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IMSD Racing's long and distinguished Club100 career came to an end on 17 November with a solid 8th place (from a 31 kart field) at the final round of the 2007 Premier Endurance championship at Rye House.
After 5 years, 11 race wins and 2 championships, the famous team is going to step aside from Club100, but Stephen, Eddie and Ian Wilson were pleased to go out on a high. They equalled the 8th place achieved at Shenington earlier in the year and put the team in 13th overall in the Premier Championship, confirming their position as one of the top 15 endurance teams racing anywhere in Britain today.
The day started wet and cold, with the kart showing questionable bottom-end performance in practice, but Ian qualified in 17th as the track began to dry. Eddie made a fine start, taking the team up to 12th place by the first stops, consolidated by Ian and Stephen and leaving the team challenging the top 10 by the end of the first hour. Good pit stops and a trouble free performance on track (IMSD hallmarks) put them in 9th with just 10 minutes to go when Eddie took over the final stint, chasing down championship rivals Cartman. A spin by under-pressure Cartman with just 5 laps left handed over 8th place, a deserved reward for IMSD.
"It hasn't really sunk in that IMSD has come to an end" said Wilson afterwards, "but it's been a great pleasure to be in the team over the last four years. I've learned a lot, become a better driver, and had a brilliant time". Eddie has paid further tribute to the team on his famous website www.eddiehall.co.uk. Stephen Deuchar added
"On behalf of myself and fellow team founder, Ian Miller, I'd like to thank everyone involved in making up this fantastic team for the last few years. Special thanks to Richard Hall for his patient support throughout, and also to Seth, who progressed from doing the pit signals aged 9 to driving for the A-team at Shenington earlier this year, aged 14. Life won't be the same now for any of us, but we'll all remember the IMSD years - 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007 - with great affection. Well, actually 2007 was a bit of a dog".
All drivers will soon be announcing their future plans. Eddie and Ian Wilson are securing other drives in the Premier Championship, and Stephen hopes to do a small number of endurance races with Double Esses. Seth will be undertaking a full season of Lightweight Sprints, and the semi-retired Ian Miller has said that he'd like to be part of a possible team re-union at the Le Mans 24-hour Kart race in July 2008. Watch this space. |
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