January '13

And so, after a a few months in the karting wildnerness, I found myself back at my old hunting grounds at Teamsport Bristol for yet another round of Chase the Ace.

With temperatures barely above freezing and my long-suffering girlfriend in tow, it was nice getting re-aquainted with my fellow karters, including the dominant Dan Morris and his brother Lee, Darren Pearce and ex-Teamsport staffer Tom Davies, along with several other familiar faces.

Thirteen drivers had entered for the first round of the year, and my confidence wasnt high given I was feeling more than a little rusty, but the five miniute practice soon blew the cobwebs away and I was  confident in the kart I had been allocated.

Unfortunately qualifying didnt go to plan and although there were no major 'moments', I felt I didnt adjust very well to the qualy-kart and ended up 8th of 13, just ahead of Darren but not so confident of breaking into the top 5 given the calibre of some of the drivers ahead.

As expected, the 45 minute race turned out to be a tough affair, not helped by me losing two positions off the start after getting away poorly. I made my madatory stop about fifteen minutes in and although I was able to run close to Lee Morris and Tom at some point, I figured I wasnt anywhere near the top five once the pitstops had shaken out, and apart from some very questionable driving by some of the backmarkers, I had a relatively uneventful race. 

I eventually crossed the line in eighth place, a lap down on the leading cars and two places down on Darren. Althouth I was a little disappointed, I felt given the break Id had and the quality of the field, that perhaps 6th place would have been my maximum, and going forward I felt confident of being more competitive in future rounds.

The race was won once again by the Ace Dan Morris, followed home by Tom Davies, a well deserved result and apart from some questionable defending, a fun night was had by all.

Coming up through Feb/March, I had the final round of Chase the Ace, the BRKC round at the fantastic Hereford raceway followed by a 2-hour Iron Man event at Teamsport  to look forward to, and I'll be sure to keep you posted on results and anything else motorsport related I get up to!

Until next time..