2008 Premier

Men of Steel

Steel London signalled their intentions for 2008 by romping to a comfortable win over Essex TT at Buckmore Park and laying down the gauntlet to their rivals. The arrival of reigning champion, Jamie Jakins, from the retired D’Oily Kart team has boosted the team and Jakins himself is confident of defending the title.

The new fleet of Birel chassis proved an instant hit and Club100 have outdone themselves, even in terms of their legendary high standards of reliability.

As expected it was the usual names heading the order in qualifying with Jakins claiming the Pole for Steel ahead of Essex TT. The real surprise was the new team, Ministry of Speed, qualifying third and punching well above their weight in the Clubman Championship. The newly promoted Clubman teams, FB Racing and RBB Economics, lined up fourth and fifth respectively, ahead of Just So Racing (the artist formerly known as Carpe Diem formerly known as Conservatories Online).

Off the line, it was Ministry of Speed’s Jordan Hill who got the jump on Essex’s Kieran McCullough and Steel’s Jamie Jakins to lead at the end of the opening lap – a position that he impressively held for several laps before inevitably being passed by the leading three on lap 5 and ultimately getting caught up in an incident at the pit lane entrance and falling off.

So it was the usual culprits of Steel London, Essex TT and Just So Racing who were dominating at the front – the latter hoping for better luck in 2008. However, even the addition of a new title sponsor couldn’t break their jinx as their exhaust flex broke dropping them out of contention before ultimately succumbing to carburettor failure.

With all of the teams making their mandatory fuels stops without incident, the race settled down into a familiar pattern. Unusually for the opening race, there were very few incidents.

So at the finish it was Steel London victorious with a 40 second margin over Essex TT. Veterans, Wolfie, (in terms of races and their respective age) quietly sneaked in third having started way down in fourteenth place. RBB Economics finished fourth ahead of FB Racing and the impressive 3Cubed. Those teams having a day to forget were Billy Whizzers (13^th), Just So Racing (19^th) and Tanked Up Racing (25^th).

2008 Clubman

Ministry Recover from Disaster to Claim Win

The creation of the Clubman class into a championship in its own right has been welcomed by many teams. One of the pre-season favourites, HB Racing, back for their third crack at the title, are among the number of them that voiced the need for this championship last year.

Unfortunately for HB, they suffered a dismal qualifying session, starting 33^rd and last. It was new team, Ministry of Speed, headed by easily the find of 2007, Jordan Hill who took pole position. Five Gloves were second followed by Regent Racing, Beatnik Racing, Mini Racers and Loose heads rounding out the top six.

Jordan capitalised on his grid position to lead not only the Clubman race but also the overall Premier race in the early stages. Disaster struck on lap 27 when he got caught up in an incident at the pit entrance and spun off. This incident left Regent Racing in charge of the lead with Ministry having to play catch-up.

With pit stops playing an important role in the close running Clubman championship, it was still all to play for. The race saw many changes of the lead; The Stallions, Mini Racers, Swede Speed and Lockside Financial all taking turns at the head of the field.

By half distance, however, come-back Kings Ministry of Speed were back in the mix, with Regent Racing, Lockside Financial and Beatnik Racing all in close company. The rest of the field by this stage had dropped back nearly a lap over the leading four.

With 50 laps to go, it looked like a straight two-way fight between Ministry and Lockside. However, lap 128 saw the latter disappear off the leader board and drop out of contention, leaving Ministry in charge once again after their early race disappointment.

So at the flag it was Ministry of Speed, after an incredible come-back drive, who took the win by over a lap over Regent Racing and 2007 Intermediate finale winners, Loose Heads, in third. Rounding out the top 6 were HB Racing – an impressive climb from the back of the grid, Mini Racers and WBR. Lockside Financial recovered from their earlier disappointment to finish seventh.

2008 Intermediates

Rookies Rule at Buckmore

With the top few Inters teams from 2007 having been promoted to the new Clubman Championship, the 2008 season looks set to be extremely unpredictable and exciting. Indeed it was the relatively new team, “Drive Fast Don’t Crash” and reigning Rookie Champions, KAD Racing who dominated proceedings. The former going into the season opener as favourites for the Rookie Championship and leaving as potential candidates for the Intermediate Championship.

“High Times” took pole position followed by “Back to Reality” in second. There were a number of rookie teams in the mix as well but the following Intermediate teams were PK Sports, All Torque and Es Car Go. “Drive Fast Don’t Crash” and KAD Racing lined up 10^th and 11^th respectively.

All the leaders made it round the first corner unscathed. Among the early casualties were “2 Fat 1 Spurious”, BBM Racing and Team Ginsters.

“High Times” made good use of their pole position to pull out a good lead in the opening stint before being one of the first to pit for their first of five mandatory stops and ensuring they were safely within the newly introduce pit stop window.

The race quickly turned into a three horse race between “High Times” KAD Racing and DFDC, with Back to Reality posing a threat should any of the leading teams fall off. The gap fluctuated between many of the teams mainly due to different levels of speed in the pit lane.

After the penultimate pit stop, it was “High Times” with a narrow lead over DFDC, the latter doing a much better job in traffic. However, once in clear air, “High Times” managed to pull the gap out to a couple of seconds.

Nevertheless, DFDC managed to take the lead at the final round of stops and held on to a narrow 2.3 second lead over KAD racing. Long time race leaders, “High Times” seemed to lose out in the latter stage and could finish no better than third, less than 5 seconds behind the winners. “Genetically Modified”, “Roaring Forties” and “Back to Reality” rounded out the top 6. All of the top 6 finished on the lead lap, signifying how close this championship could be.

2008 Rookies

Wing Nuts Take Charge at Buckers

The wider spread of ability in the rookie championship, added to the unknown quantity of a large number of new teams competing, make this championship the most open and, in many ways, most exciting out of all the endurance series.

“All Show No Go” took pole position in class ahead of Signs Express, the impressive Altima, Team Ramrod and the aptly named “Rookie Racers”.

It was pole sitters “All Show No Go” who made the most of their pole position to lead round the first lap, with Altima jumping Signs Express for second. First lap casualties included “2 Fat 1 Spurious”, dropping to the very back of the field.

Signs Express took second back from Altima and the top 3 remained unchanged right up to the first round of pit stops. Lap 50 saw leaders “All Show No Go” drop off the lead lap and promoting Signs Express. Newbie’s Team Ginster, under the guidance of Premier Racer Alex Kapadia, were running strongly in second, despite a number of incidents during the course of the race.

The leading teams remained the same throughout much of the race. Further down the order, Team F70/100 had made good progress through the field and were closing in on the leading teams.

In fading light and with the temperature dropping and fatigue setting in, we suddenly lost “All Show No Go” and Altima. With only a couple of laps to go, Signs Express also dropped off from the lead, handing the win to Wing Nuts and Team Ramrod, who appeared to come from nowhere.

It was an impressive performance from Team F70/100 with guest Ross Humtage standing in for regular driver Lincoln Redding. John Muscroft started and got the team up to 13th before pitting. Ross Humtage then drove smoothly and consistently first time out in a Club 100 kart to finish 5^th in class.