News - 2008
6th December:
Last race day of the season at Rogue Racing. Geri rounds off the season in style, 9 wins in a row and collects his 2008 Championship trophy. Full report here.
23rd November:
Race day at Whilton Mill. Full report here.
1st November:
Race day at Rogue Racing. Geri make its eight wins in the row and has won the 2008 Championship. Full report here.
26th October:
Race day at Whilton Mill. Full report here.
10th October:
Some photos and video from the day at Rye House added to the report here.
5th October:
Race day at Rye House. Full report here.
4th October:
Race day at Rogue Racing. Geri was a little under the weather, but still held on. It's now seven wins in a row. Full report here.
28th September:
Race day at Whilton Mill. Full report here.
7th September:
Race day at Rye House and Geri's race debut. It's going to be a big learning experience for Geri. Full report here.
6th September:
Race day at Rogue Racing. He was made to work for it, but now it's six wins in a row for Geri. Full report here.
2nd September:
Geri got in a couple of practice sessions at Rogue Racing - and then James Baldwin arrived so they were sent out on track together to see what happened! James has gained a lot of experience outside and it showed as he got the better of Geri by 2 or 3 tenths a lap. The experience will remind Geri he still has a lot to learn!
20th August:
Geri passes his ARKS test! See full report.
17th August:
Its been a busy weekend but today we were able to pick up a bargain second hand trailer to move Geri's kart around in rather than using the Nyssa Racing truck, thanks to the Karting.co.uk market place ads.
16th August:
This is the one Geri has been waiting patiently for over 2 weeks for! His first test in the new kart over at Rye House
2nd August:
Race day at Rogue Racing. A grid of only seven drivers forced a rethink of format, but it didn't stop Geri. It's now five wins in a row. Full report here.
31st July:
Geri's big surprise!
5th July:
Race day at Rogue Racing. Geri might be nine now, but it hasn't affected his driving as he makes it four wins in a row. Full report here.
19th June:
Practice at Rogue Racing, for a change, on a Thursday after school. Other committments have meant Geri missed last weekend and next weekend. On an almost empty track Geri's average time in his first session was 27.16 with a fastest lap of 26.72 on his final lap, but a whole raft of 26.80s. Fifteen minutes later Geri was back out on track with the whole track to himself. He quickly got up to speed and recorded 3 more 26.56s laps and a 26.64 on his way to averaging 26.96 over the 33 lap session.
7th June:
Race day at Rogue Racing. Geri makes it three wins in a row in his last race as an 8 year old. Full report here.
25th May:
Practice at Rogue Racing, and back to normal with a couple of early Sunday morning sessions. In the first session Geri went out with a couple of adults and a 12 year old. It took a few laps to get some heat into the tyres, but once he got into the groove, the lap times came down culminating in a session best of 26.56s. In the second session there were a number of quick adults on track, three of who go into the 26s. The chap who followed Geri at the start looked like he might catch Geri, but Geri's kart had not been used in the previous session so needed to get some heat in the tyres. All of a sudden on lap 3, Geri dropped the guy chasing him and set about chasing the people in front. Unlike the first session where Geri was taking 2-3 seconds a lap from the others on track (and so lapped everyone), he was only gaining at a rate of 0.5 seconds a lap and thus lapped just one of the others on track. But once again Geri got down to 26.56s with a number of laps in the 26.6 range.
3rd May:
Race day at Rogue Racing. Another win for Geri, his second in a row. Full report here.
23rd April:
Practice at Rogue Racing, this time on a Wednesday afternoon as Geri had missed out the two previous weekends. With an empty track, Rogue Racing employee Ben went out to chase Geri round the circuit. Having just arrivd straight from school, Geri took a while to get up to speed, it took until lap 11 to break onto the 26s. Ben caught and passed Geri, a lesson learned not to leave such a wide open space, but then Geri got on the pace chasing after Ben culminating in a best time session of 26.56, equalling Geri's second best lap ever here. To put things into perspective, Ben clocked a 26.40 chasing Geri.
In the second session Geri was now warmed up, as was the kart. 28.00 from a standing start on the first lap, then 27.04, 27.36, 26.72, 27.04. And then Geri put the hammer down with 14 laps in the 26s. By the end of the session, Geri had put in 4 26.56 laps including 2 consecutive ones and his average lap time for the whole session was 26.90 seconds. Surely it won't be long before Geri finds another 7/100ths and sets a new personal best?
10th April:
The Easter holiday open day event for children during the school holidays at Rogue Racing. With turn out back up to 26, the kids were split up into 3 groups, Geri being in the first group.
A disjointed first session, many yellow light periods, but Geri still produced the fastest lap of the session at 26.88s. In session two, Geri was again fastest with a slight improvement to 26.86, and in the final practice session Geri got down to 26.68s - and still the only person to get below 27.
After lunch there were two 10 minute races for each group. The grid line up seemed rather randon and did Geri no favours as he wa taken out on the first lap. By the time his kart was back on the track, he was almost a lap behind and no matter how hard he pushed, could do nothing about it. Geri worked his way back up to 3rd, and again had fastest lap of the session at 26.86. In the second race, with Geri now 3rd on the grid, Geri got straight up into second and was chasing the adult kart in front of him. Surely Geri would soon get past the winner of race 1, even though they had clocked 27.1 in race one, so hardly a slow driver. But on lap 2, Geri pulled straight into the sin bin complaining of a broken throttle! The session was stopped but already the leader was well into the next lap. A replacement kart was brought out for Geri, but as it hadn't been in use, it was cold, and so were the tyres. Despite Geri, and the fact he rejoined in 5th, Geri worked his way through the pack and back up into second. Regular yellow light sessions kept slowing his progress and in the end Geri had to settle for 2nd place by 4 seconds, but again Geri set fastest lap of 26.8.
So the first time of one of these school holiday events that Geri has been beaten, albeit by a much older driver in an adult kart. But better today than when it matters.
5th April:
Race day at Rogue Racing and a chance for Geri to show he had learned from James a couple of weeks ago. A stunning 26.56 lap on his way to victory by 15 seconds!. Full report here.
23rd March:
A practice session at Rogue Racing saw the welcome return of the Baldwin brothers which gave Geri some welcome competition. Geri seemed more bothered about keeping James behind him (which he did in both sessions) but James was the faster with a best of 26.62 against Geri's 26.80. We could see a place where James was quicker than Geri so hopefully Geri can put this to good use and learn from this next time out.
1st March:
Race day at Rogue Racing and a return to the podium for Geri despite a number of bad breaks along the way. Full report here.
21st February:
Another Rogue Racing open day event for children during the school holidays, turn out not quite as good as previous days so the kids were split up into 2 groups, Geri being in the first group.
A surprise in the first session was that Geri wasn't the fastest, a best lap time in kart 15 of just 27.46 was beaten by David in an adult kart on 27.34. Maybe the throttle restriction wasn't quite fully off? Normal service was resumed in the next two sessions, Geri being fastest on 26.91 and 26.97 against 27.4 and 27.17, the lap times being affected by the number of karts out on track and a decent number of yellow light periods.
After lunch there were two races, somehow Geri was started in race 1 from 2nd on the grid and more strangely, he seemed to miss the lights going out, got hit from behind and spun front first into the inside barrier! 2nd to last in the space of 3 feet! Geri got straight on the case, soon caught up with the slower karts and was up to 4th in double quick time, but still 10 seconds behind David up front. A run of quicker laps saw Geri reel in the 3rd place kart at a rate of over a second a lap, and caught the 2nd and 3rd karts almost together, getting past them both quite easily. Just David to go, 4 seconds out front. 3 laps later Geri was on his tale, straight past and off into the distance to win comfortable with a fastest lap of 26.86, a second faster than the next competitor.
Race 2 was expected to be easier, Geri was on pole and has never lost from pole. But he was also back in kart 15. Geri got the expected start and soon built up a 4 second lead on David back in second. But lap times were slow, struggling around the 27.4 mark and David started to gain on Geri, with Geri seemingly unable to respond. The gap was soon down to 0.5 seconds and Geri looked in trouble. David got by at the end of the upper straight, by the time I had said "now we'll see what he is made of" to the guy standing next to me, Geri was back in front again and managed to defend his position until taking the chequered flag. Geri was driving the wheels off kart 15 but still only managed 27.20 against David's fastest lap of 27.05.
19th February:
Back to Rye House for another 1-2-1 session, this time thankfully the weather remained dry and with the days getting longer again, was also carried out during daylight hours. A different instructor (Rick) meant Geri first went out in a Cadet kart to check he was comfortable before being walked round the circuit and then back in the 390cc Sodi kart to get some more speed up. Within 10 laps Geri was down to 45.46 seconds, and then backed it up with an identical lap the following one. After 18 laps Geri was brought in for a debrief and then sent back out again. Unfortunately the lap timer did not pick up the second session laps but the instructor was expecting Geri to match the 44.5 seconds times his previous pupil (a 12 year old) had managed in the session before.
Once again, the instructor's opinion was that Geri was very smooth with great lines and quick for an 8 year old in only his second visit to the circuit. We are now fully committed to having Geri race at Rye House this year as soon as we are able to fund a kart for him.
2nd February:
Race day at Rogue Racing and not the best of days for Geri as he crashed out in the semi-finals. Just as well the championship takes the top 10 scores from 12, Geri will want to be dropping this one! Full report here.
26th January:
Practice at Rogue Racing ready for next weekend's race. In the first session Geri was out on track with a couple of novices and their father with the occasional yellow light period intervening. A fastest time of 26.92 showed that Geri's form is coming back but nothing prepared the team for how the second session went.
As Geri's father I thought it might be amusing to venture out with him, also out on track were Luke Doig (winner of the January event) and Matthew Hayes. Geri soon sorted his way past me (as usual) and disappeared off on a clear track. Matthew was in front and I seemed to be staying with him OK, Luke was behind and trying everything he could to get past - bumping and shoving like an adult, to no avail alas. Unknown to me until later in the session, Geri was flying. Three 26.9 laps in a four lap spell showed intent, on lap 15 he set a new personal best of 26.72, laps 19-29 (the final lap of the session) went 26.76, 26.68, 26.74, 26.94, 26.80, 26.96, 26.60, 26.72, 26.96, 26.62, 26.50 (new personal bests in red). Over the session he had put in his 8 fastest laps ever!
The first I knew of this was when one of the marshals waved a note at me saying "Geri 26.68", guess they didn't have time to show any more notes to me as he got faster still! Having set his fastest ever lap on the final lap, maybe there was more to come? Hopefully Geri can carry this good form over to the race weekend next Saturday.
5th January:
Race day at Rogue Racing and Geri's third consecutive day out on track. This may explain his lacklustre performance, he just didn't overtake with his normal ruthlessness. Full report here.
4th January:
Geri's introduction to outdoor circuits! Geri attended a one-on-one instruction session over at Rye House. Having not been to the circuit before, he was started out with 10 laps in a restricted kart before progressing to a 390cc kart capable of 70mph, much faster than anything Geri had driven before. Geri drove a tidy session for 45 minutes in damp conditions without spinning. Gradually it started to rain and the track started to get very slippery. Geri was pushing harder and did spin a few times but came away having enjoyed the experience. The verdict was inconclusive - there was more speed to be had, but the wet track made pushing Geri a riskier affair for his first time on the circuit. He was judged to be very smooth and his lines were pretty spot on, the suggestion was to return on a dry day and see what happens.
We will be trying to arrange such a session in the school half-term holiday after which a decision on outdoor racing in 2008 will be made.
3rd January:
Rogue Racing held an open day for children during the school holidays and Geri was one of 32 children aged 8-14 to attend.
Like the similar event last October, the drivers were divided into groups by experience and Geri was placed in the lead group along with Sean Rudge, the only other regular event racer.
The morning was just free practice, the afternoon a qualifying session followed by race. Geri qualified on pole from Sean and was hot favourite to win. An early red light stoppage almost proved Geri's undoing, he had already eked out a gap back to Sean in second, who was now able to close up, but an older girl simply drove past the pair of them and parked up in front. She then proceeded to weave along both straights blocking Geri from getting past even though running a good second or two of Geri's unhindered pace. Eventually Geri found a way past coming off the raised section and went on to disappear into the distance winning the event.
