Having been asked to do this report after the event, I didn't take notes or full notice of the event when it happen. This report is therefore a biased view and I apologise to anyone who attended who I have failed to include or misreported. This is solely due to me. If you would like the record corrected please mail Andrew Errington.
On with the report, the final results were:-
The race consisted of 23 heats of 10 laps with 4 drivers, each driver starting at each position on the grid and their opponents changing for every race. Two semi-finals of 15 laps with 4 drivers each and the final of 20 laps with 4 drivers. The grid positions in the semis and final was decided upon from results in the heats. 12 of the drivers had been to Blackburn on the last Grand Prix, for most of the others this was their first drive.
The circuit was small and difficult to overtake on. The surface was mainly maplewood which made the karts exceptionally grippy. It was felt that this circuit could offer those beginners a good race since it would prove difficult for more experienced drivers to overtake. As it turned out overzealous, in my opinion, blue flagging by the marshals meant that the more experienced drivers were going to have an easier ride of it than they first expected. Straight from the first race it was obvious that Steve Fligelstone was going to be the driver to beat, a cracking best lap time in his first race of 13.87 sec. showed this. Over the race Steve managed to improve on this slightly with an evening best of 13.59 sec.. Winning his four heats along with Greg Ashton put him well on course. New drivers seemed to like the circuit with most people improving their times over the heats. There were only two black flags all evening and these happened in the heats, one was for overtaking on the outside on the straight. This was a strange house rule which reduced the racing fun a little. The other was for racing when the 'pace car' was out. (This consisted of amber lights showing when a situation (crash) occurred that would be hazardous to the other drivers). I have forgotten who got these flags and I am sure they would prefer to avoid the publicity.
One notable heat I watched was the heat containing Linda Hendry, Robert Edge, Steve Childs and Steve Fligelstone. Linda a first time driver was on pole at the start and had a hard task with such experienced opposition. The first two laps Linda held pole position with a battle royale going on behind her for the minor positions. Towards the end of the third coming out of the hairpin and on to the curving straight she overcooked it and spun through 180 degrees. Stranded in the middle of the track the rest of the field took the advantage to get past. A superbly executed spin but her back facing the right way and she managed to complete the race less than 20 sec. behind the leader, Steve Fligelstone.
Graeme Hughes was lucky to not be disqualified after completing an extra victory lap on his last heat after coming second in the heat. He claims to have not seen the chequered flag, but the jury is out and a possible 2 race ban maybe incurred. Other notable drives came from Sean Connolly, who was suffering from a bad case of flu and also from Az Abrahams who was driving with a broken foot.
The first semi consisted of in order on the grid, Steve Fligelstone, Graeme Hughes, Martin Wynne and Paul Edmondson. Martin and Steve put in some staggeringly fast laps with Steve finishing first and Martin second having taken the place from Graeme Hughes on the 7th lap. Graeme managed to finish 3rd with Paul coming in 4th.
The second semi consisted of Greg Ashton, Paul Chippendale, Matthew Almond and Ray Gilbert and ended that way. The real tussle was for 2nd place with Matthew Almond, a first time driver, putting in his best lap of the evening at 13.76 sec., a time that was only beaten by Steve Fligelstone the eventual winner. Unfortunately Matthew was unable to capitalise upon this lap after clipping the tyre wall hard on the main hairpin.
Into the final went Steve Fligelstone, Paul Chippendale, Greg Ashton and Martin Wynne. There was some superb driving with Steve putting in laps consistently under 14 sec.. All four drivers did their best laps in the final but unfortunately for the spectators there was no real scrapping for places and the race positions finished as they started. A special mention has to go to Greg Ashton who achieved third place on his first outing in a kart.
All in all most people had a good time with lots of enjoyable driving. My only criticism was the over zealousness of the marshals, that meant that some of the racing was too straightforward.
I look forward to the next event in a few months and will hopefully improve enough to make the final.
Graeme Hughes
On the spot reporter for Errington NewsReports Inc