Velocita Karting: 1st First

11 Jan 2010

I did see the chequered flag before anyone yesterday
when we had 6 karts racing together.

However, I am unsure if I can say that I actually won
a race, race.

Let me explain...

A typical kart race will have 3 parts to it, at least that
what we practice in Plentong.

To begin with, it's the Qualifying.
Just like most motorsports, anyone who grabbed the
fastest time during this period will start from pole position.
If you have the second fastest time, u start second from
the grid etc.

Yesterday, we drew lots to see who starts where.
Good old days of karting is back !

And I started in second.
Not too bad except that I will on the wider line prone to
being squeezed out of position at the very 1st corner.

Then, came the race itself.
Normally, we have 2 heats to settle a race.
Yesterday, we only have one heat.
So it's only half distance to what we would usually do.

One of the main reason is that we only can start close to
1pm when a fun kart event ended.
Thank goodness that we did not decide to race on 10 Jan.

The race started (about 3pm) when we have more than
the usual rolling start, and one of the reason is that Louis
kart had some problems and so we circled around the track
once or twice more.

Oh, the six of us in grid order are (if i recalled it correctly)
Graeme, me, Wai Chan, Kenneth, Louis, and a new guy
with a 100cc Vortex.

When we are going to start, I saw Louis sitting in his kart
and Jason was working on it near the pit area.
To be honest I did not know until very later that Louis did
managed to race after all.

I guess I just did not have time to be bothered about him
as the start is looming. Remember how I bitch about
how bad my start were?
This time it's not too shabby.

I managed to throttle well once the green flag is shown,
and I reckoned I could have forced a move on Graeme as
I think he went slightly wide on the hairpin.

But I elected to stay behind and see what will unfold.
It seems that after he adjusted his seat, the sweet handling
of the F.A. chassis had all gone!
So I thought I just had to get past him very soon
else I will be sucked into a battle of position with more
than just one kart.

At the start of lap 2, he went very wide again at the 1st
corner. I was just trailing behind getting and hoping I
will have more speed to get clear of him at the straights
that follow.
I had. That was very near to 180R.
It was a close clean move which I guess both of us
enjoyed the racing.

ah.. it was not over though. Graeme had looked for way
to get past me again at the downhill section.
I could see from the corner of my eye that he was just
behind by my right taking the tighter line which would
blocked my entry for the hairpin. I move slightly to the
right to block him taking that line. However I cannot stay
there as I would compromised my own entry for the spoon
section.
So I had to moved back to the left in order to position
myself just nice enough for the turn.

I could just lose the position there and then to Graeme
with me moving back to the left...
It will be not too bad should I concede the entry there,
because it will be better to have a faster exit in order to
ensure the climb to the spoon will not suffered.

Just as I was doing so from my left eye I could see
Graeme was there already!!
Gees... how did he got there to there in a split second!

I just had to concentrate for the hairpin that is
coming fast. I kept the lead making the turn 1st.

Before end of that lap, I turned just to see how close
Graeme was. About one to two kart length away.
Some breathing space.

3rd lap, just as I was completing the spoon section I
saw a cloud of dust blowing across the track..
hmmm
Not a good sign recollecting the quite serious accident
not too long ago.
Checking my 'six', strange, no one in sight.

4th lap, downhill after 180R. Yellow flag.
It seems Graeme is out. So was Kenneth.
I was told later that Kenneth hit Graeme after Graeme
slided wide at the downhill hairpin.

At this point, I was thinking how many of us are left in
this race??
The answer is 4, including me, which is unknown
until the race was over.

The rest of the race came in a blur or without much
incident except that I had to lap Wai Chan who is
struggling in a race kart 'loan' to him by Tony.

All I know was that I just have to drive the rest of the
laps in steady fashion without the need to push too
much. That what I did. Upon completing the 15 laps
Tony did a huge wave with the chequered flag.
I pointed my left index finger.

Honestly, it is very nice to finish in front of everyone
else.
But I would not go as far to say I had won a race.
Perhaps I will just note that I am just a tad faster than
anyone else yesterday, and lucky that I was not in any
sort of incidents.