Christchurch Kart Club Host 2009 Big Ben Pies Enduro

Although the weather forecasters predicted a wet weekend in Christchurch for the 2009 Big Ben Pies Enduro, they couldn’t have got it more wrong and despite a wintry chill in the air the threatened rain didn’t make an appearance until the conclusion of the event on Sunday evening.

A frosty Saturday morning greeted drivers in the Cadet, Junior Restricted, Junior Yamaha and Senior 155kg Yamaha classes at the Carrs Road track. After the formalities and tuning runs the time trials were contested. Each class took part in two 5 minute time trials to decide their starting positions for the main Enduro race.

The Cadet class saw Cameron Taylor post the fastest time in the first qualifying session but the pole position went to Ryan Yardley who bettered that in the second session.

The Junior Restricted pole position was taken by Brook Reeve in the second session after bettering North Island driver Maddison Wise’s time in the first session. Senior

Yamaha saw the start of what proved to be a very close meeting between Matthew Hamilton and Chris Cox with Matt out-qualifying Chris in session 1 by 4 thousandths of a second and Chris coming back in the second session to post the overall fastest time. James Penrose and Michael Collins shared fastest times for their two sessions but James was the pole sitter after qualifying and an exciting top 10 pole shuffle.

James Penrose in the Junior Yamaha class drove consistently and impressively throughout his 1 hour 5 minute Enduro and took out the win and with it the prize of a trip to Australia later in the year to spend a weekend shadowing V8 Supercar driver Jason Richards. This is the second year that Jason has given the winner of the Junior Class the opportunity to spend a weekend with him at a meeting. Last year’s winner Alexander Webb gained a huge amount of experience from the prize and had an incredible time with Jason and a rare insight into what the job of a professional racing driver entails. He finished in third place this year behind Michael Collins in 2nd.

This year saw most of the classes racing a slightly longer Enduro that previously with the Cadets taking part in a 50 minute Enduro which had to include a 5 minute compulsory pit stop. Ryan Yardley was the winner in the class after leading from the start and his team pulling out a perfect pit stop for him at about the mid point of the race. Thomas Pooley took the 2nd spot from Cameron Taylor in 3rd.

The Junior Restricted class also raced for longer in a 65 minute Enduro also with a 5 minute compulsory pit stop. Brook Reeve put on an impressive performance in the class and finished a lap up on 2nd place Brent Neill and 2 laps ahead of Daniel Williams in 3rd.

The race of the day for the spectators has to go to the Senior Yamaha class with Matthew Hamilton and Chris Cox putting on an exciting performance in their 65 minute race. Chris took the lead from the pole position off the start with Matthew gaining a place from third to slot in closely behind him. The two swapped positions throughout the first stint and there was never more than a couple of kart lengths between them even when they were lapping traffic. Matthew came into the pits first from the lead position which gave Chris a few laps to try to build a gap before he would have to pit. After the stops Chris had managed to open a gap which was gradually closed by Matthew who then overtook Chris for the lead. Despite over an hour and with over 100 laps completed, the finish came down to the wire with Chris challenging Matthew everywhere he could during the closing few minutes of the race. Both drivers put on an impressive display and Matthew took out the win from Chris with just over a tenth of a second separating them.

Sunday saw the turn of the Senior drivers, 28 teams of 2 drivers (and their crews) turned out to contest the 2 hour 5 minute Enduro race, again as in the Saturday classes there would be a compulsory 5 minute pit lap. Unlike Saturday where all of the competitors were competing against drivers with the same engine specifications in their classes the seniors would be a mixture of Rotax Max Heavy, Rotax Max Light and all of the variations the Open Class presents, all in all a recipe for some exciting racing and plenty of action on the track. Names from motorsport including, Johny Reid, Andy Knight, Richie Stanaway and for the 4th successive year Jason Richards, were joined by some of NewZealand’s best karters including Ryan Urban, Matthew Hamilton, Hamish Cross and Ryan Grant to name a few, for what promised to be a very exciting and entertaining couple of hours.

After qualifying and a top ten pole shuffle the top six teams started the race as follows; pole Andy Knight/Ryan Grant, 2nd Josh Burgess/Graeme Smyth, 3^rd Simon Evans/Ryan Urban, 4th Kane Georgeson/Jamie Duff, 5th Chris Cox/Jamie Conroy and 6th Jason Richards/Hamish Cross. 1st placed Rotax Light team was Matt Griffin/Mason Armstrong and 1st placed Rotax Heavy Team was Craig Gilmore/Johny Latham.

The exciting spectacle of 28 karts driving the track for the warm up laps and getting ready to take the rolling start was a sight to behold and the atmosphere and sense of anticipation was tremendous. There were no 1st lap casualties and despite a few places being gained and lost all made it past the first few laps and gradually settled into what was to be a very long race.

Lap 27 saw its’ first casualty amongst the front runners with the number 3 kart of Ryan Urban and Simon Evans pulling off the track with mechanical problems, closely followed by Josh Burgess and Graeme Smyth a lap later. By this point in the race the front runners are lapping an average of about 3 karts per lap all of whom are also racing for position so a great deal of skill and concentration is required from all of the drivers on track if they are to stay in the race.

Lap 58 saw the demise of the Downes/McMaster team when they were forced to retire due to mechanical difficulties. By about lap 100 teams were beginning to take their compulsory (and necessary if they weren’t to run out of fuel) pit stops and make their driver change. Most teams used this as an opportunity to re-fuel, do a quick nuts and bolts check, for the driver to give a bit of feedback on the kart handling and if time permitted, the team to make some minor adjustments before the second driver rejoined the race.

The second stint was no less exciting with positions being won and lost as pit stops were taken and karts were forced to retire. At the conclusion of the 2 hours and five minutes the first Rotax Max Heavy home with 205 laps completed was the team of Stephen Wright and Ben Gilmore, the first Rotax Max Light home having driven 217 laps was Matt Griffin and Mason Armstrong who were presented with the Phil Hicks Memorial Trophy. And with 233 laps completed the overall wining team was Andy Knight and Ryan Grant in their Vortex 125cc Shifter from Chris Cox and Jamie Conroy with 231 laps under their belt in their 125cc Rotax Max Open and in 3rd with the same number of laps Jason Richards and Hamish Cross.

The Christchurch Kart Club is grateful to its’ sponsors of the event, to all who turned up to compete and assist in putting on the meeting and to Jason Richards for once again climbing out of a V8 Super Car and into a go kart and joining us for the event.

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