Sam finishes the season in style – upside down

Another first for SamRandonRacing as we finished the rookie season at the Shenington circuit in Oxfordshire – Dec 5/6

Wet start to Sundays racing

Sunday delivered heavy rain overnight and gusty winds as per the weather forecast. Kart and driver were in full wet setup and following the 3 lap warm up Sam reported good grip levels as we prepared for the first heat. Confidence was running high. Drawn in P7 on the grid we were hopeful of a good result, providing we could survive the usual first lap melee.

Sam #22 in the thick of it on lap 1 - shortly before it all went wrong

As the flag dropped the outside line (even grid slots) got a better start than the inside line into the first corner and the advantage then switches at Shenington as the outside line for turn one becomes the inside line for turn 2. Sam dropped a few places as they left Café Corner side by side and headed into Pit Bend, a fast left hander.

“As we headed into Pit Bend we were still side by side and I was now on the inside. Suddenly I was tagged from behind and in the wet conditions I had no chance of saving it. Before I knew it I going backwards towards the barriers.”

Sam speared off to the right at high speed and hit the bank of wood chippings design to cushion such an accident, but the speed and angle caused his kart to flip over.

Sam came to a rest upside down but unhurt

“Everything happened in slow motion. I remember travelling backwards and trying to brake but that was not making any difference. I even remember blipping the throttle to keep the engine running. I didn’t realise I was rolling until eventually everything stopped and I realised I’m upside down with the kart ontop of me. It didn’t hurt at all and I felt quite calm, but it seemed to take ages before any help came.”

When the kart was righted, the driver jumped out as if it was routine!  Emergency medical checks confirmed the driver was ok to be moved and we were ushered into the waiting ambulance for a full check up. Unbelievably there was not a single scratch or bruise. Even the kart survived with virtually no damage.

Back in the saddle for heat 2

It was a bit of a rush preparing the kart for heat 2 and in our hurry we hadn’t spotted the drying conditions and arrived on the grid on the wrong tyres. With help from friends, a last-minute change just-in-time meant we got Sam out in P16 for heat 2.

Understandably nervous about the first lap Sam did drop 3 places at the start.

“I wasn’t too worried about the start but when it started to get rough I just backed out and didn’t resist any more. One big crash was enough for today!”

Within 3 laps Sam had reclaimed those 3 positions and then 3 more to finish the race in 10^th – but more importantly – the right way up!

Final

With a DNF in heat 1 Sam qualified a lowly P18 for the final. He made up 2 places from the start and was glued to the back of the mid-pack bunch circulating very closely together. But we didn’t appear to quite have the pace to make progress though;

“I think we needed another tooth [on the gearing – Dad] as I could get alongside Tom Owen into the corners but couldn’t make it stick accelerating out.”

Lee Harrison #78 making his way through the field

Then on lap 6 Sam pushed too hard in his attempt to progress, and spun out at Bruno corner for once without any help from his competitors [ we’ll forgive him this week – Dad]. This spin cost him 4 places and it took 4 laps to catch them back up. Just as Sam was lining up for an overtake, the driver in front also spun in exactly the same spot. Sam had to take avoiding action on the run off area. He claimed the place of the spinning kart but then had a big gap to make up for the next scalp. Chasing hard Sam made up the distance by the final lap and a last gasp lunge made up a final position of 16^th – not our best result but we live to fight another day.

 Full results click here.