Junior Grand Prix at Rogue Racing - 2009
3rd January:
With sub-zero temperatures this weekend, it was decided not to attend the start of the Winter season at Rye House, this left Geri free to start the season at Rogue Racing instead.
The new year brought with it an excellent turn-out as 19 young drivers (and their parents) braved the cold to attend this first race of the season. Once of Geri's adversaries from Whilton Mill, Tom Hill, had turned up to join in, along with six other newcomers (William Tregurtha, Joe Sheraton, Ollie McGibbon, James Morrison and Ben and Harry Fryers. Add in Michael Langran (one race in December) and James McGibbon (raced once, last January) and there would be a lot in potentially inexperienced drivers out on track. Now remember how cold it was out there, and the likelihood was lots of spinning and crashing karts.
With 19 drivers, 6 karts went out in each of the first two warm-up sessions, a seventh kart was added for the final session. As this was placed at the front of the line-up, predictably Geri jumped into it for the final warm-up session. With the only "cold" kart on track, it took three or four laps before Geri was able to build up any speed and start to shake off Jordan Donegan who had been chasing him round, but once warmed up Geri looked like he was going to be as competitive as usual.
Heat one saw an early start for Geri, but back in 4th place on a grid that read Michael Langran, Jack Macaulay, James Morrison, Geri, Luke Doig and Joe Sheraton. So already a chance for Jack to put Geri under pressure. Geri came out of the 1st corner in 3rd place having moved past James, but by the end of lap one, completed under yellows, it was Jack, Geri and Luke out in front. The drivers remained under yellows for two laps, Geri sitting close behind Jack as they slowly eked out a gap on Luke back in third. On lap 8, Jack and Geri caught up with Joe but as they lapped him, so Geri got by Jack to take the lead and go on to win the first heat. Geri set fastest lap (27.12) on his final lap, amazingly this did not get beaten again by anyone until the final! The other drivers finished Jack (27.44), Luke (27.56), Michael (28.16), James (28.24) and Joey (28.64), 1 lap down.
For the first time ever, Matt Hayes was not on pole for the first heat, this time he had to settle for pole in heat 2 for his opening race with Harry Macaulay, Guy Grigsby, Brandon Wilson, Jordan Donegan and James McGibbon lined up behind him. The lack of grip was showing with incidents everywhere, after 2 laps Guy had hit the front but closely followed by Brandon, Matt and Harry. Brandon passed Guy on lap 3 and started to pull away, the gap was 3 seconds by the end of lap 6. Matt was chasing Guy hard and finally found his way past on lap 9 just before the yellows came on again. Brandon crossed the line forst on lap 10 with the final lap run under yellows. Fastest laps were Brandon (27.48), Matt (28.08), Guy (28.08), Harry (28.64), Jordan (28.20) and James McGibbon (33.20 and 3 laps down).
Heat 3 and a chance for Tom Hill to show his mettle starting from pole in front of Luke Doig, Michael Langran, Alex Milton and Ollie McGibbon. Tom got away first but with Luke right on his bumper and pressuring hard. They lapped Ollie on lap 4 but remained in close formation, Luke trying everything to get past Tom. On lap 9 they came up behind Alex and Ollie, this time Tom got by them both cleanly while Luke got stuck behind Alex finally setting Tom free for his first win. Fastest laps were Tom (28.32), Luke (28.32), Michael (28.28), Alex (29.76 and 1 lap down), and Ollie (34.36 and 3 laps down).
Heat 4 saw the grid line up as William Tregurtha, Jordan Donegan, Matt Hayes, Jack Macaulay, Ben Fryers and James Morrison. William ended lap 1 about a second in front of Jordan who was being chased by Matt. By the end of lap 2, Jack had closed right up on the Jordan/Matt battle making it a three way tussle for second place, this was playing into William's hands allowing him to remain unchallenged up front. On lap 4 Jack passed Matt and Matt ended up parked in the wall dropping him to last place. As a result of this incident, the yellows remained on for 2 laps and as they went out at the end of lap 6, William was three seconds clear from Jordan with Jack a second further back in third. Jack ran into the back of Jordan as they crossed the line at the end of lap 7, but Jordan remained in charge of 2nd place, the same thing happened at the end of lap 8. On lap 9 Matt moved up into 5th place passing James - he had been a long way back. William won the heat (a win in his first ever race here) while Jack just failed to take second from Jordan as they crossed the line side by side, with Jordan just inches in front. Fastest laps were William (27.64), Jordan (28.12), Jack (27.76), Ben (28.12), Matt (27.80) and James (28.96).
Heat 5, the grid was Sam Conn, Alex Milton, Tom Hill, Harry Macaulay, Harry Fryers and Guy Grigsby. It was all change by the end of lap 3 by which time Guy had moved from last to first, and was 7 seconds clear of Sam and Tom back in 2nd and 3rd. Tom got past Sam for 2nd on lap 5 but then the red lights came out and the race was halted. After the restart, Guy crossed the line at the end of lap 6 just 5 seconds clear of Tom. Harry M moved up into 3rd past Sam, who also then lost a place to Alex, but the race ended under yellows with no further change. Fastest laps were Guy (27.88), Tom (28.40), Harry M (29.16), Alex (29.36), Sam (29.40) and Harry F (29.92).
Heat 6, and Geri was back out again. This time he was starting 5th on the grid behind Joe Sheraton, Ben Fryers, William Tregurtha and Luke Doig with Michael Langran starting 6th. By the end of lap one, both Luke and Geri had got past Ben and William, and shortly after they passed Joe, but half way round lap 2, Geri passed Luke, Luke passed him back and then they both ended up in the wall - Geri was lucky enough to be able to move away under his own steam but Ben was now in the lead from Geri with Luke a long way back in 3rd after a 2 lap yellow period. Geri hit the front straight after the yellows went out, but the gaps closed up again on lap 5 under another yellow. Geri lapped Joe on lap 6 while Ben got stuck behind him, Luke took full advantage and moved up onto Ben's bumper. Luke passed Ben on lap 9 but then got put into the wall on the top straight bringing out another red light stoppage. Geri won from the restart by 10 seconds from Ben and Luke, fastest laps were Geri (27.60), Ben (28.44), Luke (28.52), Michael (28.36), William (28.52) and Joe (29.12 and 1 lap down). Two wins out of two for Geri from his worst grid positions of the day, but lap times were slow all round due to the large number of stoppages.
Heat 7, James McGibbon on pole from Harry Fryers, Sam Conn, Jordan Donegan, Brandon Wilson and Matt Hayes. Brandon edged the win being chased all the way round by Matt and only breaking free on the final lap. Jordan was some way back in 3rd place but for most of the heat was the fastest kart on the track, closing up the gap to second. Fastest laps were Brandon (27.48), Matt (27.84), Jordan (27.60), Sam (30.32 and 1 lap down), Harry (30.80 and 1 lap down) and James McGibbon (33.04 and 2 laps down). Brandon joined Geri at the top of the leader board with 2 wins from 2 heats.
Heat 8 and Geri's last heat. With Ollie McGibbon on pole from Geri, surely Geri had his best ever chance of winning all three heats, amazingly he has not done this at any previous round. Behind Geri was Joe Sheraton, Alex Milton and Tom Hill at the back. While Geri was thinking of going straight round the outside of Ollie from the start, caution would prove the more sensible option and it took to the end of the top straight of lap one for Geri to take the lead. From this position Geri was a stunning 5.5 seconds clear by the end of the first lap. Tom had moved up from 5th to 2nd place by the end of lap 2, but Geri was 7 seconds ahead by now. Geri lapped Ollie on lap 4 and by the last lap Geri had caught up with Ollie again. This time, Geri recognised he was more than 10 seconds clear of second placed Tom, so rather than risk a problem overtaking, Geri followed Ollie around for the last lap, some 2-3 seconds off Geri's previous pace. Fastest laps were Geri (27.48), Tom (28.04), Alex (29.76), Joe (29.80) and Ollie (1 lap down). Geri had won all three heats and was guaranteed pole in one of the semi-finals. As no-one else had got within 3/10ths of his fastest lap (achieved in the first heat) so far, it was likely it would be the first one.
Heat 9 and a similar draw for Brandon Wilson who could also win all three of his heats. Brandon was second on the grid behind James Morrison with James McGibbon, Ben Fryers, Jack Macaulay and William Tregurtha behind him. There was a big crash on lap 1 which caused the race being to be stopped under red lights. Brandon and Ben were well clear at this point so when the race resumed, they had a big lead over Jack back in third place. By lap 4 Brandon was 11 seconds ahead of Ben who was in turn 3 seconds ahead of Jack. By the end of the race this lead had reduced to 7 seconds while Jack closed up within a second of Ben leaving Brandon also with 3 heat wins out of three. Fastest laps were Brandon (27.88), Ben (28.04), Jack (27.56), James Morrison (29.36), William (29.40) and James McGibbon (31.04 and a lap down).
The final heat saw Guy Grigsby start from pole from Ollie McGibbon, Harry Fryers, Harry Macaulay and Sam Conn. At the end of the first lap, Guy led by a second from Harry M with Harry F 6 seconds further back. With a clear track, Guy was pulling away and lapped Ollie at the end of lap 6. Held up a little in doing so, Harry M closed the gap to 5 seconds, but a late yellow dropped the gap to just two seconds. The race finished under yellows so a win for Guy from Harry M, Harry F, Sam and Ollie two laps down.
Positions after the heats were Geri 24, Brandon 24, Guy (with two wins) 22, Tom 22, Jack 19, Luke 19.
Semi final one saw Geri on pole from Guy, Jack, Ben, Harry Macaulay and Michael Langran. Geri was a second clear of Guy and Jack by the end of lap 1, and increased the gap to 1.8, 2.3, 3.5, 4 and then 5 seconds by the end of lap 6. Jack finally got past Guy on lap 7 but as a result of the manouevre, Guy fell to last and out of contention for a final place. Geri rattled off the four final laps in the 27.3s to win by 6 seconds from Jack with Ben bringing up third place and making the final at his first attempt. Fastest laps were Geri (27.32), Jack (27.44), Ben (27.76), Michael Langran (28.04), Harry Macaulay (28.20) and Guy (27.84).
Semi final two saw Brandon on pole from Tom, Luke, Matt, Jordan and William. Matt passed Luke for third at the end of the top straight, Luke got back by Matt coming off the top part of the track, then Matt tried to pass Luke again at the next corner leaving Luke stuck in the wall. Matt was black flagged for this incident while Luke dropped to last place. By the end of lap three Brandon led from Tom and William with a big gap back to Jordan and Luke. Luke passed Jordan for 4th place on lap 4 but when William crashed on lap 5 the race was red flagged. This incident put Luke back into 3rd place from the restart, but some 6 seconds behind Tom who was second, 4 seconds behind Brandon. William got by Jordan but then promptly spun allowing Jordan to reclaim 4th place but a following crash saw William's kart lose a wheel and Matt moved up into 5th place. The race was red flagged again so William could change karts, this would work in Geri's favour - the spare kart was destined for the pole sitter in the final and would have colder tyres than the others in the race! The semi final finished with no further change - Brandon won with a fastest lap of 27.56 from Tom, Luke, Jordan, Matt and William. A measure of Luke's fight back from 6th to 3rd was he set the fastest lap of the race and second fastest of the day so far at 27.28. Just as well for Geri that Luke didn't win or Luke would have had pole in the final.
So to the final, Geri on pole from Brandon (and both had won 4 races from 4), Jack, Tom, Luke and Ben. Geri led from Brandon, Jack and Luke (who had passed Tom) by 0.5 second on the first lap, but the three pursuers were fractionally quicker on lap 2. Geri pulled out another 0.5 second on lap three but Brandon and Jack were 0.08 quicker on lap 4, so Geri wasn't having it all his own way. Geri put the hammer down on lap 5 with the second fastest lap of the day (27.16), then after a 27.52 on lap 6 which allowed Brandon to gain a tenth momentarily, Geri then finished the race with laps of 27.16, 27.16, 27.28, 27.16, 27.08 (new FTD), 26.92 (final FTD), 27.20, 27.20 to win for the tenth month in a row from Brandon and Jack, with Luke fourth, Tom 5th and Ben a distant 6th. Geri had achieved the 10 fastest laps of the day, 9 of them in the final and 8 of them as the final 8.
So 2009 starts as 2008 ended, with Geri on top of the podium, and just as Luke did last season, Geri starts the season with a maximum 40 point haul. Rather than add to his medal collection, Rogue Racing had provided trophies for the three podium places so thats more space needed in Geri's trophy cabinet. The good news for the other drivers is Geri will not be contesting the full season and therefore will not be able to repeat his championship success of 2008. The bad news is Geri will be entering the February and March rounds and trying to complete the "Geri slam" - a full year of victories. It is up to the other drivers to raise their game and stop him.
