So, BRKC 2022.. An event of two halves for me in every sense of the word!
First up was practice on Friday, and this more or less went to plan just getting familiar with the karts, circuit and pit stop procedure. I drove karts 10 and 13 and both felt ok, and so was able to more or less set competitive, consistent lap times.
With the luck of the (heats) draw, I found myself with two races on the Saturday, and two on the Sunday, which I was thankful for ..
In my first race (driving kart 15, I think) I qualified 3rd which I was pleasantly surprised with, and subsequently crossed the line in 3rd when the chequered flag fell twenty minutes later -
Now, if someone had offered me that the day before I’d have bitten their hand off, but in reality I should have finished in 2nd place and therefore I was a little disappointed, although I only had myself to blame ..
In the race the leader, the guy in 2nd and I broke away from the others fairly quickly and I was able to comfortably stay with the second-placed driver as we came up to lap back-markers (a rare phenomenon in BRKC..). Sensing an opportunity to try an under-cut, I pitted but failed to notice one of the new / slower competitors in the pits ahead of me. Consequently, I ended up having a terribly slow stop and lost a chunk of time and with it my opportunity to gain 2nd place. By the time he’d pitted a few laps later I was several corners behind, and only just ahead of the driver in 4th, and that’s how things stayed until the end. So 3rd was a bitter sweet result but at least I was off to a good start ..
The 2nd and 3rd races were due to take place on an alternate track layout, which historically has never been kind to me, so again I was as surprised as anyone to qualify and finish 4th in my next race (driving kart 14), which turned out to be fairly uneventful, although I’ll admit I was being caught towards the end
My results from day one may well have led to a false sense of confidence, but none the less I felt I’d prepared well and therefore it was a bit of a reality check on Sunday when in my 3rd race (again on the alternate layout, which no one had driven prior to the weekend) I qualified stone-last in kart 10..
Yes, the same kart I’d felt so comfortable with on Friday.
I didn’t feel like I did anything particularly wrong in the race but did think that the kart lacked a bit of acceleration. I only managed to gain one place by over-cutting the driver in 9th, but that was of little consolation. Turning my attention to the results of the following races, it appeared that both karts 10 and 13 were struggling a bit, so it was just my luck to draw kart 13 for my final race -
What are the chances?
(No, seriously- Of the whole fleet, on my second day of racing I randomly draw the two karts I’d already driven on Friday?!)
I opted to re-draw a kart from the spares allocation and ended up with kart 8, which seemingly hadn’t been used all day. It was a risk but one that I felt was worth taking, especially considering my last race would be on the regular circuit layout..
As it turns out, I could only qualify in 6th place and finished 7th after being overtaken at the start of the race (by someone that had clearly under-performed in quali) and that, as they say, was that!
So, as stated, very much an event of two halves for me -
Whether I over-performed on day one or was flattered by less competitive drivers, or got unlucky with kart selection on day two I’ll never know, but I still had an awesome time and it was great sharing the track again with so many talented people from around the world (we even had drivers from as far away as Georgia, USA competing!)
Sadly, I missed out on my goal of finishing in the top 50, but there’s always next year ..
As always, a huge thanks goes to the team at Formula Fast and Brad Philpot for putting on such an incredible event, James Auld and the crew at Scruffy Bear Media, and a huge congratulations to the top 3 drivers: Sean Michael, Ruben Boutens and Lewis Manley - All unstoppable in their own way. A big well done to all of the other South West and Wales drivers too! We did the region proud :D
Catch you later
Ben
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