September Club Day (Night Meeting)
Saturday 6th October 2007 (Oakleigh Go Kart Racing Club)
Returning to racing after a 5 week break, the aim for the weekend was firstly to continue the performance improvements of the past few events and attempt to bridge the 63 point gap to 8th Place in the Club Championship, and secondly to tune up in preparation for next weekends Southern City Classic.
Arriving at the track early our plan to look for a bit of practice to dial in the kart and try out our newly acquired spare engine 'Kiwi' (courtesy of MKC) was dashed due to heavy rain causing minor flooding of some sectors of the track. Given this and the fact our main aim was practice for next weekend, we decided to use 'Kiwi' and an older set of tyres; saving our best equipment for the Southern City Classic.
Drawn to start Heat 1 in 8th place Dylan started well quickly moving up into 7th; however it quickly became apparent that a lack of good balance was preventing any further progress through the pack. After a 5 lap battle with Sarah Gray, Dylan was able to get the upper hand andhold on to 7th.
Starting in 3rd for Heat 2 we made a couple of changes in the hope of finding the balance that had eluded us in Heat 1. Dylan made a solid start to hold 3rd for the first lap, unfortunately a minor error on lap 2 resulted in him running wide on the Grid Hairpin and caused him to lose 3 places. Recovering strongly he chased down 5th placed Sarah Gray, however despite lapping 4 tenths quicker Dylan ran out of time to take 5th place. On a positive note we had finaly found the balance that had eluded us in Heat 1.
After two solid Heats Dylan approached Heat 3 which was held under lights looking to gather valuable setup data in preparation for the Southern City Classic also to be held under lights on the 13th. Starting in 6th, Dylan gained a position on the start moving to 5th. Struggling slightly for pace in the closing laps Dylan was over taken by Timothy Edwards to finish in 6th.
The haul of 691 points was sufficient to see Dylan finish 5th for the round and move to 8th in the Club Championship, just 48 points off 7th place man Timothy Edwards. While the setup data gained during the day and the availability of our main race engine we are in good stead for a solid crack at the Southern City Classic.