Round 1 - Eastern Creek 4.5 Hour
posted 27th February 2009 Wet and Wild!!!
Yes, the forecast was right for once! Rain was predicted two days prior and two days after the event, we didn’t stand a chance of a dry race.
An interesting welcome for all the new teams. Raw Racing and Havacrac returned after a year off, and in the wet/intermediate conditions Havacrac showed good speed in practice with a top ten time. Other notables in practice were Grey Ghost 2, Team Canberra and GTS all circulating with the top ten or so karts.
Qualifying was run in similar conditions with A grade first. Although the Briggs kart of Dynamite’s dominated the time sheet it was only the bride’s maid! The Honda’s still the main attraction would be more concerned about their qualifying speed! The top three separated by only two tenths, Mariner’s in 3rd just trailed Blind Men racing and B Two (interestingly all BRM’s). WAR were never going to be left behind in 4th with RAW and XLR8 not far behind.
B grade - With the top three from last year being elevated to A grade the B Championship would be interesting and at the least bloody exciting! Qualifying proved as much, with Ya Gotta Wanna taking top spot, great effort! Ice Tech 2nd, and a new team who’ve been watching from the sidelines for a couple of rounds, Skepsis driving into 3rd.
The race began under similar conditions, and would rain on and off for the remainder of the day. The interesting thing was the number karts that failed for one reason or another throughout the day. Some real contenders would have the worst possible start to the season! On the other hand some of the newer teams, and others who had decided to step up would do really well. Sky Racing (some would have as favorites for the B Championship) were one of the first surprising teams to fall, followed by Norwest and Team Canberra also top B teams. Just goes to show anything that can happen in Endurance Racing.
In A grade two top teams, Mariners and Baby Bonus would also suffer mechanical difficulties dropping them to the bottom of the order. Some teams had a much better day, Ya Gotta Wanna staying out of trouble finishing in the top 10 and SBT a huge effort for there first top ten finish in 9th and top 5 in B. GTS who have been knocking on the door for a while finish a credible 8th outright, and Dodgy Boys who were competing in there first race with the old Dynamite chassis had an impressive debut finishing 7th and 3rd in B grade. 2nd in B was the big surprise, MX-5 Mania who did a great job in XLR8’s Benson hire kart, and 1st on the day, B One!
In A grade more exceptional results from Ghetto and Toynton both stepping up from B grade finishing 4th and 2nd respectively in the top grade! DMP in a borrowed Phoenix from Darrell had an awesome result against the odds after their kart was not ready and one of their drivers burnt themselves before the start of the race finishing 3rd in A. In 1st place and with the best possible start to their campaign was WAR (what are they good for)!
Welcome also to Grumpy Mongrel, Starkey Motorsport, Palace Shakers and Sreniram all joining TEKA for the first time.
Bring on Round 2 at one of the countries best tracks over two days. See you on the 14th March! Newcastle will pull a huge field, and frankly there’s a bunch of us already talking about it! Can’t wait!
Newcastle Accomodation
If anyone is thinking of staying at the track there is a number of us who will be inside the facility when the gates are locked (seeing as we're not allowed to refer to it as camping). There a couple of alternatives below, you could grab another team and book together.
Ring Jesmond about their villas at Wallsend or Macquarie Apartments at Cardiff on 02 4955 5888 and let them know you’re from TEKA and would like to book a room for that weekend
Or
Cardiff Motor Inn 02 49546738
There is also a Formula 1 Motel which is a cheap, clean alternative. You can book online or by phone. If you go onto the net you’re after the one located at Wallsend. All these are within approx 10 minutes of the track.
Entries for Newcastle must be in by the due date or a late fee will definitely apply.
Justin Sydenham
For any details on this infectious category of go kart racing, lookgin for a drive or teams needing drivers, please feel free to call Justin Sydenham on 0417 330 229.
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