The four teams of Edinburgh drivers brought home first, third, fourth and fifth place glory in the eight kart race demonstrating their dominance over the competition and gaining the premier engraving on a new trophy, awarded to the winners of the now well established event for the first time.

Two hour race was forever intense though, as the Glasgow and Edinburgh A-Teams stayed locked in a constant battle for the lead with neither side able to pull ahead convincingly until the closing minutes on the track when the Edinburgh team, lead by captain Calum Hughes, put on a charge and gained valuable laps over the stiff competition from Glasgow.

The rest of the field was firmly in the hands of the Edinburgh B, C and D teams as they swiftly built a strong lead over the audacious but nonetheless unsuccessful efforts of the remaining Glasgow teams. The Edinburgh B and C crews even had the time and track-space to start some fierce racing amongst themselves mid-race before calming down and regaining focus in the closing stages of the race to take third and fourth place.

Edinburgh’s D-Team who finished in fifth place were by no-means short of talent. Drivers Stephen Walls and Nick Osborne both raced exceptional but exhausting thirty minute stints in the middle of the race, setting some very respectable lap times in the process that kept the Glasgow racers confined to the bottom of the running order.

The evening’s racing against some determined opposition was an excellent showground for the huge quantity of skill in the Motor Sport Club and the sportsmanship and prowess of the University Sports Union as a whole.

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Hughes’ race day began poorly though as he dropped back from a pole position start in the day’s opening race to finish down in fourth; after that race his bad luck was over as he cruised comfortably to three wins and a third place finish in the remainder of the racing after remembering to avoid the ditches and fences that have caused him so much grief in the past.

Durant began the day by continuing his incredible top-form from the previous round and was riding high on a winning streak that would eventually total four top place finishes when, during the eighth heat of the day, he became entangled in an intense race track battle that saw seasoned karters Richard Crozier and Stephen Walls tangle repeatedly with newcomers Ross Hughes and Marcus Murray for the finite track space. Durant was one of the biggest casualties of this race, finishing in a lowly sixth place.

Karting veteran Crozier kept his nose clean in his early races and managed to clock up three race wins and a hard fought third place in the infamous eighth heat to place him at the top of the point’s board before the afternoon’s semi-finals. During the tenth heat he set a blisteringly fast event fastest lap of 19.61 seconds that remained unbeaten until the day’s grand final.

Fresher Ross Hughes, younger brother of the reigning champion, turned heads again during the day’s racing by being a model of consistency despite some tough fights with the senior karters on the gird. His natural pace combined with his exceptional coolness under pressure kept him high up in the points as the totals were tallied for the day’s semi-finals.

The first of the day’s four semis saw Calum Hughes race to a lucky win after capitalising on an uncharacteristic off by pole starter Crozier. Hughes and second place man Josh Knight both squeezed past the stricken Crozier and stayed at the front of the pack for the remainder of the race. With clear track in ahead of him, Hughes managed to conjure up some lap times that came very close to being the fastest of the day. Further down the field in what was, on the whole, a very fast race; Sean Gibson, Andrew Clarkson, Michael Stanyer and Nick Roberts all drove their fastest laps of the day in this race.

Hughes’ impressive performance received an instant response from Durant in semi-final two, who flew round the track from pole position to secure another win and the valuable points that come with it. The younger of the Hughes brothers was responsible for the only overtaking move in this race against the improving Callum Thompson. While at the lower end of the grid, Kirsten Dallas brought home a fourth place finish for the fourth time of the day, combined with a second place earlier on this would see her earn a place in the grand-final.

Fresher David Grant managed to take a strong win from pole in the third semi-final comfortably setting the race’s fastest lap as well to end a day that showed of his certain potential to take the fight to the front-runners.

In the last semi-final of the day, fresher Tom Martyn cruised to a win from pole but behind him Sam Trett and Ben Moss drew all the attention as they pounced on floundering second place starter Stephen McCay and fought each other hard to the finish with Trett holding on to position to take second at the chequered flag.

The front row of the starting grid for the final showed us what will probably be a familiar site throughout this championship. Yati Durant, the blisteringly quick newcomer next to Calum Hughes, the two times champion. As the green lights went out to start the race these two instantly found their zone and proceeded to set some incredibly fast lap times, smashing their previous bests wide open. But Durant began to get the edge on the third lap of the race and started to edge away from Hughes, setting the day’s fastest lap in process, an astonishing 19.45 seconds, and eventually winning the race.

Not one to be far from the front, Crozier latched on to the back of Hughes and didn’t let him go for the remainder of the race, the two drivers staying almost glued nose to tail until the end. Behind them Callum Thompson drove a lonely race to finish fourth, behind the front runners but ahead of the scrapping at the back of the grid.

Ross Hughes, Josh Knight and Sean Gibson had a tight fight for fifth place with the ever calm Hughes picking his way through the battle to edge out in front by the time the chequered flag was waving.

Durant’s second round win keeps him firmly at the top of the championship table with Ross Hughes’ consistent high placed finishes keep him in second place with the ever fast Crozier in third. But after a terrible first round for the older of the Hughes brothers, this one will be remembered as the start of the bounce-back. His solid performance this time round revealed that Durant is not as untouchable as his previous showing had everybody thinking.

The action will continue in Round Three on 16^th November, with all eyes on Durant, Crozier and the Brothers Hughes.

EUMSC’s famous Training Rally once again graced the club’s calendar with its much missed presence on the 22^nd October and proved to be just as enjoyable, exciting and memorable for the competitors as the event always was.

Ten crews started the rally with fifteen of the participants taking their first foray into the sport, the crew of Car Twelve even pulling up to the start line and asking “So what do we do here?” Unfortunately, two cars; those of driver Marcus Murray and navigator Ian Mason, along with Stephen Walls and Callum Thomson; ran over their total lateness and did not finish the race.

The only serious casualty of the evening cemented the tradition of the EUMSC club-Captain’s-crash, as Calum Hughes “may have left the road” in quite a wet, muddy and decidedly final fashion. The crew of Hughes and navigator Craig Kerr approach a tight left-hander on a crest with a bit too much courage; promptly ran out of anti-lock brakes, talent and tarmac; and took a five yard detour through a fence and into a field. Despite the Captain’s insistence that “this still doesn’t count as an accident” he called in the closing car who, even though they were equipped with a wide array of the latest professional recovery equipment and had high powered recovery car at their disposal, couldn’t remove the beached car from the ditch it was enjoying bonding with so much; a clear demonstration of how well it had been planted. The crew then retired from the rally having destroyed a fence, the front bumper of their vehicle and the closing-car’s chances of finishing the evening before the chip-shop in Harthill shut. [NB: The final factor may or may not have determined the extent to which artistic license was or wasn’t taken in the writing of the preceding paragraph.]

After that unwelcome, but on the whole rather entertaining distraction, victory was taken in the end by Ewan Leeming and Stephen McCay who drove a flawless first and last three stages, dropping only nine points for lateness in the entire event on stages Four and Five; a truly impressive performance from McCay who was taking part in his maiden nav-rally.

The contest for second place at one point in the night got a bit too close. Car Two of Douglas Smith and Finn Moore spent two minutes of their rally stuck behind the unyielding Car Three crew of Adam Corlett and Josh Knight who seemed to confuse the event with a low-budget, rural bourgeois version of The Fast and the Furious. “Douglas is faster than you, can you confirm you understood that message?” Clearly Adam did not. Fortunately for Car Three, they were beaten to second place by Smith and Moore, quite comprehensively with twenty-four points to fifty-five.

Fourth place was taken by Gary Brown and Jamie Thompson in Car Nine who ran the last half of the rally dangerously close to their total allowed lateness after dropping fourteen minutes on Stage One and then again on Stage Three. They secured their finishing position only on the final stage of the night as Car Eight of Alex Niedziolko and Katie Stimpson pulled into the finish ten minutes late after holding onto fourth for the duration of the event. Those ten extra points gave them a total of eighty-three points to Brown and Thompson’s seventy-five. Both crews, consisting wholly of rallying newcomers, can be proud of the sterling performances they gave on their first ever events.

Marek Wolf and Glasgow University’s Sarah Murray put in a very respectable performance to finish in sixth only after losing their way in Stages Three and Four. If it hadn’t been for the five code boards missed in those stages they would have been contenders for an easy top three finish.

The final classified position in the rally, seventh, was well taken by newcomer crew Amar Duggal and Rob Golding in Car Twelve. Their choice of vehicle and total obliviousness to what was going on drew exclamations of amazement from the marshals at the start-line. Incredibly, the crew dropped only one code board and one minute in their first three stages until they lost the plot slightly in Stages Four and Five and dropped six out of seven codes. They pulled-off a strong recovery in Stages Six and Seven before falling at the final hurdle and arriving at the finish an unfortunate twenty-three minutes late. Nevertheless, given the dangerously low ride-height of their car and their complete inexperience Duggal and Golding put in a truly remarkable performance.

The 2010 Training Rally was, by all accounts, a resounding triumph with fifteen newcomers introduced to navigational rally and, despite their mixed levels of success, every single one of them thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Unfortunately, a certain someone’s decidedly rude off-road adventure meant that the author of this report missed the festivities at the finish (and his sausage-supper) and so can’t really provide the usual prize-giving ceremony commentary. However he shall leave you with these thoughts: just as surely as night-follows day; just as surely as Nick Cage will release five bad films for every good one, and just as surely as the Edinburgh trams will never be finished; the Edinburgh University Motor Sport Club captain will find something to crash into to!

The opening round of the third Edinburgh University Motor Sports Club Karting Championship took place on 20^th September at the Racing Karts venue in Livingston and, as always, proved to be a spectacular night of racing. The evening overall was won in impressive style by newcomer Yati Durant who triumphed in every race he started, a feat unheard of in recent EUMSC karting history. His stunning performance was in stark contrast to that of the reigning champion, Calum Hughes, who struggled to maintain his winning form throughout the course of the evening in the face of new competition.

The night started well for Hughes however, who raced to a flawless win from pole and set the fastest lap time in the opening heat of the round. That was to be one of two race wins of the evening for him as he spent the reminder of his race night fighting at the back of the field.

The early heats of the night were dominated by the karting veterans with Adam Corlett and Richard Crozier holding a firm grip on their respective races and taking three wins each and the fastest of lap of the entire evening, a superb 20.60 seconds, being taken by Crozier in the ninth heat. Second year karters Kirsten Dallas and Finn Moore took one race win apiece in the opening heats.

It was in heat four that Durant first revealed his spectacular race pace to the rest of the drivers, by charging through the field from fourth to take the win from unexpecting pole starter Sean Gibson who just couldn’t hold off the rapid attack. Durant would go on to win all of the seven races he started in, even when sat next to the experienced racers of the night.

Behind Durant the best of the rest of the karting Freshers was Ross Hughes, younger brother of two-times champion Calum, who pulled off a string of top three finishes in the heats including a win, a string broken only by a sixth place finish in the last of his evening’s heats. Freshers Max Warring and Marcus Murray managed to clinch a very close win each in the final heats of the night, with Murray taking his by only 0.05 seconds from the faster Andrew Clarkson who was unable to get past before the chequered flag fell.

The semi-finals of the evening saw a mix of Freshers and long-time karters shine in their races. Durant took another race win from a starting grid that couldn’t find a response to his blistering pace. Even seasoned racer Clarkson, despite a tremendous improvement in performance compared with his last season, had nothing more to give against Durant’s dominance.

The remaining semi-finals were won by experienced racers Crozier, Josh Knight and the older of the Hughes Brothers who finally had some luck after an evening of poor racing; but Freshers Nick Smith and Ross Hughes impressed by holding their own against the veteran drivers of the grid.

The first round of EUMSC Karting Championship has traditionally been tailored towards maximum enjoyment for the years Freshers and this round was no exception with two finals being held: one for the nights best Freshers and one for the returning club members. This didn’t mean there would be double standards in the racing though, both finals were full of action and closely contested.

The Fresher’s final was won by the ever dominant Durant but there was action aplenty further down the field as Smith, Murray and Jordan Kerr fought hard for 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th place and eventually finished in that order, setting lap times to rival those of the second final’s participants.

The senior final played host to some superb racing and was an excellent showcase for the talents of the seasoned EUMSC drivers. Crozier had to fight hard to stave off a determined challenge to his pole position from Clarkson and Corlett, but in the end the scrapping of the second and third placed men allowed Crozier to pull out a comfortable lead in the fifteen lap race. By the time of the last lap Clarkson had drifted to 7 seconds behind the winner, with Corlett, Dallas, Nick Roberts and Josh knight following closely behind.

The weighting of the evening’s results in favour of the competing Freshers leaves the mind-blowing Yati Durant at the top of the championship table after an infallible night of racing, with the remaining finishers of the Fresher’s final following closely behind. The ease with which the newcomers were able to take the fight to the veterans demonstrates the accessibility of karting to people of all levels of talent. If this round is anything to go by, the remainder of the championship looks set to be as thrilling as last year’s down-to-the-wire title fight.

If you can’t make it though, not to worry, you can join us every Thursday in The Meadow Bar where we’ll be discussing all things Motorsport related and you can get a membership card. Directions and more information are in the ‘Join’ tab on the top bar.