Junior Grand Prix at Rogue Racing - 2008
5th April:
After Geri's return to form last month, we were hoping for this event to go well. First surprise was that 2008 series leader Luke Doig was missing, unable to make this event. Second surprise, was that disappointly, only 10 drivers arrived to compete in this month's event.
Third surprise of the day was that for the first time this year, Geri got a favourable draw. Pole position for his first race (Geri has never lost a race he started on pole), then 3rd on the grid with Jack Macauley on pole, and finally 6th (last) on the grid but with 3 less experienced drivers in front. Yes, Guy Grigsby was 5th on the grid for that race, and Geri has had problems getting past him, but if he could do so reasonably early in the race, surely Geri could get up to 2nd place?
Heat one saw Matthew Hayes win from pole, with Guy Grigsby setting fastest lap of 27.36 on his way to 2nd place from 2nd, with William Barker 3rd. Jack Macauley had started the heat from last but looked strangely out of sorts and laboured to reach 4th by the end of the race, passing David Woodfood and Nathan Beck. We found out later that Jack had a big accident racing outdoors and was a bit bruised and battered. Still, you have to take advantage when your adversary is struggling.
Heat two saw Geri start from pole, a first lap incident involving the other 5 karts gave Geri an unassailable lead right from the start, and he went on to win the heat by 9 seconds from Tom Robilliard (up from 4th) and Matthew Hayes 3rd from David Woodford, Ryan Hubball and Harry Macauley. Geri set a new fastest lap of the day at 27.20.
No rest for Geri as he was straight back out in heat 3. Geri started 3rd but was up to second on lap 2, passing Ryan Hubball, and set about chasing down Jack who started on pole. At the first of two yellow light incidents, Geri slowed down too much (again) and Jack took 4 seconds off him on one lap alone, but then Jack caught up with a backmarker and struggled to get by. This allowed Geri to catch right up again, and by the time Jack got by the backmarker, Geri followed him through on his bumper. Jack and Geri raced around for a couple of laps before another yellow light saw Geri slow again and let Jack take the advantage and win by 2 seconds. Geri was second, equalling the FTD (27.20) mark he set in the previous race. Guy Grigsby and William Barker both moved up one position to 3rd and 4th with Nathan Beck in 6th.
Heat 4 and Jack needed a result, which he duly delivered by winning the heat from 3rd on the grid. But not without drama as again Jack got stuck behind 6th place man David Woodford, unable to pass in his usual fashion. This allowed William Barker to close right up, equally Geri's FTD in the process, but Jack finally triumphed by 2 seconds from William, with Matthew Hayes moving up to 3rd from 6th on the grid. Harry Macauley dropped from pole to 4th, beating Tom Robilliard and David Woodford.
Final heat, Geri starting from 6th and needing 2nd place to head the points after the heats. Starting from 6th, the problem was likely to getting past Guy. By lap three though, Tom Robilliard was out front, with Guy second and Geri third - except that the score board showed Nathan Beck in front and having done a 7.2 second lap! This was brought to the attention of the organisers, but in the event, Nathan fell back to 5th on the scoreboard, and Geri got past Guy to take the second place he needed from Tom, and once again matched his earlier FTD. Ryan got back past Guy to take 3rd, with Nathan and Harry in 5th and 6th.
So after the heats, Geri was on 22 points (from 24), Jack 21, Matthew 20, Tom 19, William 18, Guy 18. Geri would start semi-final one on pole, and knew he needed to set fastest lap in both semi-finals to start on pole for the final.
A storming start saw Geri set 28.4 from a standing start, and was already 1.4 seconds clear after lap 1. He just drove off and left everyone behind him, on lap two Geri showed his intent with a stunning 26.88 second lap, a time he equalled three more times on his way to an easy victory by 9 seconds from Matthew with William third.
Semi-final two saw Jack pull away as expected. Geri had been prepared that in the event Jack beat his time and took pole for the final, he could bide his time until they caught backmarkers as Jack was having problems getting by. It was very prophetic advice, although it was the semi-final and Tom was the one to take advantage. On the very last lap Tom took an inside line coming round the final corner to take both Jack and the backmarker, and of course the outside spot on the front of the grid for the final. With lap times in this heat being very slow, Geri had earned pole position for the final.
The line-up for the final was Geri, Tom, Jack, Matthew, Guy and William. Geri had to be favourite, not only has he never lost a race from pole, he had just set 4 26.88 second laps and a number of 27.04s when no-one else had beaten 27.20 all day.
Things couldn't have gone better for Geri, another flying start and he was already 3 seconds clear at the end of the first lap. Jack had tried to pass Tom at the first corner, and as they both tangled, they were both slowed, and Matthew managed to take advantage and pass Jack for 3rd place. While Geri sat out front relentlessly pulling away at a second a lap, the other three were sat bumper to bumper slowing each other down. Geri matched his semi-final time of 26.88 five times during the final, then went quicker at 26.72 (three times) before finally setting the fastest lap so far in any junior event at 26.56, only 0.06 from Geri's best ever time. Geri finally won the final by 15 seconds from Tom, Matthew and Jack who were separated by less than a second.
With Luke not attending, Jack has moved into the series lead overall, with Geri in second, but there are still 8 more events to go and plenty of time for things to change. Luke has only dropped 6 points in the three events he has attended, and is still going to take some catching.
