With the end of the season fast approaching, leading to some very mixed weather conditions. Round 7 was forecast for rain throughout the race. Two teams, unfortunately, pulled out, the highly anticipated SMB Racing and  7 4 Hire.

This month we welcomed a brand new team, “Too Many Pies” headed up by Gary Beamish who was looking to return to RHPK after taking part in the early years. We also welcomed back Clinton Bell, Clinton used to work at Ryehouse and was clerk of the course for RHPK. Reece Shepherd joined forces once again with Team CET – we possibly may see him stay with the team until the end of the season.

This months pace car is far the fastest machine we’ve had so far,  a Nissan GTR which is Litchfield Stage 5.5 tuned, running 775.5BHP and 638.5 lb.ft Torque
The car Running a set of LM800 Turbos with 1100cc injectors, Uprated LM Intakes, Nissan R35 GTR Race Intercooler, Litchfield 102MM Y Pipe and Exhaust system.

The drama unfolded before even qualifying started. The first practice got underway on a damp track, as the session progressed the track started to dry. Just as drivers were starting to drive dry conditions some water was brought onto the track and the session was red flagged as 5-6 karts ended up in the barriers at ridges elbow. Among the teams were Custom Rods, Team Lambo and Amigos.

 

This month the Saturday Sausage fest was kindly sponsored by Alverstone Autos and Silverline Racing – cooked to perfection by the Lambo camp once again!

 

 

Qualifying

The track saw some light spots of rain just as the qualifying session started! Teams flocked to the track to get a lap in before any potential rain – however, it was not to be – the rain never came ensuring the session remained dry.

Once again we saw a very competitive qualifying session, just 1 second separated 1st to 28th place!

Helicopter Services secured pole position with a time of 41.691, frequent pole sitters this year ABA Racing had no response and had to settle for second with a 41.759. Titan Motorsport managed 3rd with just 11 laps completed in qualifying, a 41.824 and RPM1 just behind with a 41.857.

HRS1 and Karting Magazine were further down the field in 10th and 11th

In Clubman Time Crisis take pole position with a 42.284, a fraction behind was Amigos 2 who look to be having a very strong last half of the year with a 42.298. March Racing took the 3rd spot with a time of 42.386 and a notable performance from Silverline Racing with a 42.392 which was achieved quite late in the session, lap 34. The team looks to be getting quicker and quicker this season.

Current Clubman Championship leaders, JND were 6th in class.

Race

 

All 33 karts make it round the first corner without incident, Custom Rods jump ABA and RPM at the start to take 3rd. RPM losing out on the outside of the track, down to 9th place at the end of the first lap.

March Racing have a very strong start, taking 3 places to be leading the Clubman class into the first lap.

KA Racing gained 5 places on lap one, taking them up to 21st whilst Artifex losing out on 10 places.

Lap 5, Stuart Allen from Spectre Racing takes Amigos for 5th place, the team really stepping up their pace this round to go onto fight ABA and Custom Rods.

The forecast rain is getting closer – as the clouds are getting darker. Lap 17 saw some heavy rain catching a number of teams out. Titan Motorsport have a big off going into Pylon, taking damage which would eventually take them out of the race.

RPM1 making most of the rain, taking both Spectre Racing and ABA Racing on lap 18, trying to claw back after their start. On the same lap in some very tricky conditions JND Racing take March for 3rd in class.

Tactics comes into play in these tricky conditions, many teams making an early call to pull in the pits for wet tyres. Artifex Racing, Polish Lambo, JRH Racing, Silverline Racing, APL Too & KA Racing all pour into the pits to change tyres.

JRH Racing have issues whilst swapping over to wets, unable to get the wheel nuts off the hub. Despite their efforts they cut their losses and stay on slicks after losing 9 laps (8:05.848) in the pits.

Lap 28 – the rain has stopped and the track is already starting to dry. Disaster for those who pitted. Many on wets are just matching times on slick tyres.

Time Crisis (Slicks) – 45.240
Artifex (Wets) – 45.977

RPM1 are hunting down Helicopter Services for the lead, the gap down to just 5 seconds, but the track continues to dry suiting Helicopter Services who now start to increase the gap.

Time Crisis and Team Lambo are locked into a very close battle for 9th and just further up the road Stuart Allen, Spectre Racing is locked into a battle with Custom Rods for 3rd place.

Disaster for TNR Too who seem to spin on some water on the track into Stadium and went backwards into the tyres. The race is red flagged whilst Matt Tucker is attended to. He is well, just a little sore from the impact. The kart would later return to the track.

As the race gets restarted, there is more drama on the warm up lap, as Mark Beaumont from Custom Rods spins whilst warming up his tyres on… <*a Banana skin?> a completely dry track!

As the race is restarted there is a 3 way battle for the lead involving Helicopter Services, RPM & Spectre Racing.
Amigos 2 is leading the Clubman pack and go on to take Team Karting Magazine for 6th overall, 1st in class. Polish Lambo, Silverline & Artifex Racing are down the field due to their tyre change at the start of the race.

Towards the end of the race Team Karting Magazine was involved in an incident which put Luke Cousins in the tyre wall at Pylon. The race was stopped once again whilst the medics attended to Luke. Luke is well, just very shaken – we hope to see him next month!

More drama unfolded after the restart as RPM1 had a mechanical defect followed by a black flag after some contact with Helicopter Services saw their race written off.

As the race entered the closing stages it was clear that we would see a fight to the finish in Clubman. SJ Lambo were chasing down JND Racing for 1st place in class. The battle started with just 10 minutes to go until the end of the race, it was clear that Darrell Lowe had the pace but could he make the move in time?! Jaunius from JND was not making it easy for Darrell – tight driving and defending resulted in some very close racing. With less than 5 minutes to go Darrell lined himself on the outside for the second hairpin, previous attempts on the outside had proved useless – Darrell went for the undercut and made the move stick! He came past with just 4 minutes left on the clock. JND could not return the move and SJ Lambo passed took the chequred flag for their first Win!

Helicopter Services took their second win of the year, extending their Championship lead once again! Custom Rods took the second spot. After some fantastic driving by GKD – they took the 3rd spot on the podium, their highest position this year! ABA Racing took 4th and Team Amigos who look to be back their where they belong took the last spot on the podium, in 5th.

SJ Lambo took their first win – a fantastic win for the team considering their luck this year in RHPK. A very special moment as Darrell jumped up from the kart to celebrate with his team mates, Nick & Jo. Exactly what karting is all about. For the RHPK team, this years highlight of the season so far.
JND took second place, once again scoring high for their 2017 championship charge, just 2 tenths behind. Team Time Crisis took a well deserved 3rd place. Team CET took the 4th spot on the podium, the team once again on the podium this year with an immaculate reliability record. Burton Power WAGS the last spot on the grid with 5th.

Round 7 - September 2017 Qualifying

Pos	Kart	Team	Class	Laps	Best
1	1	Helicopter Services	Super	21	41.691
2	3	ABA Racing	Super	26	41.759
3	19	Titan Motorsport	Super	11	41.824
4	17	RPM 1	Super	31	41.857
5	2	Custom Rods	Super	11	42.002
6	25	GKD Racing	Super	18	42.037
7	24	Spectre Racing	Super	28	42.144
8	8	Lambo Racing	Super	37	42.152
9	22	Amigos	Super	23	42.199
10	14	HRS 1	Super	17	42.228
11	10	Karting Magazine	Super	32	42.25
12	62	Time Crisis	Clubman	33	42.284
13	59	Amigos 2	Clubman	21	42.298
14	53	March Racing	Clubman	19	42.386
15	33	Silverline Racing	Clubman	37	42.392
16	4	JRH Racing	Super	33	42.463
17	57	SJ Lambo	Clubman	38	42.469
18	55	JND Racing	Clubman	27	42.479
19	41	Artifex	Clubman	36	42.515
20	7	Team JAM	Super	34	42.521
21	42	Eyrie CBS	Clubman	35	42.527
22	38	Universal Racing	Clubman	23	42.537
23	37	Pelam Racing	Clubman	13	42.62
24	32	Polish Lambo	Clubman	11	42.621
25	36	KA Racing	Clubman	35	42.625
26	35	Team CET	Clubman	17	42.628
27	54	Burton Power WAGS	Clubman	35	42.636
28	64	TNR Too	Clubman	11	42.65
29	31	Burton Power Racing	Clubman	24	42.762
30	40	BMH	Clubman	32	42.917
31	34	NMA Racing	Clubman	27	43.074
32	56	APL Too	Clubman	27	43.283
33	68	Too Many Pies	Clubman	4	51.493
DNS	60	Chess Racing	Clubman	0

Round 7 - September 2017 Race

Pos	Kart	Team	Class	Laps	Behind	Best
1	1	Helicopter Services	Super	289		41.754
2	2	Custom Rods	Super	288	1 Lap	41.834
3	25	GKD Racing	Super	288	1 Lap	42.072
4	3	ABA Racing	Super	287	2 Laps	41.937
5	22	Amigos	Super	287	2 Laps	41.987
6	24	Spectre Racing	Super	286	3 Laps	41.879
7	57	SJ Lambo	Clubman	285	4 Laps	42.214
8	55	JND Racing	Clubman	285	4 Laps	42.218
9	62	Time Crisis	Clubman	285	4 Laps	42.126
10	8	Lambo Racing	Super	284	5 Laps	42.03
11	7	Team JAM	Super	284	5 Laps	42.47
12	35	Team CET	Clubman	282	7 Laps	42.451
13	54	Burton Power WAGS	Clubman	281	8 Laps	42.449
14	31	Burton Power Racing	Clubman	281	8 Laps	42.505
15	40	BMH	Clubman	280	9 Laps	42.627
16	59	Amigos 2	Clubman	279	10 Laps	42.003
17	37	Pelam Racing	Clubman	278	11 Laps	42.813
18	38	Universal Racing	Clubman	278	11 Laps	42.379
19	34	NMA Racing	Clubman	278	11 Laps	42.908
20	36	KA Racing	Clubman	276	13 Laps	42.339
21	53	March Racing	Clubman	275	14 Laps	42.247
22	42	Eyrie CBS	Clubman	272	17 Laps	42.419
23	4	JRH Racing	Super	272	17 Laps	42.534
24	32	Polish Lambo	Clubman	272	17 Laps	42.789
25	41	Artifex	Clubman	270	19 Laps	42.431
26	33	Silverline Racing	Clubman	264	25 Laps	42.341
27	56	APL Too	Clubman	260	29 Laps	42.944
28	17	RPM 1	Super	257	32 Laps	41.833
29	10	Karting Magazine	Super	240	49 Laps	42.041
30	68	Too Many Pies	Clubman	214	75 Laps	47.966
31	19	Titan Motorsport	Super	204	85 Laps	41.752
32	14	HRS 1	Super	186	103 Laps	41.767
33	64	TNR Too	Clubman	44	245 Laps	42.629
DNS	60	Chess Racing	Clubman	0	-

 

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