This is a charity event organised by Whilton annually because there are 5 weeks available this April, so the club use the extra week to good effect. The event attracted a smaller than normal field, but most who attended in the TKM classes were front runners in both MotorsTV and the Super 1 National Championship. As current championship leader, Mike was expected to be a leading contender, and didn't let the spectators down.
The format was different, with a timed qualifying where Mike was last, as his spark plug failed on his second lap, follwed by a 30 lap pre-final and the proper Final. Starting from the back of the grid in the Pre-Final, Mike managed to get to 5th place, which was as good as we wanted. At Whilton you don't want places 2 or 4 as you always get pushed out onto the grass. It's a weakness of the circuit and something that should be addressed.
As anticipate in the final, Karts in positions 2 & 4 didn't make the first bend, and Mike was soon into second place. Karts in positions 4 & 6 made a chain of 5 Karts for the first 10 laps, with places changing on a regular basis. The final lasted over 30 laps, which is twice the normal race distance and over 20 minutes of driving at or near lap record pace.
With such close racing, it was all down to mechanical reliability and driver fitness. The first 'package' to fail was a chain guard on Luke Caudles Kart. He received the mechanical flag and after a few laps came into the pits. We believe this is the first time Luke has been beaten at the circuit this year. By then Mike was back in front and looking to gain a well earned victory, but unfortunately he sucummed to a late braking move by Will Reed with about 10 laps to go, which snapped a bumper bolt.
The bumper was secured to the chassis by a tie wire, so couldn't fall off, but it did affect the handling, and he dropped to forth. With 3 laps to go and no change to the bumper, Mike was then given a mechanical warning. According to the rules he had 3 laps in which to come in and get it checked. The final flag was produced, and Mike checked by the scrutineers and passed. By this stage Mike had dropped back to forth, so was off the podium, so no pictures I am affraid.
Then to his suprise and that of his manager David Klaassen he was called to the Clerks office!
After 20 minutes of a debate where the Clerk made several wrong assumptions and conclusions, he fabricated a reason for Mike to be excluded and given 4 points. This was in the opinion of the team and his fellow competitors totally out of order, particularly at a Charity event. I would have been worth protesting at a National level, but as the appeal money would have gone to the MSA rather than the Charity, Mike just accepted it as fate.
We do find it strange that in the 5 years of Karting, Mike has only ever received points at Whilton, and never for bad driving, while he has been removed from races a number of times and no one has ever been called up to account for their poor driving.
It's silly actions like this that make you wonder why you do it, and when you see clubs struggling for entrants. More to the point actions like this don't help to encourace new blood. Spectators were bemused why Mike was excluded as at no time was the bumper dangerous and he came in after seeing the flag twice. Any more poor decisions like this and Karting will be one driver less in 2008, or possibly even sooner if luck like this continues!
We now have a two week break before the next round of Super 1, as Mike has decided to drop doing the club rounds at Kimbolton and probably at Whilton in future as the risk of gaining more silly points out weighs the benefits of winning a club championship.
Monday 30 April 2007
Wednesday 25 April 2007
WHILTON MILL APRIL TABLE AND FINAL RESULTS
Please find here the link to the Whilton Mill site. Rather than copy and paste it, its much more accurate to use their file. Interesting to note the lap times in the Final, which were very similar to Super 1 times, so Whilton Mill is was obviously attracting a very good field of drivers.
Monday 23 April 2007
WHILTON MILL ROUND 4 APRIL 2007
Sadly a familiar sight on Sunday was Mike pushing his Kart! Once again, Mike was the quickest in practice on Saturday and although he was using it as a test session for next weeks Brazilian Cup, he was pleased to be going so quickly on tyres he had used in the last two rounds of Motors TV. The lap record is 39 seconds, and Mike was consistently doing laps of 39.2 all day.With his main rivals Luke Caudle and Martyn Lyall not at the meeting, Mike was just focussed on getting more points than Lewis Scouthern in order to stay on top of the championship table. In the first heat Mike started last and had overtaken half the field, when he was driven off the track. The picture above shows him starting again, but at the back. In heat two he led from the flag and pulled out a large lead and set the fastest time of the day. In the final heat he started towards the back, but came through to 4th within the 8 laps, so was placed 10th for the final. Lewis had ended up in the B final. but drove well to win that and be placed in the A final with Mike.
At the start there was the usual TKM pushing from the back, and while Lewis came through from 30th to 13th, Mike dropped down to 12th to avoid the carnage about him. He then proceeded to work his way through the field, slowly dropping Lewis as he and fellow Super 1 driver Lloyd Ellison worked together cutting back the leaders. Mike said that the plan was to assist Lloyd to get to the front and then to challenge him if time allowed. Sadly with half the race to go, and the leaders just a few kart lengths ahead, the ignition failed and left him stranded. A podium was a certainty and victory probable. Without Mikes support Lloyd then came under attack and an overtaking move took him out. Lewis took advantage of the two places he gained and now it will be a close decision as to who officially leads the championship. The table will be posted as soon as it becomes available.
Let us hope that Mikes luck will return next week.
Thanks go to Dave Klaassen, who acted as mechanic for him at short notice. Best wishes to Danny Allin, who is recovering in hospital following an accident at work and to Jeff for keeping the team organised and on task. Once again the TEC-MEC was the chassis to be on, with young Billy Baxter also driving one very quickly this weekend. Mikes dad has now recovered so he can now drive, so hopefully his return to the circuit next weekend will bring Mike the luck he needs.
Monday 16 April 2007
OFFICIAL SUPER 1 TOP 10 IN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
SUPER 1 NATIONAL KART CHAMPIONSHIP
Posn # Name............... Llandow. Whilton Mill Total
1......7..Luke CAUDLE.........168...............188....356
2....47..James BEAN............ 176.............169....345
3... 26. James TUCKER.......174...............160....334
4......4..Daniel GRAHAM..........154.............168....322
5......8..Scott ALLEN..........164..............154....318
6....49..Marcus ALLEN........156................159...315
7....58..Michael COMBER......128................164...292
8....11..Ryan COLE.............152..............137....289
9....13..Chris RENWICK......144................144....288
10..77..James BARTLETT..169................114....283
This is after just 2 rounds. There are 4 more to come, and then the worst one can be dropped. At this stage , on dropped scores Mike would gain a place over Marcus Allen, so Mike need to keep his scores now above 128. The report below explains why it could have been higher, but 7th is as good as we could have hoped at this stage. Rowrah is next followed by rounds at Lydd, Shennington and Buckmore Park. At this stage most would concede that Luke Caudle Mike's former team mate at ARC last year is the hot favourite to win. With a better first round Mike would have been closer, and in the final at llandow, had it run another lap, Mike would have had another 20 points, placing him in 5th. Being his first season in Seniors along with Marcus Allen, they are both continuing their good form and potential from Juniors in 2006.
Posn # Name............... Llandow. Whilton Mill Total
1......7..Luke CAUDLE.........168...............188....356
2....47..James BEAN............ 176.............169....345
3... 26. James TUCKER.......174...............160....334
4......4..Daniel GRAHAM..........154.............168....322
5......8..Scott ALLEN..........164..............154....318
6....49..Marcus ALLEN........156................159...315
7....58..Michael COMBER......128................164...292
8....11..Ryan COLE.............152..............137....289
9....13..Chris RENWICK......144................144....288
10..77..James BARTLETT..169................114....283
This is after just 2 rounds. There are 4 more to come, and then the worst one can be dropped. At this stage , on dropped scores Mike would gain a place over Marcus Allen, so Mike need to keep his scores now above 128. The report below explains why it could have been higher, but 7th is as good as we could have hoped at this stage. Rowrah is next followed by rounds at Lydd, Shennington and Buckmore Park. At this stage most would concede that Luke Caudle Mike's former team mate at ARC last year is the hot favourite to win. With a better first round Mike would have been closer, and in the final at llandow, had it run another lap, Mike would have had another 20 points, placing him in 5th. Being his first season in Seniors along with Marcus Allen, they are both continuing their good form and potential from Juniors in 2006.
MOTORS TV TOP 10 OFFICIAL TABLE
MOTORS TV TOP 9 AS DICTATED BY ALAN TADDEI THE EVENT ORGANISER
NAME...........................................POINTS
LYALL...........................................394
TUCKER........................................385
CAUDLE........................................381
NAPIER.........................................378
BELL..............................................370
COMBER.......................................369
JONES...........................................354
REED.............................................343
MCCAULAY.................................339
Sorry to the other 12 entrants, but thats all we could collect for now.
NAME...........................................POINTS
LYALL...........................................394
TUCKER........................................385
CAUDLE........................................381
NAPIER.........................................378
BELL..............................................370
COMBER.......................................369
JONES...........................................354
REED.............................................343
MCCAULAY.................................339
Sorry to the other 12 entrants, but thats all we could collect for now.
MOTORS TV ROUNDS 3 & 4 AT ROWRAH
The team returned to their Kenilworth base just before midnight on 15th April exhausted and without any results documentation. This report is therefore based on a telephone conversation with Alan Taddei at 1am, so may need to be amended once the official information is published.
In brief, Friday Mike had a bug, and nearly didn't make the journey. When the team did get onto the track, there seemed to be another driver keen to wreck Mikes chances by bending his chassis with a touch of 'Super 1 afters' in untimed practice. Fortunately championship organiser, Alan Taddei stamped down on this threatening to exclude Martyn from the championship. After a handshake of appology, and showing some remorse for his stupidity, Martyn Lyall was allowed to continue and as far as Mikes team, Klaasen Motorsport were concerned, that would be the end to it.
As it transpired, it was fortunate for Martyn, as he continues to lead the championship, but alas the damage he inflicted on Mike and the Klaassen team was long-term as they then struggled to get him near the front all weekend. The chassis was twisted up and in by 4mm as the bumper was wrecked. When a new bumper and bolts were fitted, its gave the kart too much grip at the back in the bends so it was hard to release and it was 'crabbing' in the straights with too much drag. Mike was only 8th quickest in the timed qualifying. It was only a couple of tenths off the quickest, but with a quality field so tighly packed, that was 20/100ths, which could easily have been 20 places!
The TV footage will tell the complete story, but the championship leaders Mike and Martyn Lyell, started at the back, and a small mid-field crash at the start in front of them, following some 'loading', effectively blocked the track. It meant that the best drivers had a delay in getting round them, which allowed about a gap of 100 metres to quickly develop. Despite his best efforts, a top 10 finish was all Mike could expect. An attempt was made to straigten the chassis, but it needed to be re-jigged at the factory to get back the lost tenths.
Mike went into Sunday 5th in the championship, having dropped 10 vital points behind the new leader Luke Caudle. It was all very close as just 20 points covered the top 6. Wayne McCauley won on Saturday and also went on to win the Sunday round, as he was low down in the championship standings, and therefore benefitted from a start near the front, and again missed the 'loading'. Hopefully the organisers will now punish the driver or drivers doing this as its both dangerous and wrecks the chances of the more carefull starters.
Going into a race having a bent chassis meant that while Mike could plan to use his driving skills to over come the problem round the bends, but he couldn't drive drive round the problem in the straights, where the chassis was sapping up a lot of the engines power. Eventually the extra strain and effort needed to stay in touch, forced his carb to fail and he just had to sit in a track position to protect where ever he was in the race. So dejected with the overall performance, he can't recall where he finished, but we are assured that these are the championship points at the end of the weekend for the top 9. The top six from the first two rounds are all there, but the next three have made some gains.
1) Lyall 394 JKH
2) Tucker 385 JADE
3) Caudle 381 GILLARD
4) Napier 378 JKH
5) Bell 370 JKH
6) Comber 369 TEC-MEC
Still only a spread of 25 points cover the top places but the gap to the next bunch has reduced to 15 points. Unless Mike has a better result at the next round, that gap may dissapear. Mike now has the advantage that he is starting the next race in front of the top 5, so should make some progress, and may now be in reach of a podium, which from 20th in 12 laps is almost impossible.
7) Jones 354 JKH
8) Reed 343 GILLARD
9) McCauley 339 JKH
It would seem that so far the JKH chassis seems to have dominated the Llandow and Rowrah rounds. Interestingly no TONY or VENOM chassis, nor any ARC, TKM or CRG's. Perhaps their chance will come at later rounds. The next meeting is at Glan-Y-Gorse in north Wales, which is another proven JKH circuit, so Mike and those on the other chassis will have to improve matters. Mike is still the only driver in any National competition on a TEC-MEC, so the team are developing it alone, which is currently very frustrating.
Back to Whilton Mill this weekend for some light relief. Lets hope Mike still retains the championship lead in that, as the team have decided that any rounds at Kimbolton, will be for race chassis development. It would seem that Mike would have to miss too many of the rounds at Kimbolton, to be able to stand any chance of Championship victory there. The team tested the other chassis last month, and next month there is a potential clash with Super 1 practice, so we just going for the one club championship in 2007 and will now be attending the Brazillian cup.
Hopefully some pictures for this round may follow, but alas nothing much to celebrate!
In brief, Friday Mike had a bug, and nearly didn't make the journey. When the team did get onto the track, there seemed to be another driver keen to wreck Mikes chances by bending his chassis with a touch of 'Super 1 afters' in untimed practice. Fortunately championship organiser, Alan Taddei stamped down on this threatening to exclude Martyn from the championship. After a handshake of appology, and showing some remorse for his stupidity, Martyn Lyall was allowed to continue and as far as Mikes team, Klaasen Motorsport were concerned, that would be the end to it.
As it transpired, it was fortunate for Martyn, as he continues to lead the championship, but alas the damage he inflicted on Mike and the Klaassen team was long-term as they then struggled to get him near the front all weekend. The chassis was twisted up and in by 4mm as the bumper was wrecked. When a new bumper and bolts were fitted, its gave the kart too much grip at the back in the bends so it was hard to release and it was 'crabbing' in the straights with too much drag. Mike was only 8th quickest in the timed qualifying. It was only a couple of tenths off the quickest, but with a quality field so tighly packed, that was 20/100ths, which could easily have been 20 places!
The TV footage will tell the complete story, but the championship leaders Mike and Martyn Lyell, started at the back, and a small mid-field crash at the start in front of them, following some 'loading', effectively blocked the track. It meant that the best drivers had a delay in getting round them, which allowed about a gap of 100 metres to quickly develop. Despite his best efforts, a top 10 finish was all Mike could expect. An attempt was made to straigten the chassis, but it needed to be re-jigged at the factory to get back the lost tenths.
Mike went into Sunday 5th in the championship, having dropped 10 vital points behind the new leader Luke Caudle. It was all very close as just 20 points covered the top 6. Wayne McCauley won on Saturday and also went on to win the Sunday round, as he was low down in the championship standings, and therefore benefitted from a start near the front, and again missed the 'loading'. Hopefully the organisers will now punish the driver or drivers doing this as its both dangerous and wrecks the chances of the more carefull starters.
Going into a race having a bent chassis meant that while Mike could plan to use his driving skills to over come the problem round the bends, but he couldn't drive drive round the problem in the straights, where the chassis was sapping up a lot of the engines power. Eventually the extra strain and effort needed to stay in touch, forced his carb to fail and he just had to sit in a track position to protect where ever he was in the race. So dejected with the overall performance, he can't recall where he finished, but we are assured that these are the championship points at the end of the weekend for the top 9. The top six from the first two rounds are all there, but the next three have made some gains.
1) Lyall 394 JKH
2) Tucker 385 JADE
3) Caudle 381 GILLARD
4) Napier 378 JKH
5) Bell 370 JKH
6) Comber 369 TEC-MEC
Still only a spread of 25 points cover the top places but the gap to the next bunch has reduced to 15 points. Unless Mike has a better result at the next round, that gap may dissapear. Mike now has the advantage that he is starting the next race in front of the top 5, so should make some progress, and may now be in reach of a podium, which from 20th in 12 laps is almost impossible.
7) Jones 354 JKH
8) Reed 343 GILLARD
9) McCauley 339 JKH
It would seem that so far the JKH chassis seems to have dominated the Llandow and Rowrah rounds. Interestingly no TONY or VENOM chassis, nor any ARC, TKM or CRG's. Perhaps their chance will come at later rounds. The next meeting is at Glan-Y-Gorse in north Wales, which is another proven JKH circuit, so Mike and those on the other chassis will have to improve matters. Mike is still the only driver in any National competition on a TEC-MEC, so the team are developing it alone, which is currently very frustrating.
Back to Whilton Mill this weekend for some light relief. Lets hope Mike still retains the championship lead in that, as the team have decided that any rounds at Kimbolton, will be for race chassis development. It would seem that Mike would have to miss too many of the rounds at Kimbolton, to be able to stand any chance of Championship victory there. The team tested the other chassis last month, and next month there is a potential clash with Super 1 practice, so we just going for the one club championship in 2007 and will now be attending the Brazillian cup.
Hopefully some pictures for this round may follow, but alas nothing much to celebrate!
Sunday 8 April 2007
SUPER 1 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 2
Mike had a much better meeting this weekend. Provisionally up from 19th to 8th?
Qualifying was very close, and having blown his best engine up in practice, had to settle on 'The Donkey', which managed to get Mike 16th quickest out of approximately 50 entrants.
Three heats preceeded the finals, and with two 5ths and an 8th place, Mike was 3rd on the grid for the 'A' final. In the heats he set the fastest time of the day, so all was set for a good Final.
Always tricky at Whilton, position 2 is always at a disadvantage, so the line of 1,3,5 etc has an advantage if they work as a train. If you look back at the report from the last Whilton club round, you can easily get squeezed out, which was what happened to Mike then. From the lights Mike followed Luke Caudle into the first bend with James Bean from row three close behind. Martyn Lyall in position 2 found it difficult to break into the chain and rebounded off the karts of Mike and Beannie into the inside and onto the grass. Just a racing incident that unfortunately is far too common at this circuit. Martyn rejoined at the back and then made good progress through the field.
The contact although slight lifted Mikes kart off the ground so it landed heavily on the nearside front wheel. Mike continued up the hill, but struggled to turn in, allowing James Bean and another through. Mike soon adjusted to one wheel being slightly out and was fine in the bends, but the extra drag in a straight line lost him some time and after a few laps despite catching the front drivers, a late and inappropriate lunge on Mike by the driver then in 5th, took Mike off the track and onto the grass, only to rejoin towards the back of the pack.
The driver who had made the contact retired with damage a few bends further into the lap, so had gained nothing from his behaviour, but Mike plugged away, and despite his handling problems worked back to 10th by the finish.
Qualifying was very close, and having blown his best engine up in practice, had to settle on 'The Donkey', which managed to get Mike 16th quickest out of approximately 50 entrants.
Three heats preceeded the finals, and with two 5ths and an 8th place, Mike was 3rd on the grid for the 'A' final. In the heats he set the fastest time of the day, so all was set for a good Final.
Always tricky at Whilton, position 2 is always at a disadvantage, so the line of 1,3,5 etc has an advantage if they work as a train. If you look back at the report from the last Whilton club round, you can easily get squeezed out, which was what happened to Mike then. From the lights Mike followed Luke Caudle into the first bend with James Bean from row three close behind. Martyn Lyall in position 2 found it difficult to break into the chain and rebounded off the karts of Mike and Beannie into the inside and onto the grass. Just a racing incident that unfortunately is far too common at this circuit. Martyn rejoined at the back and then made good progress through the field.
The contact although slight lifted Mikes kart off the ground so it landed heavily on the nearside front wheel. Mike continued up the hill, but struggled to turn in, allowing James Bean and another through. Mike soon adjusted to one wheel being slightly out and was fine in the bends, but the extra drag in a straight line lost him some time and after a few laps despite catching the front drivers, a late and inappropriate lunge on Mike by the driver then in 5th, took Mike off the track and onto the grass, only to rejoin towards the back of the pack.
The driver who had made the contact retired with damage a few bends further into the lap, so had gained nothing from his behaviour, but Mike plugged away, and despite his handling problems worked back to 10th by the finish.
MOTORS TV Alan Taddei said 'At Whilton Mill, Luke Caudle continued his dominating form with yet another lights to flag win from Pole position at his favourite circuit, this time at the National S1 championship. Motors TV joint leaders Martyn Lyell and Michael Comber qualified P2 and P3 for the "A" final, but had a coming together through turn 1 which saw Lyell knocked down the order. Comber continued on with a bent chassis but was later knocked off himself when running 4th, recovering to finish 10th.'
The revised tables are not available just yet, but it is anticipated that Mike should now be above 10th in the championship if the results have all gone in his favour. At this stage any position in the top 15 will be a good basis for the remaining races.
Next week is a drive to Rowrah for the 3rd&4th rounds of the Motors TV challenge, which Mike is the joint points leader. Once again he will be up against Luke and Martyn plus Matt Bell and James Tucker who finished in the top ten today at Whilton.
Many thanks to the Wilsons etc and to Terry Langley and Jeff, for the extra special support today.
Obviously thanks again to Dave and Danny from Klaassen MotorSport for getting the kart to work. Excellent photos from Chris Walker as usual. Please checkout www.kartpix.net for more.
Tuesday 3 April 2007
SUPER 1 ROUND 2 @ WHILTON MILL 7/8TH APRIL
Just a reminder to all supporters/sponsors/enthusiasts, this weekend is the next round in the National Championship. Mike is currently in a lowly 20th after a combination of being taken out by drivers who should be more professional, and also the fact that Mike's dad was in hospital following two heart attacks.
Once again poor driving prevented Mike from winning at Whilton at the last club round, but he still sits on the top of the club championship, so we hope for a better series of results this weekend.
Last year as an Intermediate, Mike won all the heats and the final, so a repeat would be nice.
Once again poor driving prevented Mike from winning at Whilton at the last club round, but he still sits on the top of the club championship, so we hope for a better series of results this weekend.
Last year as an Intermediate, Mike won all the heats and the final, so a repeat would be nice.
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