2007 Class Titles
Saturday 24th & Sunday 25th November 2007 (Oakleigh Go Kart Racing Club)
Following a great first year in Clubman Light where he took a major step-up in both driver skill and racecraft, Dylan approached the 2007 Class Titles hope cap of the year with another strong finish.
Despite the absence of James Sera, Dylan faced a very strong field with drivers including Ash Arora, Franky Constanzo, Jason Spencer and James True. Running in his first ever qualifying session Dylan posted the 8th fastest time 42.099 seconds, while mildly disappointed to be starting in 8th Dylan was however able to take solace from the fact that he had just lowered his Personal Best time at Oakleigh by 0.23 seconds to sit just a whisker away from a converted 41 second lap time.
Starting Heat 1 in 8th place Dylan made a strong start and by the end of lap one had jumped into 6th place, despite his best efforts due to a setup miscalculation Dylan was unable to catch the leaders. With his metronomic pace of 42.4’s from the second lap Dylan was able to offset the faster one lap pace of his pursuers and finish in a comfortable 6th place. Heat 2 proved to be a more eventful race, caught at the start by a slow starting kart Dylan lost a position and slipped back into 9th. Moving back into 8th on lap 2, Dylan set himself on the chase – though showing strong pace Dylan ran out of laps to further improve on his position. Finishing in 8th Dylan was however in the box seat to view a coming together between Samantha Millar and Trevor Allen in the fight on the finish line while involved in the fight for 5th. A subsequent Steward’s investigation reinstated Trevor to 7th place and penalised Samantha two grid positions for the Pre-Final.
Courtesy of his consistent heat results Dylan started the Pre-Final in 7th place, after a solid start Dylan remained well positioned and stayed in the fight for 5th. However on lap 4 due to an errant kart Dylan was forced to take to the grass, rejoining in last place Dylan began the long chase. Putting in some strong lap times and courtesy of a couple of DNF’s Dylan was able to recover strongly to finish the Pre-Final 8th place.
With grid 8 for the final and a plan to storm through the field in the aim of a top 5 finish, Dylan made an aggressive start. Pushing hard and making up a couple of positions Dylan was caught out by a slow exiting kart at Grid Corner and in the clash of wheels sent airborne and on to the grass. Able to keep the kart going, Dylan rejoined in 12th place however suffering bent steering Dylan was unable to make significant progress and finished the Final in 10th place. Though a frustrating end to the weekend, it proved to be on the whole a fun weekend with the significant positive of a new PB of 42.099 seconds.