Lucas Ellingham Racing - Honda Cadet  #99

 

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So the 2013 TKC Championship is upon us and we are raring to go.

Arriving for practice on Saturday we were greeted with a drying track which was the 1st time this year so it would be interesting to see how the new setup compared to the old. After a few sessions and a few changes to setup we were still a little off the times that Lucas was posting at the end of last year but it was encouraging to hear that Lucas was happy with the way the kart was behaving.

We finished about an hour earlier than usual as it was presentation evening for the 2012 Championship and we had to prepare the kart for tomorrow so after a full clean, service and setup check we packed away the kart and headed off to the Presentation Evening.

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​Race Day - Warm Up 

The weather conditions were less than ideal with it being cold and wet with a drizzle that would increase to light rain throughout the day. During driver briefing it was found that some of the competitors had not reviewed the 2013 rules so did not have the required engine restrictor installed so it was decided to allow running without restrictor for this meeting.

Heading out for the warm up session we soon found the track was very very green with little grip and I don't think I have seen so many karts making unplanned exits before. This was a good learning session as we made a couple of quick changes as we were 2nd in the day's running order.



Heat 1

Lucas headed out for Heat 1 in P4 with his two main competition in P1 & P2. There were some novices at the back of the grid, which had increased this year to be the largest Cadet grid at TKC. After an aborted start the CoC briefed the runners that the pack should be tight and the race was restarted. As the lights went out Lucas was not waiting for any invitations and immediately powered between the P1 & P2 drivers which put him straight into P1 with a clear track!

He pushed lap on lap and was leaving the rest of the field, lapping 2 seconds quicker (per lap) than his nearest rival. By lap 3 he was lapping the tail enders. On lap 3 one of the Junior 160 was pushing Lucas and a rare mistake was made with him trying to get the power down too early and spinning slightly on corner 8 but he restarted quickly and was intent on chasing the Junior down.Throughout the Heat we were concerned due to the lack of grip but we should not have worried as Lucas was driving at 95% and was well in control of what he was doing finishing the heat 20 seconds in front of his rivals.



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Heat 2

Starting from P1 we were confident that Lucas should do well in Heat 2 and as hoped he started to pull away from the pack from the outset. The Junior 160s had started in from of the Cadets this heat so Lucas was soon on the back of them passing the slower before the end of the lap and another during lap 4 he pushed on, passing others over the next few laps and lapped his main 2012 cadet competition on lap 6 of 8 crossing the line with only the P2 runner being on the same lap!.

He continued a very fast controlled drive to win the heat easily whilst learning the testing conditions for the next heat and final.











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Heat 3

Like Heat 1 Lucas started Heat 3 from P4 with his main competition in P3 & P5. Lucas executed a textbook start once again, dropping left and leaving the field as soon as the lights changed. He was back to what was becoming the order of the day, hunting down the Juniors and seeing how many cadets he could lap. He was pushing and soon caught the tail end junior whom he passed on lap 2. At his pace he was extending his lead by 3 seconds per lap passing the tail running cadets at this stage. Lucas was soon on the mid runner in the Junior class whom he passed into the hairpin on lap 4. 

The track was proving to be very slippery when on lap 5, having gapped his competition by 18 seconds, Lucas made an uncharacteristic mistake on the fastest corner of the circuit but hitting the white line which sent him spinning off into the tyres. As soon as he'd stopped he was out of the kart trying to pull it round when our pusher arrived and got him back on track just behind P1 & P2 in his class, such was his lead by this point. He followed the two leading cadets to give his tyres time to clean off the mud which he'd picked up during his excursion.

He started to push and lined up the P2 runner the next lap at the same corner and passed them up the inside into the hairpin Turn 5. Now in P2 he caught the P1 runner who he harried until on lap 7 the leader made a mistake and Lucas went past and extended a lead to the flag.





Final

P1 start in the final could not be better and we were feeling confident.The lights went out and by turn 3 Lucas had passed all the Juniors in the front pack with only the leading Junior in front of him on track. As was the M.O. for the day he pushed to try and catch the Junior over the next few laps but it was clear that the bridgestone tyres on the junior kart were much better in the poor conditions. By lap 6 of 10 the gap was 19 seconds to the nearest rival and on the next lap Lucas started to lap the other cadets. He continued to push whilst ensuring that he did not have any incidents and picked his passing places very carefully to minimise risk and finally take the flag comfortably.



All in all a great start to the Championship with a 60 Point haul and a clean sweep!



next....Red Lodge YoungStarz next weekend.

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