Already making headway were BA’s Justin Undery from 3rd on the grid, Alex Sanderson from 8th spot, and Keith Hull, picking-off early victims after starting 13th. And from near the back, Keith Jarvis and Virgin Atlantic’s Julian Berry began machete-ing their way forward from 15th and 18th respectively.

Those hoping for rain (and there were a few of them) had to wait several minutes for their prayers to be answered, and even then the first evidence came in the form of a mere few small spots on the visor. Initially, there was little tangible difference in the driveability of the circuit.

Gradually, however, the intensity increased, and although a dry line persisted in some parts, it became impossible to ignore the fact that other areas now required you to follow the ‘wet line’. Still, some folk were able to set a personal fastest lap as late as mid-race, bmi’s Gareth Evans putting in his own quickest on lap 13.

Bmi’s Richard Weber, and Messrs Berry and Pascoe all chose lap 12 to chuck in a really quick one, Nick P’s being a 50.007s affair, fastest of the meeting.

Race Report Continues below...

Race Report continues...

Unfortunately for Nikolayevich, he was by this time carving his way back up the field after being summoned to the pits for a severe pointing-at, the result of an overly-physical attempt to pass Keith Jarvis. “I no longer required his presence in front of me,” Nick grinned in the pub later, “So I decided to remove it!” Sadly, Nick forgot Martin Brundle’s handy hint about mid-race invitations to the pit lane, and a time-consuming ‘frank exchange of views’ took place. Nick started 17th and finished 12th, but his pace suggested that a much higher placing had been on the cards in race 1. 

Meanwhile, speed and consistency were paying-off for a number of familiar names, and the top four at the end of race 1 were Alex Sanderson (from 8th on the grid), with Justin Undery a mere 1.33s behind (up from 3rd), then Julian Berry and Keith Jarvis (from 18th and 15th respectively).

It was all impressively close further back as well. NATS’ Justin Dillon sacrificed a pre-late shift lie-in to do battle at Daytona, and took 6th in race 1 by 1.21s from Keith Hull (up from grid spot 13). In turn, Keith fended-off Tim McDermott, who had charged through from 16th and was behind Keith by 0.97s at the flag.

Greig Montgomery beat bmi’s Duncan Hope to the flag by the width of a bmi payslip (0.17s, since you ask), and Neil Lake from LHR Approach finished 13th, 0.39s ahead of BA’s Perry Musty, who was 0.35s ahead of Bruce Dickinson. Sixteen of the nineteen drivers were on the same lap at the end. Desperately close stuff. 

The appeal from the Race Director over the PA for drivers to take it easy during the first couple of laps had a ring of hope to it, rather than expectation, and was no doubt heeded by all until their wheels touched the track.

Out of the pit lane, round the Turn 8 right-hander and onto the grid, some weaved and slid their karts in an attempt to discover whether there was any grip to be had at all. Probably futile, bearing in mind that Turn 8 is relatively slow, while the monster that is Turn 1 is generally approached at about 55mph in the dry.

Still, better to be doing something at a time like that. Much better than simply sitting in your kart, the gaping maw of Turn 1 foremost in your mind. Wondering what fate awaits you there, where the tarmac curves out of sight. Hero or zero….?

Green lights. The field surged off the grid, two lines until passing the last cone, then a melee of  karts down the straight, everyone looking for gaps, watchful for spinners, desperate to capitalize on early opportunities. Rapidly into the lead went Julian Berry from second on the grid, followed through by Pascoe, McDermott and Jarvis.

An infinite number of driving lines through Turn 1, some making it, some losing it and being collected by others. Exiting the corner, immediately into Turn 2, tighter, slower and more slippery, some had got safely through the first one only to lose it here. Now the equally tight left-hand Turn 3  and then onto the straight, uphill to Turn 4.

Through the 4/5 left-right hairpin complex and onto the top straight they streamed, before braking for the tight right-hand Turn 6 and slipping and sliding through the 6/7/8 ‘stadium section’. End of lap 1.

We lost Julian Berry, temporarily, almost as soon as he gained the lead. Exiting turn 1, his kart swapped ends and the field roared past. He would not be down for long and was rapidly back in contention, but the race win was not to be his.

Step forward Perry Musty, the BA regular scoring the win in steadily deteriorating conditions. After a difficult race 1, he started race 2 from 8th on the grid, halfway towards the back. But he was fast and consistent, took the lead, set fastest lap and scampered off into the distance. After 21 laps, he took victory by the enormous margin of 27s from second-placed Tim McDermott.

Nick Pascoe was another 10.2s behind Tim at the flag. Julian Berry finished 1.9s further back, having done well to make up lost ground.

Keith Jarvis was the only other driver on the lead lap, but for much of the second half of the race he was part of a frantic three-way battle which also featured Richard Weber and easyJet’s Mike Wood, these two finishing close to Keith on the track but a lap behind.

Richard’s 7th place was one of the closer finishes in this race, the gap to Alex Sanderson being only 0.24s. Further back, Justin Dillon started 18th and was up in 12th at the flag, 3.09s ahead of Bruce Dickinson, and Bruce’s breathing space to BMed’s Trevor Brown totalled a mere 1.57s.

The results and trophy presentation were awaited eagerly, folk being unable to pinpoint an obvious winner at this stage. When the results were announced, the top step went to Julian Berry, his second consecutive victory. His determined recovery from the race 2 spin had achieved the desired result, and he had two points over both Justin Undery and Keith Jarvis, who tied on 93 (Justin’s highest finish was a second place in race 1, Keith’s a fourth in the same race, giving Justin the second spot on the podium). Tim McDermott missed the podium by a single point, and a total of six drivers finished with scores in the 90s.

Hard, close racing, in difficult, slippery conditions. Well done, everybody.

Astraeus