May 7, 20234 min read

Brentwood Super League - Season 2 - Round 9

Updated: Sep 18

It's Round 9 of my 2nd Season in the Super League & it has flown by this season. I feel like I'm starting to get my head around how to race ( & sometimes survive) in this league and am definitely starting to feel more at ease with these karts and the additional weight that I have to carry in comparison to others on the grid. If there was a trophy given for the heaviest seat, my name would be all over it, weighing in at just shy of 27kgs..... maybe I should suggest to Dan that he makes a new award for this at the end of the season.

So we move on to the Quali session and the kart that I had felt pretty good as I was going round and felt happy with the pace and handling but I was a little surprised that I actually got Pole for the session as I felt that Ben was actually quicker than me but I nabbed it by the shortest of margins, 0.036! In fairness the entire 10 man grid was only separated by 0.572 so this was going to be a tough heat.

We was sent round for a reverse circuit start and I know I say it every week but just because you put a kart on pole one way, doesn't mean that it's good the other way (and maybe this is something that I need to work on in my own head, because maybe sometimes I talk myself into believing that it won't be great, when in fact it's fine!). So we headed off and I was a little loaded into the first corner from behind but I did manage to hold the position and got my head down and pushed on. The heat felt like it lasted an eternity but I managed to hold the lead for the entire race to take the win by 3 seconds, always a nice way to start the weekend with a win in your back pocket.

Heat 2 was next & I was starting P6 on the grid, so nearer the back of the pack and was going to be a battle to get to the front. The kart got a great launch and I was able to slot in nicely to a gap on the inside. There was quite a bit of bumping on the opening lap and I did manage to avoid a spinner but all of this was helping me work my way through. Before I knew it I was up into 3rd and there was an ABC issued to the kart I front so he had to give positions back which then promoted me into 2nd.

I could see that I was much quicker than the pole sitter, so it was just a case of chasing him down before the clock run out on me and with 5 minutes to go I was within striking distance. I pulled off the overtake just as my camera decided to flick to a new recording so missed that. When I crossed the line Harry didn't wave the flag so I wasn't entirely sure if the race was over or not so I was still half racing as I didn't want to lose out on a win just because the flag hadn't dropped. On the way round back to the pits he did wave the flag and that was the 2nd win of the day.

Next up was the A Final and I was starting POLE, could this be the treble? I drew kart 1 which I wasn't overly happy about as it had already broken down on track earlier in a previous heat, but you just have to try and get the best you can out of every kart and this was the hand that I was being dealt with today.

I got a great opening lap and held the lead but I had a very fast Sam May chasing me down from behind. We was trying our best to work together to pull a gap from the chasing pack but I knew it was going to be a tall order to fend Sam off for the remaining 10 minutes of the final. I didn't do too badly in the end, but a mistake on my part gave Sam the chance he needed to take the lead and as soon as he had the lead he was off into the distance as the kart just had much more than mine could offer and in the end he won the heat by just under 5 seconds, however, there was a silver lining in this story! Due to the fact that I had accumulated 2 heat wins I actually finished the day with more points than Sam and claimed my first Super League WIN! It's been a long time coming.

Sam the mechanic come over to tell me I was unlucky and drove well during the day so should be proud and I was over the moon, I didn't feel unlucky at all, I was back on the podium and that was all that mattered to me and was looking forward to collecting my trophy the following week.