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WARM UP/ QUALIFYING etc
A bumper heavies field - 18 in total, and around 13
lights. My fellow Nostalgia
Junkie Gavin Newman was a late withdrawal due to
illness, although he rocked up to help out as always.
All
photos as always provided by the amazing
I
was sure that with some new leaner settings in the carby,
which produced magic at Phillip Island for round 4 and
Wakefield Park (any time), maybe, just maybe, the dreadfully
slow northern hairpin at Mallala would not be the bain
it has always been. I was quite wrong. My
Golden Orb arch rival Chris Jewell was equally as miserable
about his bottom end speed, but still reasonably buoyant
with his prediction that he would be the Hyper Heavies
Master...
John
Bartlett and I respond accordingly as Chris "Spreadsheet"
Jewell calculates his dominance in the Hyper Golden
Orb pointscore
Everywhere
else my thing was a weapon on the hot, greasy track.
These South Aussies are hard to beat on a track they
drum down to a fine art, all year. I was plenty quick
enough through the clenching turn one and the pick-the-throttle-early
turn 2, but that bluddy hairpin was putting the revs
right down into zombie land. The revs wouldn't pick
up until halfway down the back straight, by which time
all of South Australia had cruised past. I've been in
the low 23's here, today cracking the 24's would be
an ordeal.
Good
old northen rural South Australia. Picturesque, isn't
it? Shaun
Trounson and I play in practice
RACE
1
The
starts were, sensibly, rolling with a nice gap between
lights and heavies. Despite this I still managed to
get held up by the only junior in the field in the early
laps, whilst in a pack of Chris Jewell, Tom Handley,
Barrie Hopkins and Robert Knott. Handley was too quick,
dispensing with us early and setting off 10sec up the
road after SA's Hyper driver John Bartlett. I'd put
an even leaner jet in, determined to burn a hole in
the roof of the piston, but still there was zero movement
out of the northern hairpin.
Trying to stave off Mark Howson and Peter Simmonds
(Heavies)
I ended up 13th of the heavies, which was won by Matthew
Bryant from Ryan Felmingham, followed by the SA prez,
the unfortunately likeable Ron Goldfinch. Chris Jewell
was always going to be in front of me once he'd (mostly)
nailed his slow corner speed. He came in 11th.
In
the featherweights Dean Crooke won by 3 secs from Sean
Jones and Michael Rogers.
Deano's
new "toothpaste tube" white Hyper looks and
goes the part. Hmmm...minty freshness....
RACE
2
Gavin
Newman advised me that my transponder was giving trouble
to the timekeepers during race 1. When we went to check
it, the problem became abundantly clear; it wasn't there.
Presuming it had gone flying after I had a little off
on the bone-crunching killer kerb at the exit of the
northern hairpin, I suggested the marshals went looking
for it there. No luck, and it was looking like I'd go
timeless all day and worse, the ASK would have to charge
me for it, or hold me prisoner until it was found. Personally
I think it was a conspiracy to force me to write their
newsletter for the rest of my natural life. The mind
boggles.
In
Lights- Andrew Chaplin leading Ryan Pannowitch of the
Pannowitch
trio
My
thanks to 250 entrant Daniel Ramerman, recovering from
a nasty neck operation only the day before, for lending
me the only spare transponder in the southern hemisphere!
The
race? Slightly better result with a 10th place, Chris
barely a second ahead in 8th with Stephen Short splitting
us. What probably helped me was the hapless Barrie Hopkins
looping it coming out of the southern hairpin, creating
a huge dust storm. On the second-to-last lap, someone
lost a clutch drum on the racing line exiting clubhouse
corner and I ran right over it. It made me ponder my
impending retirement (sabbatical?) more favourably...
Thanks to a reverse grid and some timing glitches
I was on the front row for R2. Not for long though...
Heavies'
race 1 winner Matthew Bryant was a DNF, leaving Ryan
Felmington to win from Ronnie Goldfinch and local tireless
road racing advocate Ian Williams in third. Up in waif-class
Dean Crooke was third behind the evergreen Ralph Rupprecht
and Michael Rogers.
RACE
3
Jon
Crooke urged Chris and I to finish off with the same
wheel to wheel combat we had become so famous for throughout
the season. I have to admit I was fired up to beat him.
Actually I was fired up to beat anyone...
Indeed
I fared a little better, coming home 9th and much closer
to the pack of 5th-6th-7th-8th. If I recall correctly,
most of my two full seasons have gone like this, edging
forward through the day even when outclassed for speed.
As per Jon's request Chris and I swapped positions for
the first three laps until he pulled a small gap in
8th.
In
this shot during race 2, Dean Crooke approaches the
northern hairpin as we head into the Bridgestone esses.
He's almost 2/3 of a lap in front...
This
time Ron Goldfinch looped it exiting the southern hairpin
on lap 2, winning the Saddam Hussein mother-of-all-dust-storms
award. It gave us all a Days Of Thunder moment entering
a wall of dust (seriously you couldn't see a THING)
hoping the stationary yellow Viper was not waiting to
greet you on the other side.
The
next piece of excitement provided by this race came
in the form of more clutch bits bouncing down the track
before me as we rounded the sweeper. Chris managed to
avoid it, but something large and metal hit me in the
helmet. Once again, it did little to knock thoughts
of retirement out of my head.
Story of our season. Agent Orange won out in the
end.
I finished ahead of Goldfinch which is, from memory,
something I've managed to do only once before. Huzzah!
Ralph Rupprecht won the jockey class by a cigarette
paper width from Dean Crooke. Apologies for the politically-incorrect
analogy. I know smoking is bad for you, so don't write
in and complain please.
FINAL
So
this was it. With the entire Hyper team and much of
South Australia barely able to choke back the tears*
I saddled up for my last Rotax race. It was a whopping
12-lapper, so with any luck, I thought, I might do a
Bradbury and finish....maybe fourth..?
The
dry, hot SA weather had closed in so I feared I would
expire before the kart did. I chanced putting a richer
jet in to see if this would cure my northern hairpin
blues. It didn't. But I drove the ring off the thing,
hanging with Chris and Tom Handley, who were lapping
well into the 23's.
But
out of the northern hairpin it was chugging worse and
worse every lap. I tried less throttle, more throttle,
more swearing and yelling. Nothing worked. A yellow
flag into the Bridgestone esses caught me right behind
the world's slowest-moving competitor and that lost
me the entire pit straight's length to the pack I was
chasing.
Then,
two laps from the chequer, the throttle cable broke.
Game, set match. No Bradbury for me today, or ever.
I cruised into pit lane, had a moment of rage, then
calmed down. Ah well, so it goes...
*this
is a slight exaggeration.
It
could have been worse, I suppose. Ryan Felmingham, all-day
leader in Heavies, had brake failure and fell into a
ditch nose-first, sending him flying out of the kart
and doing some nasty front-end damage. Call it cowardice,
self-preservation, sense, whatever you like, it's the
kind of thing which reminds me that giving it all away
seems like a good idea. For now, at least...
The
one redeeming feature of the day: we found the missing
transponder, at the Southern Hairpin. I wasn't even
close! Lucky they're coloured orange.
Well,
that wasn't the only redeeming feature of the day; the
ASK meetings are always excellent value on every level.
Well organised, friendly, lots of laps, all you need.
My thanks to the road racing stalwart Ian Williams for
the spare jets, Ron Goldfinch for the organisation,
Gavin Newman for reminding me I'm not the only one who
"misses the old days"...
So
that brings to a close our flirtation with motorsport.
I'm leaving for many converging reasons, none of which
I'll bore you with here- let's just say there's a project
or two in 2009 requiring my undivided attention.
JC
would often collapse under the strain of his superkarting
workload
My
heartfelt thanks go firstly to sponsor and supporter
Cameron Luke P/L and Lagler Australia. Without his backing
I couldn't have done it, unless I was prepared to lose
a house or possibly a wife. Then of course there's the
incomparable Jon Crooke and his amazing Hyper Racer
product. Crooke is a motor racing tragic whose love
of mindless nostalgia and historical anecdotes encompasses
my own. It was great to be treated as part of a team.
But
as much as he has injected some much-needed personality
into the sport, my highest admiration goes to the brains
behind Hyper Racer- Dean Crooke. His engineering skills
are superb, and I'm not just talking about metal fabrication.
The way he engineers his entire racing activities from
A to Z is something to be admired. Furthermore, in this
beat-them-at-all-costs world, Deano would rather throw
ballast on and come back to the field to have some
decent competition, than drive off into the distance,
which he did...quite regularly. It's been a pleasure
sharing the track with the likes of D. Crooke and others.
What
a blast i't's been. I'll
see you all around, one way or another.
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