Race Report EasyKart Round 2 – Ellough Park

Round two was the first full weekend for Bailey in Easykart this year in the more powerful junior class kart. This season we are part of the Platform Racing Team but expectations for the 2012 season are to gain an understanding of this new kart; we are treating this year as a test season with the aim of challenging for a place at the world finials in Italy next year.

A wet and windy weekend was expected and we were not disappointed, rain and wet running is something Bailey has not been too keen on in the past so an interesting day was expected!  From the very first session Bailey was on it, it seemed that something has changed with Bailey this year and the wet conditions didn’t seem to bother him much anymore, indeed he seemed to enjoy the lack of grip. Nicky, Russ and the team provided some excellent advice and Bailey was really enjoying himself and was learning at an impressive rate.

In the second session he was flying, one of the fastest on track in the slippery, greasy track surface conditions.  We opted to save tyres for two sessions and I sent him out on worn (very worn) old slicks.  Bailey was unimpressed but persevered and continued to improve despite being on the wrong rubber.  As the final session of the day beckoned we did one last run on used wets and again Bailey was very competitive – a good days work.

Race day on Sunday arrived and the track was still rather wet.  During warm up Bailey was forced to run wide to avoid another kart and the curbs ripped the bottom of his seat out, Bailey was fine but the same could not be said for his kart!  I have never changed a seat before and it’s quite a bit of work!  We had around 20 minutes until qualifying and the Platform guys all chipped in to help remove the seat and get the new one fitted (thanks guys).  We presumed qualifying would now be missed but thanks to the hard work from the Platform guys we managed to get him out for the last 7 minutes.  The kart felt different but Bailey still managed his best ever qualifying result with an excellent 9th place (off 28 racers). Under the circumstances this was impressive as our pre-weekend target was to not be on the back row of the grid!  

The first race went well, great start and opening laps saw Bailey as high as 4th but due to some on track action he ended up back down in 11th at the end of the session.  In the pre-finial Bailey was running well when he was clipped and sent out of the race, gutted but that’s motor racing.

In the finial Bailey was fired up, starting 26th meant he had some work to do, the aim was to finish 15th.  A great start and opening laps meant he was up to 16th when he made his first and only mistake of the weekend, dropping the kart on exit and quick spin dropped him back down to 22nd. Bailey then proceeded to carve his way back up the field with some sweet clean moves and a tense finish saw him reach 15th at the end of the race!

This has been a great start to the 2012 season and we are both looking forwards to our home race later this month at Clay.  We are both very grateful for all the support we received from Platform racing and look forwards to working with them again for a great result at Round 3.