Rissington plays host to the opening round of the Super One Honda Cadet Championship, effectively the British Championship for the class in which I race and last weekend was the first time we have been able to test there since it was announced as being on the 2017 venue list.
I've never visited this track or tried it on my simulator so it would be interesting to see how I fared against many of the competiton who have visited here for years.
Saturday testing went well and I dialled into the circuit quickly. This was good news as this weekend was only a couple away from the 1st Super One meeting and I needed to be on top form to ensure I performed well here.
The format was random grids for the heats then the final from the finishing classifications.
Heat 1 I got a good start from row 3 and hit the front. Behind me slotted in my teammate and another driver and we set about making a break from the chasing pack. After a few laps we broke away and my teammate and I maintained our pace and after another three laps had broken the 3rd palce driver and just pushed away with me taking the flag and the win.
Heat 2 and I was further back, I made my way through the karts as the laps counted down and finished 4th form memory.
Heat 3 was a start from even further down the grid and I needed to get as high up the rankings as possible. I was making good progress but eventually ran out of laps in P7 I think.
With these finishes I was not overly confient of my grid position for the final but I did think I'd be on the 1st 3 rows so that would be OK....It was a very nice surprice when the grid was published and I was on the front row P2!
Unlike many clubs it had been rolling starts so we went round and the front row drivers tried to keep the pack behind down to a reasonable start pace but the 15 karts behind me were all pushing me forward so as soon as I hit the acceleration line I came off the brake and hit the throttle using the pack behind to give me a big boost. It worked really well as it was like I'dd uncorked a fizzy bottle...I accelerated and went ahead of the pole man and turned into turn 1 in the lead.
Over the 1st half of the race the two of us tried to pull away from the only other kart able to keep with our pace and it was working....right up until I missed the ideal line through a corner two laps in a row and htis brought it back to a three kart race....
I go into the last lap in the lead and take a defensive line through the first two corners and into the third. On the exit from the third corner the driver in P2 tries a move which results in them making contact with me and slowing us both down thus gifting the third place driver the lead!
I get my head down and follow the leader into the next set of bends, left and then he pulls out to take the right and I send it up the inside to take the lead.....I now have two drivers behind me and have lost momentum due to having to tighten up the corner to overtake....who do I defend against, I choose the driver that I have just overtaken and this allows th other through, I follow him round the next 3 corners in a defensive line as should I move out the third place will undoubtably shuffle me down to third and it's into the last corner.
The leader goes fully defensive and I try to keep a midground to hold the driver behind at bay, we come round the corner and I let m kart drift out to maintain momentum and I secure 2nd at hte flag.
Not the win I'd hoped for but I was confident as the other two drivers had raced here, one on many occasions over many years and I'd just beaten him.
I left the meeting feeling confident and happy and now it's on to TVKC round 1 of the Summer Championship.