Race Report EasyKart 2012 Round 4 - Llandow

It was another wet and rotten Saturday with high winds and heavy rain reminiscence of round 2. Brighter times were predicted for the race on Sunday but it’s fair to say that Saturday’s weather was pretty nasty but we still had work to do and we set about our schedule as normal.

Bailey was armed with a new ribtec after the drama’s from Clay we didn’t want to risk any more broken ribs!  We also had to get the engine installed and setup for running in as the top end had just been rebuild along with the carb.  The first two sessions were spent running in the engine which Bailey managed to do correctly this time! By the end of the second session I could tell he was bored with slow running and choking and wanted to get the hammer down! 

Bailey showed some good pace in the wet running sessions that followed on older rubber and we were quietly confident that a top 10 finish might be on. We were due a run of good luck after all the troubles of the last two rounds @ Ellough Park and Clay.  The rain kept coming and many karters opted to sit out some of the sessions due to the fact the brighter weather was expected for Sunday, Bailey wanted to run regardless of the rain and seems to be enjoying himself!

Sunday morning arrived and the weather was much brighter, the track was drying out fast and we started to wonder about dry setup options on slicks. Bailey was complaining a little about pickup but I knew I had plenty to come on the engine as I had been running very rich all day Saturday. Warm-up went well, Bailey was 7th but we knew the top 10 would be tough as we lacked dry running and many others had more knowledge than us around Llandow.   That said Qualifying went very well all things considered, we finished the session 10th, Bailey wanted more (as always) but I was very pleased considering the large gird of 29 runners this weekend, I went the wrong way with pressures and they tyres took too long to come in and by the time they did the best of the new rubber was gone, still 10th is a great place to start.

Onwards to the first of three races and yet again disaster struck on the first lap, Bailey did not come round until 15 seconds after the pack, he was second to last and both myself and Nikki were proper gutted.  Turned out he got mounted from behind (oh er missus) and was way down the field before the first lap was even finished.  However all was not lost as he was setting some super quick times (6th fastest lap in the session) and managed to catch and pass many karters.  His moves into the finial hairpin were quite something, although as his Dad they were also very hard to watch! Bailey drove like a psycho and ended the session P18; all things considered it was a great recovery drive.  The rear tyre had been badly scored during the first lap mounting drama, it was checked and cleared as safe by the scrutineers; they said we could change it but we opted to stick with it as we had nothing better.

Pre-finial time and Bailey carried on where he left off, this time he had a clean start and made his way up to a career best of P12 by the checked flag. Again my little nutter displayed some of the bravest, "last of the last braker" moves that have started to become his hallmark this year, full on balls to the wall stuff that is both exciting and scary to watch at the same time.  His hard work meant he would start just two places behind his qualifying position, given the way the day had gone we were both pleased and hoped for a top 10 finish in the finial.

The finial was a brown trouser affair involving a Red Flagged start. We saw the red and knew something bad must have happened as they don’t pull the reds out very often.  I waited to see my boy come around and join the queue of parked karts, he didn’t appear and I started to panic.  After a few more moments I knew the red flag involved my boy and I started to run from the pits towards the other end of the track searching for signs of my boy and fearing the worse.  Then he appeared holding his head and driving one handed, at least he was in one piece, the kart was covered in tyre marks and mud but my boy was ok and that was all I cared about.  A lad when off and took a good few karts off with him, Russ witnessed the accident and confirmed it was bad and there was nothing Bailey could have done to avoid it.

Bailey didn’t look happy but made the restart and was understandably very wary and lost a bunch of places at the start, after the first lap he was 18th but with 20 laps ahead the game was still on.  Boy oh boy was it on!! Bailey settled and started doing his thing; move after move in the hair pin including some crazy late braking (making good use of the shorter pedal I provided!!) saw him move up the field to 10th!  At times I found it hard to watch and I was gob smacked with this result, a career best.  I watched the race unfold with Jenson (from Cadet Class) and he commented that Bailey was doing very well. It was touching to see Jenson be the first into the pits to greet Bailey, take his helmet and congratulate his efforts, I love Easykart for this aspect.

Roll on Round 5 @ Forest Edge next month, not a great hunting ground for us in Cadet as Bailey had his first big crash there a few years back. We have a test planned there at the end of this month and here's hoping for another good weekend; who knows maybe we might even have a drama free weekend but I doubt it!!!