So, 'The Chain' is back as an F1 TV theme tune, the shows are advert-free again and airlinekarting.com's 2009 season kicked-off with a 22-kart grid on a damp-but-drying track. Does it get any better than this.....?!

The dull, grey sky found a shower to throw at us just before practice, giving a short delay as drivers were sent back into the clubhouse for the hated 'waterproof' jackets and overtrousers [in a slightly bizarre development earlier, Clare Jarvis had been bundled into a neck brace by circuit staff.... this irritation was sorted out and the requirement to wear the device was reduced to an option]. 

With hindsight, there was no point in getting into the waterproofs - by the time everyone was settled in their seats, the shower was virtually over and the weather was brightening up. Wet track, dry skies. Game on!

No printouts were available for practice but it was pretty obvious that folk were quickly getting settled.

After a little twitchiness early on, turn 1 seemed to develop a dry line within a handful of laps. By the end of the 10-minute session, there was a dry line all around the circuit, and any remaining dampness vanished while the grid formed.

 We've sometimes spent five minutes or more sitting on the back straight, waiting for marshals to sort the pack out between practice and race 1. 

This time, in an attempt to simplify the process, drivers experimented with an attempt to shuffle themselves into the correct order.

There were concerns over the time and space available to achieve this, as the distance from the finish line to the start of the backstraight is only 2/3 lap or about 600 metres. A reasonably challenging task, then, but everyone set-to willingly.

Seen from near the back of the formation, the plan appeared to have worked. There appeared to be none of the traditional pacing up-and-down the line by the marshals, as they searched for an individual kart in a random jumble of other machines. Instead, a solitary chap simply stood in front, waving karts off from the back straight and down to the start line.

A technical hitch with a kart near the back cost about a minute but, even so, it seemed to take less time than usual to get the grid formed-up.... well done, everybody!  

Race 1, then. Lack of detailed printouts for this session prevented a thorough analysis of the race, but a few insights could be gained from the start and finish positions, along with the list of fastest laps. Of the five drivers at the front of the grid, four were still in the top five at the end. Only Nick Pascoe had dropped back, initially losing places when he jumped the start and then braked just as the lights changed, further misfortune then following as a result of an ambitious move by 2008 champion Julian Berry. More of this later…

Winner of race 1 was Geoff Nunn, who started P2 and led home a tight four-ship, messrs Jarvis, Undery (charging up from 11th on the grid) and Dillon all following the leader over the line within 2.4sec. The finish line marshal then had a 4-second breather before showing the chequers to Richard Weber, Mike Wood and Nick Pascoe, these three having fought for some time and being covered by 1.2sec at the end. Richard had held onto his P5 starting position, Mike was up from P18 and the unfortunate Pascoe had done well to hold seventh.

At least Nick was not under pressure from behind, as the next group were some seven seconds down the road. Most of this lot had had to hatchet their way forward from the back half of the starting order and, having become mixed-up together, internal squabbles had cost them several seconds.

This slightly looser formation of five karts were spread by 3.7sec, the pack led home by Andy Holmes (an impressive rampage up the field from 22nd and last on the grid) from Mark Perry (up from P13), who was a mere half-second clear of Duncan Hope (another great performance after starting 21st).

Completing this group were Brett Cash (distinguishing himself by putting in third-fastest lap of this race, a 0:50.501) and Greig Montgomery (finishing 12th from P16).

Can't leave this report without mentioning the chap in 13th place - a certain Julian Berry. JB started P14 and was up around the P5/P6 region when he encountered Nick Pascoe.

Sensing an opportunity to get past Nick, Julian made his move at the turn 4 left-hander. But Nick was not about to make it easy; the two touched and both half-spun, Julian getting the better get-away from the incident.

Mike Wood was the last driver to benefit from Nick's misfortune, having to fend the Surrey driver off for the rest of the race, but Julian was swiftly shown a black flag and invited to the pits to listen to the pit marshals thoughts on the last series of Strictly Come Dancing. Rejoining 17th, he did well to work up to 13th at the end, but his fastest lap suggested what might have been possible had things been kept a little tidier - three drivers got into the 50.0sec bracket but nobody got close to Julian's 50.278sec fastest lap. 

And so to race 2. There was more data from the circuit for this one, but unfortunately the race winner and his wing-man were missed by the finish line marshal at the end. So, the chequered flag was first shown to Geoff Nunn (then holding P3), while the two front-running drivers carried on for another lap. As a result, the printouts showed Berry (yes, it was him again!) and Holmes putting a lap on everyone else, which meant no ‘gap’ statistics.

However, the lapcharts told a good chunk of the story, showing Julian P6 at the end of lap 1 after starting P9, then progressively P5, P4 and then a jump to P2. On lap 9 he took the lead from Andy Holmes, and set off after back markers, reeling off strings of laps in the low 50-sec bracket. The lead gone, Andy concentrated on keeping it clean and consistent, finishing well ahead of the following pack and 8.9sec behind Julian. After the disaster in race 1, JB could not have done more to improve his chances of a podium. Not content with race victory, he also knocked another tenth off his fastest lap time from race 1, posting a 0:50.142 on lap 19. Only trouble was, someone else went even faster, and, from Julian’s point of view, that someone was not far enough behind…

The race 2 lapchart for BA’s Geoff Nunn is a veritable swashbuckling, bodice-ripping rollercoaster of a read (if indeed it’s possible to say such things about a lapchart…). From 21st on the grid, he was P15 at the end of lap 1, P12 next time around, and P11 on lap 4. By lap 8 he was P8, and about to add himself to a phenomenal 7-way scrap which continued unabated until the chequered flag.

Order changes within this melee were numerous and frequent, but at the end of lap 23 they flashed over the line in the order Nunn, Montgomery, Wood, Undery, Cowhig, Perry and Hope, with very little between any of them. Big grins all round.

Elsewhere, all signs suggested that Keith Jarvis would have joined the battle very shortly had the race gone on another few laps, as he climbed to tenth from grid 19, setting fifth-fastest lap along the way (0:50.599).

Big place gains were recorded by Richard Weber (started 18th, finished P11), Nick Pascoe (ten places won), and Justin Dillon (up from P20 to P13 at the end). Clare Jarvis suffered at the start but fought back vigorously to make up five places;

Ben Walls endured a more extreme version of Disastrous Start Syndrome, but recovered quickly and regained places – the consistency of his lapping produced an impressively flat time graph on his lapchart… hardly a ripple on it!

So, a great start to the season. Mixed weather conditions, experienced drivers mixing it with emerging talents, and more new faces joining the fun…. can’t wait for Round 2! See you there!

easyJet