Junior Grand Prix at Rogue Racing - 2008
6th September:
After the last round turned in to an endurance race, this time it was back to normal service with an entry of 11 drivers, including 2 new entrants, Alex Milton and Chris G. Eleven drivers worked out at 6 heats, some with 5 and some with 6 drivers. Geri was drawn out to start heat two in 5th (of 5), then pole in heat 5 and second in heat six.
The first heat started with Matt Hayes on pole from Chris G, William Barker, Tom Robilliard, Brandon Wilson and Harry Macaulay. The first four broke free and ran in close formation before the leading three pulled out a two second gap over Tom in 4th. William Barker managed to get past Chris to take second leaving Matt to take the first win of the day. Fastest lap of the race was Tom with 28.04 even though he was back in 4th place.
Geri was out in heat two but starting in 5th place behind poleman Alex Milton, Brandon Wilson, Matt Hayes and Guy Grigsby. Guy is very difficult to pass but clearly Geri needed to get past him quickly if he was to have any chan ce of winning the heat - and Geri sure did that driving straight inside Guy off the grid and up into 4th. Brandon and Matt had already passed Alex on the first lap, Geri caught and passed Alex at the end of the first lap to move into 3rd. So far so good - but then disaster as a crash in front of Geri turned it all upside down. Matt came out of that last corner first while Guy managed to get through into second before Geri could get through - and as the yellow lights came on stopping Geri from fighting back immediately. Matt had a big lead by this point but by lap 6 the front four (Matt, Guy, Geri and Brandon) were now nose to tail, and stayed this way until the final corner. Two laps from the end, Matt caught up with Alex but was unable to lap him so all five karts were together. On the last corner coming round to the finish line, Brandon lunged inside pushing Geri outwards and he crossed the line in 3rd place by no more than a foot. Guy equalled the FTD on 28.04 while chasing down Matt, Geri's best was 28.20. So Geri started the day with a 4th place, not promising! And Matt was already on 16 points having won the first two heats.
Heat three saw Jack Macaulay start on pole from Guy, Alex, Chris, Luke and William. By the end of lap 1 the order had changed to Jack, Guy, Luke, Chris, William, Alex. By lap 3 Jack had already pulled 3 seconds clear of Guy, with Luke finding just how difficult itr is to get past Guy. William moved up to 4th on lap 6, but then under a yellow light he lost about 5 seconds leaving the front three way ahead. Jack went on to won from Guy and Luke, but it was William in 4th who set the new FTD at 27.78s.
Heat four - Harry Macaulay started on pole from Luke, Jack, Brandon, Tom and Matt. By the end of lap two it was all change. Harry had held on to stay in the lead, but Jack was through to 2nd, Tom 3rd, Luke down to 4th, Brandon 5th and Matt still 6th. On lap 3 Jack got past his younger brother and Matt got past Brandon for 5th. After an incident, Luke found himself a long way back in 4th and Jack went on to win his second heat of the day from Tom in second (from 5th on the grid), Jack beating Tom by 4 seconds, with Harry holding onto third place 6 seconds further back. Luke narrowed the gap to Harry to 3 seconds, while Brandon finished in 6th despite setting a new FTD at 27.64s.
Heat five and time for Geri to get back into the swing of things. Before the race started, Geri was on 5 points (from one race) while Matt was on 20 points (from 3 races) and Jack on 16 (from two). So a lot of work to do. At least Geri was starting from pole, and Geri on pole means Geri wins! Geri got a good start from Tom, Harry, Guy and Alex. It was only lap 4 when Geri came up behind Alex and soon lapped him, Alex had been delayed in a spin, and Tom lapped Alex at the start of lap 5. Geri then pulled away with a clear track to win by 5 seconds from Tom, Harry, Guy and Alex, with Geri lowering the FTD to 27.52s.
Heat six, the final heat. Geri was starting second behind William, but Luke was starting 3rd, Chris 4th and Jack at the back. William was holding off Geri with everything he had, at the same time Luke was right behind Geri trying to take advantage of Geri being stuck behind William. More suprisingly, Jack was making hard work of getting past Chris at the back. If Geri remained 2nd and Jack remained 5th, then they and Matt would all have 20 points, Geri and Jack would get the poles in the semi-finals. There was no change for the first 8 laps, the William ran wide coming out of the final bend, Geri went inside and as William tried to defend, he was spun right round setting Geri free. Luke moved up into second and Jack managed to pass Chris as they arrived at the scene. The heat finished with a second win for Geri from Luke with Jack third. William recovered to finish 4th and Geri again lowered the FTD to 27.32s. After the heats, it was Jack on 22, Geri 21, Matt 20 so Jack and Geri would start the semi-finals on pole.
Semi-final one saw Jack on pole from Matt, Luke, William, Brandon and Alex. Luke moved up to 2nd on lap 2 as Brandon fell to 6th. Jack and Luke were running at the front, Matt was holding off William for third a bit further back. Brandon got back up into 5th on lap 7 and set about chasing down Matt and William. Jack and Luke caught up with Alex to lap him, Jack got by easily but Luke got stuck and was getting frustrated as Jack pulled away into the distance some 3 seconds per lap faster. Late on Brandon caught up with William and Matt, passing them both and denying Matt of the place in the final that seemed so surely his after just 2 heats. Jack set a marker in the battle for the final pole at 27.62 but Luke did the fastest lap of the race at 27.44s.
Semi-final two, Geri's turn. Before he went out, he checked to see what time he would need to set. Geri started from pole with Guy, Tom, Harry and Chris lined up behind. Geri started steadily, taking only a tenth or two a lap from Guy with Tom sitting close behind Guy. Chris got past Harry on lap 4, just as Geri started to get in his stride. On lap 6 Geri booked pole position with 27.56, then backed it up with 27.60 on laps 8, 9 and 10, 27.56 on lap 11 and 27.42 on lap 12 to beat Guy buy 3 seconds.
The final, could Geri really make it six in a row? Jack had been looking in good form and Geri knew that if he couldn't make a break away from Jack, to expect to be hit around a bit. The first three laps went just as expected, Geri led from Jack but at least once a lap Geri would get a good tap from behind. Luke was sat in close attendance just in case the leaders tangled. On lap four Geri went to make a break, running 27.36 to Jack's 27.88. From lap 6 onwards, the lap times for Geri, Jack and Luke were as follows:
| Lap | Geri | Jack | Luke |
| 6 | 27.54 | 27.48 | 27.48 |
| 7 | 27.64 | 27.36 | 27.42 |
| 8 | 27.32 | 27.34 | 27.42 |
| 9 | 27.38 | 27.42 | 27.58 |
| 10 | 27.48 | 27.40 | 27.58 |
| 11 | 27.40 | 27.40 | 27.48 |
| 12 | 27.12 | 27.32 | 27.86 |
| 13 | 27.24 | 27.48 | 27.56 |
| 14 | 26.92 | 27.42 | 27.42 |
Geri finshed the day with 37 points having won his last 4 races after a poor start, but Jack also scored 37 with Luke on 31 helping Geri extend his lead further. Just three months to go now!
Of course, now Geri has his outdoor kart, things are getting more complicated. Straight after receiving his medal for winning, it was off to Rye House to get some testing in readiness for his race debut in the morning. A couple of sessions out in the wet was all we managed, but at least Geri got back in his kart and tried it out on wets. Let's see how he gets on tomorrow.
