So today was not only the Queen's Jubilee it was also Round 4 of the Buckmore Championship and what better way to celebrate the jubilee than travelling an hour over to Kent to race around Buckmore!
I thought that the weather today was meant to be really nice, by the time we got over to Buckmore it was really overcast and pretty chilly, so much for Summer being here. I'm sure that Kart tracks up and down the country are at least 10 degrees colder than anywhere else.
So, how did I get on today I hear you ask? Well it was a pretty positive round for me and one that I was pleased with, let me fill you in.
We started off as usual with a 5 minute practice and I was top of the time sheets, followed really closely by my good pal Mikey. For Heat 1 I was starting P4, so was hopeful of a good start and to make up initial places going into the first couple of corners. By the first corner I was already into 2nd and probably could have made a lunge to get the lead but thought better of it and held the position. I wasn't in 2nd for long and waited for a good opportunity to take the lead cleanly, starting off the day with a Heat win.
Heat 2 I was starting P10 and just had my mums words ringing in my ears..... "take your time, race smarter, not harder, no silly dives that will get you black flagged." I didn't get the greatest of starts off of the line, but managed to get 2 positions and then thought it wise to back off of the 2 in front that were battling and bided my time. My kart had some real good pace and was steadily making my way through the pack and was soon into 2nd. Next up to get past Charlie Ratford who is a great defender. I tried a few different approaches to get past and in the end I don't think he knew what I was going to do next and to be honest I'm not sure I knew either, but see a gap going up into Cafe Corner and knew that if I had the right line the kart would get me into first and took the lead. I had another first for me in karting today and almost run over a crossing squirrel midrace, luckily enough he made it safely across the track! I ended up finishing Heat 2 in 1st and would just like to point out that no animals were harmed in the making of my footage today!
Next up was the final Heat of the day and this was the toughest one yet. I was starting P12 and made great initial progress again until I was hit from behind and shoved wide on more than 1 occasion and any progress that I made was wiped out and I had to keep starting all over again. In the end I settled for P4 which all things considering was a really strong result.
My results in the Heat had me starting on Pole with Mikey lining up alongside me. I needed to get a fast getaway so that I could start to build a gap but you guessed it, that fast getaway didn't happen and Mikey took the lead going into the first corner, his kart just flew off of the line and I had no answers for it, that was until the rain started.
We had some great battles between the both of us but in the end our weight just went against us as the rain fell and we both started losing positions due to lack of grip. At one point near the end of the race I even ended up going through the run off area and was a bit unsure what to do, so decided the best thing was to wait for Mikey the other side and give him the position back as a penalty and hope that was the right thing to do with no black flag being shown to me and I was right. Having spoken to Clint after the race, he said that had I just rejoined the race I would have been black flagged but as I was stationary and gave myself the penalty he was happy with my judgement call as I gained nothing and if anything lost out on a position.
In the end finishing a disappointing 5th, HOWEVER, due to my strong heat results on the day I was actually joint top points scorer of the day, so all in all a bit of a disappointing result after the great start but again lots learned and I think one of my stronger performances at Buckmore to date, even if I didn't make it home with a trophy, there's always the next round!
Hope everyone is having a great Jubilee Weekend!
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