SamRandonRacing flies solo at Whilton

Despite the ominous weather forecast, the SRR wagon pitched up camp on Friday evening at Whilton Mill in Daventry as a one off event to compensate for missing other events during our summer vacation.

There was a wet start to Saturday as Sam re-familiarised himself with the Whilton circuit. This was our first race weekend here this year so we had high hopes for the new Viper chassis.

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Race day began with a shock as Sam discovered he was drawn on pole for heat 1. Two false starts didn’t help the nerves as they came around for a third time and this time started the race.  Pole at Whilton is on the inside for turn 1 – Oblivion – but immediately becomes the outside for turn 2 so it was no surprise Sam came out of there and up the hill in second place, Alex Nuttall running off in the lead. Our pace initially looked a little off as the pack arrived at Christmas corner and Josh Fry took the corner from Sam under braking. As the race settled down it became apparant that Sam was backing the pack up as they queued up behind him.

“First Joe Dickins passed me then Liam Murray came by and I was worried I was going to end up well down the order. Then my tyres suddenly came on and my speed improved massively.”

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From defending the attention behind from Ross Darlington, Sam suddenly pulled out a gap and quickly got back onto the rear of Liam Murray’s Tony kart. Alex Nuttall, the early leader, was falling back dramatically and both Sam and Liam passed him in a single maneuver.

“Another lap and I’d have had my place back from Liam but the chequered flag came out just too soon for me and I finished 4th” said Sam.

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Despite the early pace problems, Sams fastest lap was only beaten by race winner Josh Fry.

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For Heat 2 Sam started plumb last and yet by the time the pack were heading up the hill towards Christmas he was already up to 8th place!

“The right hand side of the grid was slow off the mark and had a tangle so I had a good run through Oblivion and drove around the outside of them all. It’s a dangerous thing to do as you can end up having somebody elses accident but this time it worked for me and I made up 6 or 7 places“.

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Then as Sam made steady progress through the pack he came up on the back of #66. She defended well but Sam was faster through Chapmans and was alongside as they came to the Boot. Rather than yield to the inevitable, #66 tried to turn in on Sam and spun herself out of the race, taking an innocent Jamie Tyler with her.

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After two reasonable and uneventful heat finishes, things changed in the third. Starting P9 the pack funnelled into Oblivion and the Crook for the first time, temporarily out of sight from the mechanics viewing platform. Only this time Sam didn’t emerge….

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“The marshals told me it was just a racing incident, but first I knew I was hit from behind and a kart came over my shoulder, hit and broke my nassau panel and spun me off the circuit. We both restarted but by then we were racing for last place. I was a bit surprised I didn’t get the black/orange flag because my nassau panel was all bent over. It wouldn’t have made much difference but at least I passed the guy who hit me to ensure he came last, not me!“

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The damage to the nassau panel was cosmetic. The bent chassis and steering was not. Thankfully we were able to make the grid for the Final (the chassis was fixed later) and despite the poor heat 3 result Sam qualified 7th.

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As the Final started Sam lost out to Alex Nuttall and Josh Burbank at the start and dropped to 9th. The 3 leaders pulled out a big gap but after that it was much closer. Sam took his place back from Josh Burbank and started to pull out a gap but then the fortunes reversed and Josh was back on Sams tail.

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“I knew Josh was behind me coming into Ashby when I heard his engine fizz. I think his chain snapped and he disappeared – thankfully!“.

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Yet again Sams pace improved during the race and he worked hard to close the gap to Alex Nuttall.

“I was catching him quickly and could see Nutall was looking over his shoulder at every opportunity. But again I ran out of laps and finished 6th“.

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Next race Rissington in September.