Best showing at Rissy so far – Rissington 3/4 Oct

Despite a scary accident at the end of heat 3 with wheels flying around at head height, Sam had his best outing yet at Rissington and still managed a respectable qualifying grid position in the final. After the usual bumping and boring in the midfield Sam finished a very respectable 11th out of 24 but, more importantly, showed he had the raw speed to run with the boys at the front. 

Saturday

Newest member of DPRS - young Tom ran in cadets on saturday. Awaiting his 8th birthday.

The plan for Saturday was to thoroughly test the recently rebuilt reserve engine but carburetor problems put us on the back foot almost immediately. The engine stopped on the circuit on the first lap in the first session, then stopped on the dummy grid before the second session even began! It took until lunchtime before we diagnosed and resolved the problem. To frustrate us further, the wind was so strong that it was affecting the speed of the kart quite noticeably depending on the direction Sam was driving!

Sunday

Jason showing the youngsters how its done - 250cc Superkart

Heavy overnight rain and winds had nearly blown the DPRS awning away but fortunately had also taken away the nasty weather. Sunday was calm and sunny.

Heat 1 started with Sam drawn in P9 on the grid – on the inside line for the rolling start. He gained 2 places around the first corner as 2 of the leaders spun out and then followed the leading group into the dog leg for the first time.

Crossing the line in heat 1

As the two leaders of the heat broke away, Sams pace was good enough to progress through the field and in the latter laps catch up 3^rd and 4^th place who were having their own private battle. One more lap was all it needed …. but he still brought it home in a great 5^th place.

“It was a great feeling when I was sent into the scrutineering bay to be weighed.” [top 5 heat winners are always checked by the scrutineers – Dad].

For Heat 2 Sam started 21^st, had a clean start, and worked his way through the field to finish 13^thwith no real dramas. In an balls’y last lap manoeuver around the fastest part of the circuit, Sam held the inside line around Bottom Bend forcing the other kart to eventually yield.

He's behind you .... Sam on the inside line

For Heat 3 Sam was drawn in 4^thplace on the grid and our hopes were high for a good result to secure what could be his best Rissington qualifying position.

“On the last lap, coming up to lap a backmarker into the dog-leg, caused me problems turning in as he stuck to the inside line instead of staying on the racing line as we are always told to do. That compromised my braking and allowed Craig Johnson to nip down my inside and take the place. But 7^th was OK.”

Then it all went wrong! Turning into the Elbow for the last time Sam ran wide, recovered, and was then hit by the two following karts – themselves in a private scrap. The resulting collision launched Jack Love’s kart into the air, narrowly missing Sam, and coming down on Tom Owen’s shoulder. Thankfully all three were unhurt and finished the race, Sam and Jack losing over 30 seconds and many places in the process.

On the inside line again, Sam takes another scalp

“I cant believe I lost it on the last lap. I think my tyres were maybe suffering as I had lots of understeer and had to correct it so ran just off the circuit a bit. I recovered pretty quickly but had scrubbed off all my speed. Then I just felt a bang from behind and remember seeing a wheel whizzing past my helmet. I ended up in the long grass and had to get out and pull the kart back onto the track.”

Final

Despite this setback, we were encouraged by Sams raw pace today and the grid slot of row 6 was still respectable. [ Had he finished heat 3 in 7^th, Sam would have qualified on row 3 ]. A good result was still on the cards.

 “The start was really rough with taps and pushing from behind all around the Inner Loop which pushed my kart sideways and lost me several places.”

By the end of lap 1 he was in a disappointing 17^th. Then it was head down and pick off the places in front. By the end of the race Sam had recovered to 11^th taking a number of very competent drivers in the process. The result may not completely reflect it, but this was a very mature drive by Sam who took his opportunities when they were presented and,  just as importantly, knew when to back off and avoid trouble [ok I’m biassed – Dad].

So by the end of the day, driver and kart had run really well. And another PB on the results chart – a 45.05 was tantalisingly close to breaking into the 44’s.

Full results click here.

Next stop Shenington in 2 weeks