Lucas Ellingham Racing - Honda Cadet  #99

 

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The weather makes this the 1st decent testing weekend of the year

Saturday practice was looking as though it was finally going to be in decent weather and after last weeks performance at Red Lodge we were looking forward to building on the good results.

The track was providing some good times and after the initial runs Lucas was getting to grips wiht the new chassis and posting quicker times than he had so far this year.

During the day we made a few setup changes which worked as hoped and his lap times tumbled allowing him to set a personal best!

Sunday arrived and we were woken at 5am by rain but by the time we got up at 7am the floor was damp but not wet - we were confident. Lucas' sponsors had bought him a new race suit to match the kart colours and with their livery so the pressure was on to deliver.

Lucas drew Pole for Heat 1, P8 for Heat 2 (to be re-gridded to P4), P5 for Heat 3.

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Heat 1

Lucas managed to draw Pole position for the 1st heat and headed out with a grid of 8 drivers. The lights went out and the race was on, Lucas maintained P1 into turn 1 and got his head down immediately. When he hit the infield section (T5 - T10) he showed his pace and really started to work on building a buffer to the next driver. Over the line on lap 2 he had stretched a 3 kart lead and was steadily pulling away.

He continued a pretty much flawless drive to build a 6 second gap to P2 which he maintained to the flag.

As those who know us are aware we have had a very hard 4 months and have had to dig deep but it was paying off now!

Lucas arrived in Parc-Ferme and you would have thought he had just won the final, a look we had not seen yet this year. 

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Heat 2

Starting from P8 it was imperative that Lucas made quick progress through the pack to stand any chance of a top 3 finish. On the second sighting lap there was a big shunt due to an inexperienced driver not being fully aware of the warm up lap procedure. Lucas was at the back of the pack with only one driver behind, who must have been somewhere else as he did not even attempt to stop but hit Lucas straight in the rear.

The impact was hard enough to bend the lower rear bumper bar and also bend the complete bumper mounting up by 30 degrees!

Lucas tried to drive off when the carnage cleared in front and thought his chain has come off.........it had not his kart was still of the ground sitting on the nose of the kart behind.

The pack were called to a halt and it was decided to re-grid the Heat and run it after the Iame Cadets.

Lucas was drawn in P4 for the restart and left the grid to try again.

This time the start went cleanly although Lucas had one of the backmarkers in front of him and got blocked on the start to enter T1 in 4th. Getting good drive out of the hairpin Lucas slotted in behind in P4 and followed the leading group around until T10 where he dived up the inside of the kart in front to take P3. Now he was hunting down the P2 driver who had about 5 kart lengths on Lucas. Into the hairpin at the end of the straight Lucas made up 4 lengths and continued to close through T2 until he was on the bumper of the P2 driver. Hitting the infield Lucas takes a wide line in to T6, not normally a passing place and goes around the outside of the P2 Driver.....Now it time for P1. Not wasting any time Lucas pressures the leader and on T9 whom he passes around the outside, the kart is working well today!

Lucas gets his head to to build a 5 Second lead, another great drive with yet again fastest personal lap times being set.

 

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Heat 3

Lucas starts from P5 in Heat 3 and has a lot of work to do as again he is drawn behind a slow driver and the driver who is second in the championship us in Pole. They roll out for the warmup and Lucas ​

makes sure he is not too close to the kart in front to allow him movement when the lights go out.

It's a very fast start with the Pole driver gaining a lead of 7-8 kart lengths but as they approach the T1 hairpin all the drivers pull to the outside, for the normal racing line. This gives Lucas clear track into the hairpin and he is on the inside. As he is just about to apex the P2 driver turns in and they make contact. Lucas has the line and unfortunately the other driver spins out but this put Lucas in P2 about 4-5 kart lengths behind the leader.

The leading driver is pulling about 2 kart lengths out over the faster section but Lucas is so fast around the infield he is harassing the leader on every corner. back on to the straight and it's the 2-3 kart length gap that the leader seems to stretch.

Every time they hit the infield Lucas makes up the gap but just cannot seem to get past, drawing level and a few occasions.

Lucas draws level with the leader down the straight with 1 lap showing but as driver 3 approaches the line the 'Last Lap' board is shown, Lucas presses but finishes 2nd and in Parc-Ferme requests that we speak to the Clerk of the Course as he expected another lap as he was not shown teh 'Last Lap' board. We note our opinion with the Clerk and get ready for the final.







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Final

Pole start in the final could not have been better and following some setup changes to try and combat the lack of pace on the fast sections we were feeling reasonably confident that we should reach the podium and should get a win if the race goes to plan. 

Lucas led the warm up and for some reason it was fast, too fast, so the started instraucted the group to run again. As Lucas passed we tried to tell him to slow down but as it turned out every time he slowed the P2 runner pushed ahead. This meant that gradually the pace increased over the lap and by the time they hit the straight they were again going too fast. The started allowed the start this time and Lucas held the inside line in to T1 with the main runners maintaining station behind him.

Lucas knew he had to try to break his nearest rival before they got to the straight again and worked really hard through the infield complex managing to build a 3-4 length gap. It was good to see that the changes we had made worked and the P2 runner did not close as much on the straight as they had done in Heat 3.

Lucas continued to push and build a lead which at it's best was about 3 seconds. P2 & P3 runners were pushing as well and by lap 8 of the 10 the P2 runner was slowly closing on Lucas but Lucas managed the gap to finish 6 lengths in front of his nearest rival.........BACK ON THE TOP STEP AGAIN!

Add to this a 57 point haul, sunshine, happy driver & team and it was a great weekend.





next....Red Lodge Club 2000 on the 1st weekend in May.

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