The 2007 season finally kicked-off on Friday 1st June with a belter of an event! A record-breaking 24 drivers ensured that there was something going on pretty much everywhere on the track, all the time! There were familiar faces and new ones, controversial moves and marshalling decisions, heroic drives and big grins all round at the end. Falling laptimes were testament to winter cobwebs being blown away; only 2 drivers recorded sub-51 second times during practice, but seven had dipped below the 51 second barrier by the end of the event..
This round was really all about one driver; locally-based privateer Tim McDermott. Tim’s experience at Sandown showed itself to the full, an early warning shot being a 50.467second lap during practice. Starting from pole in race 1, he led the early laps until taken out at the left-hand turn 4, an overly-optimistic lunge by easyJet’s Mike Wood being to blame. Nevertheless, a quick recovery saw him bring the kart home in 3rd place, only 2 seconds behind the leader and with fastest race lap under his belt into the bargain. Now for the tricky bit! Lining-up on the race 2 grid in last place, Tim had nothing to lose. In the course of the next 20 minutes, he kept it together and out of trouble as the running order changed and changed again.
Turns 1, 2, 6 and 8 saw the bulk of the spins and general argy-bargy, but all were carefully sidestepped and at the end of lap 22, Tim crossed the line in the lead, a full 11 seconds clear of Mike Wood. Icing on the cake came in the form of fastest lap of the day; 50.079sec. Inspired performances were put in throughout the field in both races. Race 1 was a particularly close-run thing, 5.18 seconds covering the top seven drivers, while the top five were spread by no more than 2.76 sec. |
The race was won by Virgin Atlantic’s veteran Sandownmeister Julian Berry, a searing charge through the field bringing him from 12th on the grid through to the race lead on the very last lap. Second-placed driver Mike Wood had originally started in third spot, while Tim McD came in third ahead of bmi’s hard-charging Mark Perry, up from 15th on the grid.
Mark’s choice of aftershave seemed to do little to dissuade easyJet’s Kevin Cracknell from tailgating him over the line in fifth, the gap between them being 0.66 sec at the end with Kevin having started 8th.
Bmi’s Richard Weber and Keith Jarvis took 6th and 7th, a mere 0.52 sec separating them at the flag, and BA’s Greg Montgomery brought it home in 8th after starting way down in 19th. Altogether, 13 of the 24 drivers completed 22 laps, but close finishes were also in evidence further down the order; Keith Jarvis’ sister Claire was only 1.18 sec behind Richard’s mate Simon Spiers at the finish, and the NATS pairing of Steve Anderson and Adrian Stevens crossed the line 0.64sec apart. . And so to race 2. Regulars were already well aware of just how ‘interesting’ things could get in turn 1 at the start of race 2, what with unfamiliar karts and tyres which had been allowed to cool for five minutes. But this 24-kart malarkey seemed likely to take the interest to a whole new level! And so it proved. During the next 22 laps, the field was well-and-truly shaken-up, as a series of altercations completely rearranged the running order.
For the first couple of laps the marshals were able to keep most of the circuit under racing conditions, but on lap 3 full-course yellows came out and stayed out until the end of lap 4. |
With the yellow lights on, a controversial incident saw Julian Berry and XL’s Keith Hull inadvertently overtaken by another driver. Realising his mistake, the guilty party immediately let both drivers back through again.
Trouble was, while the first manoeuvre had been missed by the marshals, the second wasn’t. Berry and Hull were black-flagged, and returned to the circuit 23rd and 24th with it all to do. To their credit, Keith eventually worked back up to 15th having started 3rd, while the lad Berry, originally 13th on the grid, finished an impressive 9th.
JB’s reputation being what it is, most had been expecting a repeat of his race 1 performance, and a fastest lap of 50.306sec in race 2 suggested his absence from the podium cannot be relied-upon in future events. The front of the field was comparatively spread-out as Tim McDermott took the flag at the end of lap 22, his winning margin on second-placed Mike Wood being 11.50 sec. There was more of a fight for third, Richard Weber taking it from BMed colleague Trevor Brown by 0.45 sec; Rich had started 16th and Trevor 15th. Consistent fast lappery brought Kevin Cracknell home in fifth from 17th on the grid, and Mark Perry took 6th by 1.16 sec from Keith Jarvis, Mark starting 10th and Keith 20th. Fellow-Midlander Mike McCann was saved to task of fighting-off the determined Julian Berry, taking 8th by 1.28 sec. Last driver to complete the full 22 laps, Greg Montgomery crossed the line 10th. In 11th, NATS’ Kirk Matthews’ mirrors (had his kart possessed them) would have been full of bmi engineer John Struthers; they finished 0.26 sec apart with very similar fastest laps.
Lots to talk about in the pub afterwards, this race having something of a ‘wild-card’ feel about it. The question now is, what might happen if Perry Musty and Nick Pascoe get the day off on 20th July, and Berry avoids the black flags…..
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