| Ellough Park Raceway October 9th 2004: Round 1 |
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The Southern Promax Challenge went to the
seaside for the first round of the Winter Championship on the ninth of
October. To Beccles in fact and to the magnificent welcome offered by the
staff at Ellough Park. The early morning start did not dampen the
enthusiasm of the teams and the pits were the usual hive of activity as
the teams prepared for practice and qualifying. The weather remained dry
but blustery all day. This was the first round of the new ‘one class’ system and both Team Midas and Cobra ASM took the opportunity of testing a sprint type chassis under race conditions for the first time. Local team Voodoo Racing were the only serious casualty during qualifying when a dropped chain damaged their radiator and left the team with a lot of work and little time to make the grid. B & R Racing topped the qualifying order and took pole by two tenths from Titan Motorsport. On row two were Cobra ASM and Zoom Lynn Road (ZLR). From the start it was clear that B & R were really on form as they pulled clear of the pack and steadily built a one lap lead during the first hour. Six laps into the race and we had our first casualty when PDQ broke a stub axle and found themselves at the very back of the pack on their return to circuit. Dogz were uncharacteristically off the pace and decided to return to the pits for investigation. An electrical problem was soon diagnosed and the team were able to return, equally matched but way down the order. |
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The top three remained unchanged for over
fifty laps with B & R leading from Titan and Cobra. Then Cobra slipped
past for second place and for a couple of laps ZLR also nudged up a place
before Titan retook control of third. All went well until the fuel stop
when both ZLR and Titan failed to restart their engines and plummeted down
the order. After the earlier setback in qualifying Voodoo had steadily climbed up the order to fourth place only to spin out and fall back into the midfield. Midas was the cause of the next burst of excitement when they suddenly shed a rear wheel which bounced across the circuit into the path of oncoming traffic. Miraculously, everyone managed to avoid the hazard but the Midas kart was too badly damaged and the team became the first early bath of the day. Voodoo were very fast all day and despite losing places with a spin were soon able to work their way back up to fourth place again only to find all the hard work undone by another spin. The tight chicane caught out RSM when they struck the tyre wall and spun out. Special Racing Projects (SRP) steadily worked their way up the order to third place but misjudged the capacity of the fuel tank and ran out of petrol which cost shed loads of time. |
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It was a good day for K1 who worked hard to
move up three places from their grid start in sixth to a solid third place
before taking a spin caused by contact with or by another kart. Minutes
later the K1 kart spluttered to a halt with the fuel line detached. A
comfortable third place became a fight back from eighth when they
rejoined. Voodoo were very happy to replace them in third place,
especially after the two earlier thwarted attempts. Boring though it is to
report, B & R were still out front and with a bigger and bigger margin of
safety. Three laps down but also three laps clear of third were Cobra ASM
who would have to do something pretty silly to lose place now. The real battle as the race neared its conclusion was for fifth to eighth where a close situation between Xtreme, Red Stripe, SRP and Auto 1 could go any way in the final laps. This was good news for Xtreme who had failed to finish the last two rounds of the summer series due to mechanical misfortune but was now looking good to pick up some decent points to start their winter campaign. B & R came across the line for the last time on lap 280, fully three laps clear of second placed Cobra ASM in second. Voodoo Racing took a very well deserved third place and were one lap clear of Xtreme in fourth. Red Stripe Racing came home in a creditable fifth place just six seconds behind fourth. Everyone enjoyed the trip to the seaside and commented on the hospitality shown to the series by the host circuit. Next month is a home match as Bayford Meadows is the venue on the 6th November.
Report by
Alan Wood |