Junior Grand Prix at Rogue Racing - 2008
1st November:
A good turn out with 15 drivers. Newcomers from last month Jordan Donegan and Sam Conn had returned, and a whole host of first time racers - Ben Humphrey, Patrick Harper, Fraser Earle, Sam Russell and Elliott Brown. Would any of these be quick?
Computer issues meant that no-one knew in advance which races they would be in, there would also prove to be other issues during the day - an unusual lack of discipline on the track with drivers not slowing for yellow lights, some even overtaking, and more aggressive driving than usual all going unpunished. And on the whole, not the fault of the new boys!
On a bitterly cold morning grip was always going to be in short supply. Geri went out for a quick warm up session in the second group, and even with warmed up karts, he was sliding all over the place. At least he looked on good form driving away from a field that included Jack Macaulay and Luke Doig, his main competitor.
Heat one, and Geri was out in action straight away. The grid lined up with Matt Hayes on pole from Luke, Geri, Jack, Fraser Earle and Sam Conn. On the drive round to the grid, Matt's kart was plainly not right so he swapped karts for one not used at all in the morning. So it was obvious with a stone cold engine and stone cold tyres he would not hold off Luke, Geri and Jack for long. And that's just how it turned out, and the end of the upper straight on the first lap Luke and Geri went past Matt. Jack got by coming out of the corner and got alongside Geri but Geri held him off. At the end of the first lap Matt's cold kart was evident, the order being Luke, Geri, Jack, Sam, Fraser, Matt. Three laps in and Luke, Geri and Jack had broken free of the following karts and were running nose to tail. Coming off the upper straight on lap 5 Geri launched an audacious move to pass Luke and looked to have made the pass cleanly, but as he braked for the next hairpin with Luke and Jack on his bumper, Geri ended up parked in the wall and down to third. The gap to the fourth kart was enough for Geri to resume in third place but well down. He pulled the gap back to 4 seconds from Jack by lap 6 but the race finished with Luke leading Jack by two lengths, and Geri a couple of seconds further back. Matt got back up to 4th place with Sam Conn fifth and Fraser Earle a lap down in 6th. Fastest laps were Geri (27.36), Jack (27.44), Luke (27.76), Matt (28.64), Sam (30.34) and Fraser (35.04).
Heat two was almost battle of the new boys, with Brandon WIlson on pole from Fraser Earle, Patrick Harper, Harry Macaulay, Sam Russell and Ben Humphrey. As expected, Brandon simply drove off into the distance to win by 7 seconds. Harry got by Patrick quite quickly but found getting past Fraser a more difficult proposition, allowing Ben to work his way through from 6th to join the battle for 2nd. But Harry's greater experience should showed as he got by for a comfortable second place with Ben third. Fraser finished 4th, a lap down while Patrick and Sam finished 5th and 6th, two laps down. So far the new boys were struggling. Lap times were low, fastest laps of the race being Brandon (28.24), Harry (29.12), Ben (30.12), Fraser (30.64), Patrick (32.24) and Sam (30.32).
There were just five drivers in heat three, lining up with Jordan Donegan on pole from Sam Russell, Matt Hayes, Elliot Brown and Tom Holland. Matt would be especially keen to perform after a disappointing result from pole in heat 1 and it showed. Matt moved past Sam on the first lap and chased after Jordan who was proving a match for anything Matt could do. On lap 4 they came together at the end of the upper straight and the race was red lighted. Matt used his experience to react quicker when the lights went out and got the better of Jordan, going on to win the heat with Jordan second, Tom third, and Elliot and Sam 4th and fifth, a lap down. Again, the cold was affecting the lap times, the best being Matt (28.48), Jordan (28.72), Tom (28.96), Elliott (30.56) and Sam (31.52).
Heat four and Geri was back out, but starting from 6th and determined to make up for the 3rd place in heat one. The grid lined up Sam Conn, Elliott Brown, Brandon Wilson, Luke Doig, Alex Milton and Geri. A crash on the first lap saw the order come out as Brandon, Luke, Alex, Geri. Elliot with Sam being dropped back. Geri moved past Alex and into 3rd on lap 2 but was already 2 seconds behind 2nd placed Luke. Another yellow light incident on lap 5 bunched up Brandon, Luke and Geri at the front, they all went by Elliot on lap 6. Brandon was slowly pulling away at the front while Geri tried to find a way past Luke. Finally, on lap 9, Geri got by but fished second to Brandon by a second (Brandon taking his second win in two heats), with Luke third on his bumper. Alex finished some way back in 4th while Sam and Elliot were a lap down. Geri's fastest lap from heat 1 still stood as FTD, the best in this heat being Brandon (27.44), Geri (27.60), Luke (27.84), Alex (30.96), Sam (30.16) and Elliot (30.88).
Heat five, the grid was Ben Humphrey, Alex Milton, Jordan Donegan, Fraser Earle, Jack Macaulay and Patrick Harper. On the very first corner, 3 karts ended up in the wall, the time taken to retrieve these meant that Ben, Alex and Jack (who had got by all three crashed karts!) were already a lap ahead. Jack got past Alex on lap 3 and took over the lead from Ben on lap 5 to win by 6 seconds from Ben and Alex. Jordan finished 4th, a lap down while Fraser and Patrick lost another lap before the end. Fastest laps were Jack (28.06), Ben (29.08), Alex (30.56), Jordan (28.48), Fraser (30.48) and Patrick (30.24).
Jack was back out in heat six, this time starting second behind Tom Holland, with Sam Conn, Sam Russell, Harry Macaulay and Matt Hayes filling 3rd to 6th on the grid. Predictably Jack took the lead before the end of the first straight but in a race with multiple yellow lights and poor discipline, the heat was stopped on lap 3 to give the drivers a telling off. Somehow Jack fell back to 3rd, but within a lap was back out front again. Matt had moved through the grid up into second, but there was another red light on lap 6 and another telling off as all the drivers were bunched back up again. Matt tried to pass Jack on lap 9 hitting him hard in the process, but Jack carried on to take his second win with Matt second from Harry, Tom, Sam Conn and Sam Russell. With barely a clear lap all race, fastest laps were Jack (28.00), Tom (28.32), Matt (28.48), Harry (28.56), Sam C (29.68) and Sam R (32.28).
Geri on pole for heat 7, but not in a great position. Jack is on 23 points from three races, Brandon on 16 (from 2), Luke 14 (from 2) and Geri (13 from 2). The rest of the grid lined up behind Geri as Harry Macaulay, Ben Humphrey, Elliott Brown and Brandon Wilson back in 5th or just five drivers. Brandon only needed 3rd place to shut Geri out from a top two placing and a pole position in either of the semi-finals. Geri got away cleanly and never looked like being caught while Brandon was already up to that all important 3rd place by the end of the first lap, just 2 seconds behind Geri and Harry. Brandon got past Harry on the last lap to take second and tie with Jack on 23 points, and lead the scoreboard by virtue of faster lap time than Jack. Geri won by 6 seconds, Ben finished 4th while Elliot was three laps down. Fastest laps were still way off normal pace with Geri and Brandon (27.60), Harry (28.32), Ben (29.92) and Elliot (31.44).
One heat left - Brandon and Jack on 23 points, Geri back on 21. Luke could get to 22 if he won the final heat, or 21 with second, but Geri's first heat fastest lap would likely give him 3rd in that case. So Brandon and Jack on pole for the semi-finals, Geri out with Brandon if Luke failes to win the heat, or with Jack if he does! At this point Jack was heard to say he wanted Luke to finish second because he knew Geri would have him on the first corner!
Luke would start 4th from the final heat, but with respect to the other drivers who were much less experienced, with Patrick Harper on pole, then Tom Holland, Alex Milton, Luke and Jordan Donegan, Luke had to be favourite to win the heat. By lap two it all looked to be going to plan, Luke was already in second place but Tom wasn't going to give up the race win that easily. In fact it took Luke until the final lap, coming off the bottom straight, to get past Tom and take the race win and 3rd on the scoreboard.
Semi-final one proved somewhat controversial. Brandon started on pole from Luke, Matt, Jordan, Ben and Sam Conn. Brandon and Luke were already two seconds clear on lap 2, had extended the gap back to 3rd to 4 seconds by lap 4. Luke made his move on lap 6 to take the lead. Matt and Jordan had been fighting over 3rd all race long, on lap 7 they both ended parked in the wall at the start of the upper straight, Matt's kart broken. At least this time he wasn't given a stone-cold kart as the marshalls rushed round the track warming up a replacement. But from the restart, the computer gave out, not recognising Luke any more! The marshalls called for a restart from the beginning!
More controversy from the restart, Luke sitting second on the grid moved over to the right to defend any lunge from third placed Matt (as is normal) but Matt kept going and got squeezed into the wall allowing Jordan to pass him for 3rd from the start. Once again Brandon and Luke were setting the pace, four seconds clear of 3rd placed Jordan by lap 4, eight seconds clear by lap 8. Only Luke couldn't get past Brandon this time and was getting frustrated. Another visibly frustrated driver was Matt, after his bad start he was right on Jordan's bumper but unable to get past. Brandon went on to win the heat and a front row place in the final from Luke with Jordan holding off Matt for the last place in the final. Fastest laps were Luke (27.36 - finally matching Geri's FTD from heat 1), Brandon (27.52), Jordan (27.92), Matt (28.00), Ben (29.11) and Sam C (29.52).
So 27.52 to beat for the winner of semi-final 2. Jack was on pole from Geri, Harry Macaulay, Tom Holland, Alex Milton and Elliot Brown. Jack was right to be concerned about Geri starting from second, in a repeat of last month's final, Geri took a wider line round the first corner, cut inside at the start of the upper straight and got a slingshot past Jack leading into the next corner - and that was race over? On lap two Geri booked pole for the final with 27.20 before a succession of quick laps culminated in a pair of 26.96. By lap 9 Geri had a comfortable lead over Jack who was plainly unhappy with his kart - he later reported it was pulling to the left. Just when it looked like it was in the bag, disaster struck. Geri cam eup to lap Alex Milton and as had been the case with some of the slower drivers all day, he was to prove a little less predictable than the more experienced drivers. Geri went to pass but ended backwards in the tyre wall at the beginning of the lower straight. Jack closed up to within a second before Geri managed to get going again, but he got his head down for the final laps, passing Alex cleanly a couple of laps later and leading Jack across the line by 4 seconds, with Tom having got the better of Harry to take that last slot in the final.
With placings on the rows being decided on fastest laps in the semi-finals, Geri was on pole for the final from Brandon, Luke had gone faster than Jack to take third from Jack, with Tom starting 5th and Jordan 6th in their first final.
Starting from pole, Geri is always favorite (he has never lost from pole), the main action was behind him. Luke got by Brandon on the first corner and Jack followed him through. While was faster on the first lap, Luke and Jack were 0.08s faster than him on lap 2, but it was a brief relief for them as Geri pulled out .2s on lap 3 and started relentlessly pulling away. Geri led Luke and Jack (bumper to bumper) by two seconds after lap 7, the halfway point. Luke and Jack were setting a good pace and Brandon couldn't stay with them, falling 3 seconds back by lap 7.
Luke looked like he was slowly edging away from Jack, but then Jack pulled back 1/4 second on lap 9. For the next four laps the front three raised their game, the lap times for Geri, Luke and Jack were as follows:
| Lap | Geri | Luke | Jack |
| 10 | 26.96 | 27.12 | 27.28 |
| 11 | 26.96 | 27.20 | 26.96 |
| 12 | 27.12 | 27.12 | 27.04 |
| 13 | 26.88 | 27.12 | 27.04 |
One lap to go and Geri caught up with Tom running at the back. He had enough of a lead not to take any chances, his 28.08 last lap as he followed Tom across the line being enough to win the final by 2 seconds with Luke just ahead of Jack for second. Brandon finished in 4th some 7 seconds behind Geri, while Jordan got the better of Tom for 5th place.
Geri finished the day on 37 points as did Luke while Jack and Brandon scored 36. With two lowest scores to be dropped, Geri cannot be caught and is now the 2008 Champion, deservedly so as he has won the event 8 months in a row now, The battle for second could hardly be closer, Jack leads Luke by two points, but Jack will drop three more points from the 11 races so far. So effectively Luke leads Jack by one point and has won 2 Grand Prix this year to Jack's one. Its going to be exciting! Send comments to: webmaster@nyssaracing.com
