For the last race of the Club100 season Reece raced in the senior team. Due to his achievements and competence in 2007 he was granted a drive by the Club100 management. (Reece is 15 and a junior. You must be 16 or over to race club 100). During free practice we tested our kart but found it to have no bottom end. The Kart was given to a Club100 tester who agreed and changed it for us. Once in the new kart we were on the pace immediately. All drivers agreed the Kart was good to race and Richard set about putting qualifying laps together.
It was a full grid today with 37 teams participating. We qualified 3rd only to find one of us overlook under yellow flags and in turn, collected a penalty. We were placed at the back of the grid. Last! Ben worked out the strategy and Richard got ready to start the race.
After 6 rolling up laps, the race got under way. Richard started to cut through the field, he took three karts around the outside of stadium and proceeded to take another two into the run up to the hairpin. 32nd place! Richard drove every lap like a qualifying lap for 20 mins and after pulling up to 10th place, he pitted for fual and a driver change. John went on to drive perfectly for his stint gaining another three places and and pitting from 7th place. Reece joined the race in 11th after the pitstop and proceeded to make his mark on the race by cutting through the field as if he was at a test session. He showed remarkable composure and consistency as he raced through his stint. This was his first Senior race and he’s still not a senior driver!
Reece pitted for fuel and Richard jumped back into the seat. We joined the race in 6th position after the pitstop. A clean, progressive stint rewarded the team with 1st place in the running order. The light was now starting to get low and all drivers were told to change to clear visors if other types were being used. John went back out and continued to pressure the backmarkers. Then out of nowhere, a backmarker tagged the back of John Kart and put us into a spin. The recovery kart got us going again but we had been pushed down to 3rd place. Reece went back out to finish his final stint and the race. The Strategy was perfect for the day and all was looking good for 3rd place or maybe 2nd given the pace we were running. Then, bang, another shunt from behind! Reece was pushed off into the grass. The kart was quickly recovered and Reece continued. We fiished the race in 4th place and was awarded a trophy. (1st-5th place).
