Hey All,
Over this past weekend the Champion Ron Fellows Karting Challenge finale took place at Goodwood Kartways. This was a much anticipated race because the TRAK race took place during the day and then we had a quick turnaround, racing as the sun goes down and the lights come on. This is personally one of my favourite races because of the night finish.
My day started well by qualifying in the pole position with light rain falling. Before we took to the grid for the pre-final, my dad had to leave to take my sister to her volleyball tryout. Because my dad wasn’t there I have a few people to thank: Kevin Monteith, David and Josh Conquer, and my granddad for supporting, supervising, and helping tune and make changes. Also Alex Hughes for helping me handle my equipment and cheering all day.
So as I was saying, the rain slowed but water was still sitting on the track. I set up my kart with all the proper changes and took to the wet track. It was a pretty quiet race and in the end I finished 2nd which set me up to fight my way back and take the win.
In the final, I had a great jump off the start and took the lead into corner one and held it almost all of the way. I wasn’t challenged until the end when on the last lap I didn’t defend right off the bat and it almost cost me the race. Luckily I was able to be effective in the braking zone and I ended up with the win.
As we set up for the night race, the track was fully dry and ready to go for the very exciting and fun long track reverse with chicane configuration. During qualifying, I found myself in a bad spot and only got a few laps in. I still managed to qualify 5th and after we all went through tech, it turned to 4th.
This set me on the outside for the pre final and I fell to 5th for a few seconds but got myself back to 4th. I didn’t get any more action but after the race I improved another position in tech and was starting 3rd for the final, a prime spot.
As we rolled up to the grid under the lights, a small amount of spitting from the sky was not too alarming but when we got our karts on the ground, the rain increased to a consistent amount. We were already committed to the setups we had on so there was no option but to go out and just drive.
I took advantage of the inside on the start and moved up to 2nd. Three corners later I dove up the inside to take the lead. It was a pretty quiet drive from there and I won the race and gave myself the strongest chance I could to win the Ron fellows championship. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough but I would like to give Josh a huge congrats for winning the championship.
Overall, I had one of the strongest races all year and really enjoyed the challenge of racing in the night and rain on a dry setup and was very impressed by the creativity of the lights attached to some of the karts. :)
Looking forward, this was one of the last major races of the year but there are still a few exciting ones left. I would like to wish good luck to all those participating.
Thanks,
Gavin Sanders
#610, Briggs Junior.
