Shut Up. I'm Talking.

25th Jul 2011

Laps led, on the pace and 3rd overall

It was an interesting weekend in Durban as I took part in a “Pre-National” event to gauge my pace against some of my main opposition.

Friday testing was awesome as I was clearly the fastest in my class but Saturday did not go so well.

The pace was upped by the other drivers and for various reasons I just couldn’t match them. It was a big dose of reality and to be honest I was a bit down by the end of the day. I definitely went the wrong way with my setup though but luckily we worked that out on our way home that evening.

Come Race Day and I was raring to go, we made a huge setup change to my kart for morning warm-up (literally going the way opposite to what we had on Saturday) and it worked a charm. Even though I was still 2/10ths off the pace I knew that with the new setup I could race hard at the front.

Qualifying has always been my week point and it was no different this weekend. I was way off the pace and only managed 4th place but since I’ve been here many times in my life it didn’t get me down, I just had to work harder in the races.

The aim of this weekend was to test and fly below the radar but when you can sniff victory it’s incredibly difficult to let it go.

In heat 1 I got a so-so start but by lap 5 I found myself leading a pack of 4 karts literally running nose to tail. The sensation of leading a race again was just so satisfying but unfortunately I couldn’t hold on to it for too long. I ended up 3rd in that heat after taking the lead twice but felt that it was a matter of timing if I was to win.

Come heat 2 and I made a massive mistake when doing a routine check on the motor. When I put the parts back together I managed to literally put something upside down and it cost me dear in the race.

At the start I slotted into 2nd place but going up one of the steep hills I realised something was wrong and lost out hugely. From then on it was a matter of survival to try and hang onto 4th place while the leading three stormed off. I somehow managed to keep my place through the race and was happy to gain some experience in blocking like crazy to survive.

In heat 3 the problems were fixed and we decided to make another change to my setup. I was hugely skeptical about the change but my mechanic/engineer insisted we try it. He turned out to be right and a huge battle ensued for the race win between myself and local-guy Mitchel Licen.

I led the race multiple times but somehow managed to miscount the laps. I slotted into 2nd and planned an attack for the final lap but it turns out we were already on the final lap!

No to worry though as technically I should have stayed in 2nd in the first place.

With a 3rd, 4th and 2nd in each heat I finished 3rd on the podium in the final points count. Hugely satisfying for my first race back in karting in over three years.

Bring on the African Champs!