Perfect preparation

We headed to Crail for today's 3rd round of the summer endurance championship, not knowing what to expect as the kart hasn't moved for a month. Most of our rivals have been on the circuit on at least 2 occasions and it showed! XLB (Jack and Mark) and MS Kart (Noel) had both upped their pace. The start of race 1 was delayed as they couldn't get the timing system to work - Craig and I managed to get it sorted, and we than had a ten lap qualifying session, which we managed to lead by a tenth. Race one was on the short circuit and I managed to make a break at the beginning, handing over a 4 second lead (from XLB) to Ros after the half hour. However, somehow we came out 6 seconds behind MS Kart and it took Ros most of his half hour to catch and pass Noel, taking the flag 0.2 seconds in front. For race 2, on the long circuit, the grid is reversed so I stared last (of 24) but somehow managed to get up to second by lap 2 - it was all a bit surreal - the gaps just opened up in front of me :-) I then had to chase down Michael, who was partnering Craig, but I eventually got past him, and again handed over to Ros with 4-5 second lead. Ros always kept the gap to XLB around the 3 second mark, giving us another win. For race 3 it was back to the short circuit, and despite making a good start, got mugged by XLB and Apollo on lap 2. I managed to get up the inside of Scott in the Apollo kart and he turned in on me, but I managed to stay with XLB, whilst Apollo lost 5 or 6 places. So for the next 25 minutes Jack (XLB) and I were never more than a kart length apart - He got past me twice, but I was able to retake the place both times and I handed over to Ros with a lead, but only just. Again we lost out in the pit stop (walking up the pit lane slower than the others!) and it looked like XLB or MS would win as they were glued to each others bumpers. It had been sunny all day but with about 10 minutes to go, some clouds came over the sun, and immediately, Ros was able to start catching the 2 leaders. We don't know why, but our kart runs better in cloudy conditions. Anyway, Mark (XLB) and Noel were so busy racing each other that they forgot about Ros, and with 2 laps left, he got past them both. At the flag, the 3 karts were separated by half a second. Usually Ros doesn't have too much to do in the second half of the races, but today he was awesome!

The closest days racing we've had at Crail, which was only soured by the 57 kart of Milwalk crashing out in practice, coz of a fractured brake pipe, which couldn't be repaired.

Andrew and Jamie , who I worked with at Sky, had their first visit to Crail, and by all accounts, had a great day - both got quicker over the day and they got a feel for real racing.

For the F'sport kart team, a great day with Jack, myself and Craig all doing well - bodes well for Thailand!