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• 2007

Junior Grand Prix at Rogue Racing - 2008

2nd August:
Summer holidays! Looks like a number of the drivers were away as there were only seven entrants for the August round. Plainly running the usual format (3 heats with six drivers in each) wasn't going to work. Someone at Rogue Racing was thinking on their feet and suggested a 100 lap endurance race with a break at 50 laps, and a 10 minute qualifying session. The young drivers received this suggestion well.

Qualifying started with most of the main protagonists present - there was Geri, Luke Doig, Jack Macaulay, Tom Robilliard, Guy Grigsby, Matt Hayes and Harry Macaualay. The first six are all experienced karters now and all capable of winning races. Only William Barker (currently 3rd) was missing from the top 7 in the series so far.

Qualifying went well for Geri, he was soon setting the pace. He also showed a maturity unexpected of a 9 year old when caught up behind 3 drivers all battling for track space, and all running at a pace slower than Geri can run. Two or three times after catching up the group, rather than waste time trying to pass all 3 to get a clear track again, he dropped back creating a gap himself, before responding with a quick lap or two. On lap 13 of the 19 run, Geri set the mark at 27.05s. Four laps later Jack looked to threaten as he got down to 27.22s but as qualifying ended, the grid position was to be Geri, Jack, Guy, Luke, Tom, Matt and Harry.

Somehow this didn't seem to translate to the grid, and Luke and Guy were interchanged on the grid - which would have helped Luke no end as Guy is one of the hardest drivers to pass.

Geri got off to a good start and was followed into turn one by Jack, Luke, Guy. Matt made a move on Tom coming off the top straight and moved up into 5th place. Geri showed his intent on lap 2 setting a 27.06s lap and already had built up a 1 second lead over Jack who was being closely followed by Luke. Already these three were making a break with Guy, Tom and Matt (Tom soon repassed Matt) having their own separate race a couple of seconds further back. Geri was pulling away from Jack ever so slowly, every now and again Jack would peg Geri back for a lap before Geri resumed the practice of doing slightly faster laps.

On lap 9 Geri came up behind Harry and lapped him for the first time. By lap 11 Geri led Jack by 2.2 seconds, with the gaps from Geri back to Luke, Guy, Tom and Matt at 4.40, 6.93, 15.23 and 16.21 seconds - Guy had broken free of Tom and Matt while they swapped positions. Five laps later the gaps back from Geri were 3.09, 6.29, 10.73, 20.82 and 21.21 with the field (bar Tom and Matt) beginning to spread out.

Geri set a new FTD on lap 18 running 26.92 to Jack's 27.39 extending the lead again. On lap 20 Geri lapped Harry again, then on lap 22 he passed both Tom and Matt, but Jack running in clear track had brought the gap down to 2.06 seconds. Jack struggled to get past Matt who was running 2 seconds a lap slower than Geri. On lap 24 both Jack and Luke (who took advantage of Jack being slowed) lapped Matt. Geri was now 4.79 seconds clear of Jack, 6.74 back to Luke and 13.53 clear of Guy.

On lap 30, Jack caught Tom and followed him around for a lap before getting by, on the same lap Geri lapped Harry for the 3rd time. The gap was now 5.55 seconds. Clear of Harry and knowing Jack would soon pass Harry, Geri put the hammer down and clocked 26.87 on lap 32 extending his lead over Jack, Luke and Guy to 6.20, 8.71 and 17.60 seconds. But it all went wrong as a long yellow light session saw Geri slowed twice allowing Jack to gain almost 5 seconds. The gap was just 2.8 seconds after lap 39. On lap 41 Geri lapped Guy (a lot more easily than he usually passes him) but then took a while longer to lap Matt again, finally passing him on lap 44. With Jack running in clear air, the gap was now down to 1.8 seconds, with Luke a further 12 seconds back.

The following lap, Jack lapped Matt but found himself stuck behind Guy. At the 50 lap mark, the chequered flag was shown to Geri who finished 5.08 seconds clear of Jack (fastest lap 27.14) and 18.61 seconds clear of third place Luke (fastest lap 27.35). Guy and Tom were a lap down, Matt two laps down and Harry was 4 laps behind Geri.

After a decent break to allow the drivers to take on food and liquid, and also to allow the karts to be refuelled, the second half of the race commenced. The drivers lined up in their finishing positions and although the lap counters continued from where they were, the gaps between the drivers were lost. Geri would have to do it all over again. This would be a battle of fitness and concentration now, as much as pure speed.

Very aware that the tyres would have cooled, Geri set off defensively and looked to be having trouble shaking off Jack and Luke who sat bumper to bumper behind him. On lap 59 Jack set his fastest lap of the day at 27.08, but Geri did 26.98 on that lap. After lap 60 (so 10 laps into this session) Geri only led from Jack and Luke by 1.14 and 2.35 seconds. Geri dropped into the 26s again on lap 67, with 26.99. The gaps had doubled now and were 2.48 and 4.38 seconds to Jack and Luke. On lap 72 Geri caught and lapped Matt, Jack caught Matt on lap 74 but didn't get past until lap 76. Geri now led by 3.44 and 5.58 seconds, but over the next three laps he pulled out 1.4 seconds on Jack, the 26.92 lap on lap 79 extending Geri's lead to 4.78 and 7.72 seconds.

On lap 81 Geri set his (and the) fastest lap, now down to 26.82. The gaps were now 5.37 and 8.43. Jack and Luke were not giving up and although Geri clocked 26.89 on lap 88 and took the gaps out to 5.94 and 9.45, he caught up with Guy and Tom who were running bumper to bumper. Geri passed Guy on lap 89, but took until 94 before he trapped Tom behind Harry as they both came up to lap him, then Geri passed Harry for the 8th time on lap 95. The gap was down to just 2.28 seconds with 5 laps left to go, but there were three karts between Geri and Jack. On lap 97 Geri lapped Matt while Jack passed Guy, but still had Tom to contend with. Geri took full advantage clocking 26.90 to Jack's 27.91 on lap 99 and 27.17 to Jack's 28.68 on the final lap to take the win by 4.82 seconds from Jack and finish 10.94 seconds clear of Luke in third. Guy finished 4th a lap behind, with Tom 5th (2 laps behind), Matt sixth (3 laps behind) and Harry 7th (8 laps behind). Luke put in his fastest lap of the day on lap 97 at 27.21 seconds.

So Geri won again, his 5th Junior Grand Prix in a row. But it was far from easy, over the 100 laps he beat Jack by just 9.90 seconds, an average of just 1/10th second a lap quicker! The drivers enjoyed the format change and will be hoping for a similarly low turnout next time in September. Geri might be in for a busy weekend as we hope he will make his race debut at Rye House that same weekend. He may have a healthy lead in the standings, but he's not far enough clear of Luke that he had afford a no-show. Currently with their two lowest scores dropped, Geri has 221 to Luke's 216. Jack isn't out of it on 201 points after dropping his lowest rounds.

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