IronMan - Langbaurgh

Wednesday 30th January, 2002 (Spring Week 4)

Qualifying

	1 Graham Craig 67.97
2 John Emerson 68.93
	3 Ed Day 70.36
4 Steve Wigfull 70.59
	5 Rick Selby 70.62
6 Michael Cowley 70.74
	7 Alex Withington 72.67
8 James Hoskisson 72.68
	9 Julian Withington 73.22
10 Darren Sloan 73.44
	11 Paul Dunk 73.47
12 James Izzard 73.56
	13 Greg Hall 73.63
14 Jon Stammers 74.08
	15 Vince Mellor 75.21
16 Tom Balfour 76.38
	17 Louise Cain 77.18
18 Adam Maskell 77.96
	19 Matt Grum 89.39
20 Richard Armitage 86.61

Race Results

Pos	Driver	Time	Fastest Lap
1	Graham Craig	34 laps	66.80
2	Rick Selby	+ 23.687	66.28
3	Steve Wigfull	+ 1:04.268	67.71
4	Michael Cowley	+ 1 lap	67.80
5	James Hoskisson	+ 1 lap	67.91
6	Alex Withington	+ 1 lap	69.93
7	John Emerson	+ 1 lap	67.80
8	Julian Withington	+ 1 lap	70.48
9	Greg Hall	+ 1 lap	70.81
10	James Izzard	+ 2 laps	70.48
11	Paul Dunk	+ 2 laps	70.49
12	Darren Sloan	+ 2 laps	69.91
13	Vince Mellor	+ 2 laps	71.92
14	Jon Stammers	+ 2 laps	71.07
15	Adam Maskell	+ 2 laps	69.32
16	Tom Balfour	+ 3 laps	73.57
17	Ed Day	+ 4 laps	69.47
18	Matt Grum	+ 4 laps	75.43
19	Louise Cain	+ 4 laps	72.13
20	Richard Armitage	+ 8 laps	77.84

Overall:

Race Report

With the track wet from morning showers, but no rain forcast for the afternoon, it was perfect conditions for a great race with many, many powerslides and even more spins. Half the field had no pro-kart experience, let alone wet weather experience, so it would be an interesting day for all. The track was shortened slightly, with the removal of the two near-flat chicanes.

Practice and qualifying just didn't seem long enough for most, with maybe 7 or 8 laps in each session. Graham and John showed that experience is all you need, and put in flying times, with everyone else still working out which lines to take around most of the track. Ed lined up an incredible third - however, his second best lap was about 4 seconds slower, but all you need is one fast lap.

The flag dropped, and everyone headed for the first pair of hairpins. Ed and Steve dropped a few places, and after the second hairpins, where John dropped it and ended up last, the order was Graham, Rick, Mike and Alex. There was hope for anyone to win - except maybe John, who span at the same hairpin the next lap and ended last again.

Two laps later, Graham and Rick had pulled out a significant gap over Mike, and a larger one on Alex. Graham headed into the first hairpin - and spun. Rick went into the hairpin - and also spun, but kept it on the track. Mike approached, assessed the scene, and realised he should have been braking - and spun as well. Rick was first to recover, and I believe Mike got back on before Alex could get past.

As Rick had followed Graham for a while, and had got the feeling for the lines around the track, he was able to keep ahead for quite a few laps, until a passing move on a backmarker resulted in a spin. Graham took the advantage and never looked back, as Rick made more mistakes, dropping futher and further back. Mike was still going, albeit too far behind to take advantage of Rick's errors. Steve was being very consistant behind, and got past Mike only a couple of laps from the end, just before Graham lapped Mike. John regained his stride from his early spins and had a great drive to 7th, from being 20th early on.

Richard Armitage gains crash of the race, going off at the left-right kink before the start/finish line - "I got round the left bit, but it just didn't want to steer right..." Alex was on the scene quickly, advising other drivers to slow down, and checking he was OK. Ed was also to be found pushing his kart back onto the track most of the time...

The day was enjoyed by all; I'd personally like to give a special mention to Greg Hall, who would have won the Rookie award (top driver with no outdoor experience) if we'd had one. James Izzard pushed him hard for this honour, and ended up a mere 4 seconds behind.