The 2003 Open Endurance Championship

Round 5 - 27th July
Daytona Milton Keynes

A good turnout and some promising weather, greeted the teams, for this the 5th round of the Championship.

Qualifying resulted in an Extreme/Max front row, courtesy of Tecserve/The Red Brigade with Thundercats and the Max of Special Racing Projects, making up the second row.

From the drop of the green flag, The Red Brigade went off like a rocket, putting in some of the fastest laps of the day in these early stages. Tecserve led the chase, closely followed by the Max’s of Auctionmyigloo and Special Racing Projects, with Thundercats and the Extreme of Ace of Aces making up the top six.

Shortly after, the 7-lap advantage for the ProKarts was awarded and the leader board now displayed Team Davis at the head of the field from JM Sport and Chains of Thunder, who subsequently suffered mechanical problems and dropped to the back of the field, as did the Biland of SCR Racing. As the one-hour mark approached, The Red Brigade had already taken two laps out of the Prokart’s lead, with a tense battle behind, between Tecserve’s Extreme and the Max’s of Special Racing Projects and Auctionmyigloo. Team Davis still lead with a 20 second advantage over JM Sport, whilst the Red Brigade pitted for fuel leaving Tecserve now in third place, followed by the three ThunderKarts of Thundercats, SAS Racing and RJB. Meanwhile, a series of disasters struck Loose Cannons, Trailvan’s Extreme lost an exhaust, and Sparks, APH and Ace of Aces, were all force to pit with an array of mechanical difficulties.

Then just as the Red Brigade were recovering from their fuel stop and climbing back up the field, the front right hand stub snapped and resulted ultimately, in their retirement from what was likely to have been a podium finish.

At the halfway point Team Davis still lead, when second place JM Sport were collected by a spinning kart rejoining the track, which bent the rear axle and dropped then well out the top ten, leaving Thundercats to take up the chase. Tecserve were still third With Special Racing Projects just ahead of SAS Racing and Auctionmyigloo in sixth place. Team Davis’s lead was now rapidly diminishing and any hopes of yellow flags or a short sharp shower were not looking good. Both Tecserve and Special Racing Projects were closing them down rapidly and with two-thirds distance gone, Team Davis found themselves back in third place and under pressure from Thundercats and the recovered Extreme of APH Racing.

In the closing stages of the race, Special Racing Projects were closing the gap to the leaders, but one more fuel stop put paid to victory, however it did ensure that the runner-up place was guaranteed. Team Davis eventually lost out on third place, to the fast finishing Thundercats, but managed to just stay in front of APH’s Extreme, to conclude an excellent days racing. Once again, the success of this multi formula Championship was proven, with 4 different classes, occupying the top four finishing positions.

Results

Overall Results of Round 5

Best in Class 

Report by Paul Bowler.

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