2 COUNTIES KART CLUB – OPENING ROUND 2019
What an opening round for the 2 Counties Club Championship at the Clay Pigeon Raceway on March 10th! Saturday proved to be an acceptable testing day – dry and not too cold, however, Saturday night was different! Winds had been forecast and most drivers had taken the extra precautions of extra tie downs for their awnings but the 70 mph gusts of wind in the early hours were something else ! Scenes of drivers losing valuable sleep hours before racing were visible everywhere. Indeed David Goode and Ron Shone spent between 5.00 and 6.30 a.m. replacing ripped ties to ensure that the TABOR linked awning didn’t lift off. Thankfully it worked! This was not the case for many another awnings around the pits, which ended up in degrees of variation between small rips and total write-offs.
The Racing itself was exciting throughout the heats, with a few moments on each of the opening laps as drivers came to terms with the very cold track temperatures, resulting in a few spins.
Eventually, the 2018 ‘ Top Dog’, Anthony Cleal, secured Pole positions with Mike Bell alongside. Row 2 had Russell O’Neill and Robin Stoddart-Stones ahead of Duncan McLeod and David Goode.
As the grid for the Final formed up, black clouds, which had been threatening all day, gradually rolled overhead and the odd drop of water showed on the racer’s visors.
Missing from the Final grid was Ben Pearson, who had suffered brake failure in heat 3 and couldn’t get his kart together in time for the Final. At the off, Anthony Cleal used his pole position to advantage and snapped up the lead. Behind, all the other racers took note of the slippery conditions, amazingly all managed to staye on the black stuff during the opening lap. For the first half of the race a light drizzle kept things tight, indeed Russell O’Neill closed Cleal down and even had a few ‘looks’ down the inside. By half distance, the drizzle stopped and a racing line appeared. Experience now told and Cleal edged away at the front and Duncan McLeod picked his way through to the second spot. Taylor Waldron, having started in 8th place on the grid was having a real blitz and closed Russel O’Neil down to finish 0.2 seconds off him in 4th place. These four finished well clear of the rest of the pack. So at the chequered flag, it was Cleal from McLeod, with O’Neill and Waldron in close attendance.
There is now a long break now until the next 2 Counties round, although most of the drivers will be back racing at the Mansell Raceway at the end of March ( 31st) for the opening round of the N.K.R.A. ( National Kart Racing Association) Championship.
For more details and results please view the 2 COUNTIES MENU / RESULTS on this www.planetkarting.uk website or CLICK HERE