwhile (and also to the two heavenly fluids: petrol and beer)!!!
Stay tuned for more updates about the next karting event!
Dan O’Neill – Publicity and not just a pretty face…
Here are the championship standings
And for more photos of the night, just visit http://www.venries.com/eumsc.htm
