Stephen Northcott of Extreme Sports Cafe entered Thailand’s 2006 125 Kart Champhionship at the Bira Circuit on the 13 and 14th of May.
Current Kart Racing season results are available on this results page.
[You need to select "Clubman 125" from the bottom of the screen]
As you can see Stephen has entered the running in 15th in the Championship. There are 22 drivers in the Championship this year.
Stephen pushes hard into the first corner of the first heat on Sunday. [Fourth place, inside line]
Extreme Sports Cafe Racing - Race Weekend Report…
Stephen was able to qualify 6th on the Saturday after many problems setting up the kart in the Friday practice session, causing him to miss some testing.
Saturday qualifying was exciting as the track had been dry all day until it was time to qualify.. All teams had to rush to change from dry to full wet set up in a matter of minutes as the rain and lightening raced accross the track, and turned the pits into islands of mud and water; mechanics balancing tools and equipment on the highest bits of mud!
Stephen went out and put in a set of good solid laps and qualified 6th.
“I kept expecting people to pass me, but no-one did so I just kept going at a pace I felt comfortable with, being unfamiliar with the track and wet conditions.. Passing a few people feeling their way around still on slick tyres was fun though..”
Due to a scrutineering penalty issued to another driver after qualifying Stephen was moved up to 5th on the grid for the first heat on Sunday morning.
Sunday morning the kart had a brake problem in morning testing, which meant that a quick fix had to be found for the first heat. Stephen started well in the first heat taking a place before the first corner. Some mistakes led to him dropping back later in the heat. Chasing hard to make up a lost place Stephen spun on the fast entry to the start finish straight and had to work hard to recover and finish 6th in that heat.
A back axel problem related to the brake issue in the morning meant that the team had to miss the second heat.
The kart was only just ready in time for the final race that afternoon, and had also had to be set up for a wet track, which was now drying rapidly in some places, and not in others. Having missed the second heat Stephen was forced to start from last place on the grid.
A lack of opportunity to set the kart up properly for the final race (because of the back axel problem), or gain any on track experience or positions [for the final heat] because of missing the second heat made this a hard race.
Stephen worked hard, but a general lack of recent race hours and relatively low experience on this track and a lack of experience in this type of kart [his own comments], as well as changing weather conditions, and quite a few problems on the Sunday contributed to make this whole weekend a very steep learning curve. But one with rewards which we will take to the next race in the form of experience…
Nonethless, Stephen got 8 points over this weekend, placing him in 15th place in the Championship. Well worth the effort.
