 |
| Source: Hyperdrive Kart Racing Facebook |
Last Wednesday
night it was finally time for our second Champion League Grand Finale, and what
a night it was. The six best drivers from our two-league nights battled it out
for the chance to take home both the winner’s trophy and a year’s worth of free
racing at Hyperdrive.
This seasons
Grand Finale was an evolution of the first. The added factor of a pitstop both
during qualifying and the race was sure to spice things up. During the 20-lap
qualifying session all drivers had to set a time in both Sodi and Shifter
Karts. Their best lap ties from each Karts were then added together to
determine the starting grid for the 60-lap endurance race. In the race, all
drivers started in Sodi Karts and had to complete a minimum of 10 laps before
making a pitstop and switching over to Shifters. This meant that individual
strategies had now become an important factor of the race.
After setting
their qualifying lap times in both Karts it was Duncan that took pole with a
combined time of 36.590s. Despite setting the fastest Shifter time Ben was over
a second behind with 36.806s and rounding out the top three was Chris with
37.806s. In fourth was Brad, Michael fifth and Samuel rounded out the starting
grid.
The Grid was now
set, and it was time for the main event, let’s go racing! Following an
entertaining show of racing from our own Hyperdrive Stig and an enthusiastic
challenger, the drivers climbed into their Karts still contemplating their race
strategies. They completed their warmup lap and lined up on the grid. Five reds
light go green and we are racing! Duncan held his position in first but a
smooth move up the inside of the hairpin by Chris gained him second over Ben.
However, Ben quickly rectified this at the same corner on lap 2 as Chris went
for the boost. This scrapping for positions continued as Duncan stretched out
his lead early in the race. Lap 10 came around quickly and it was time for the
pit strategies to begin. Ben opted for an early pitstop, relying his previous
experience in Shifter Karts to gain some time on the leaders. The rest of the
field quickly followed until Brad was the lone racer on track. He revelled in
the attention for a few laps until finally being the last one to pit.
Many predicted
that the pitstops would shake things up and they sure did. All drivers were now
out on track in Shifter Karts and the order had significantly changed. Ben’s
late stop had paid off and he now held a significant lead. Mick climbed all the
way up to second. Brad and Chris were locked in the closest battle on track for
third place. Duncan’s strategy had seen him drop far down the order and a
podium looked out of reach. Extremely disappointing considering the strong lead
he worked so hard for at start of the race.
The race settled down for a while
until a close battle between Brad and Chris fired up. These two battled on
until an incident saw Chris facing the wrong way and his podium chances faded.
Brad copped a penalty which now opened the door for Duncan to snatch a late
podium. A small consolidation for losing the lead. Duncan raced his heart out
setting the fastest lap of the race in the process but traffic denied
him a podium finish. The star of night turned out to be the only returning
racer from last season’s finale, Ben Marley. He stormed to a finish that saw
him win by over a lap. After missing out with his third-place finish last
season, Ben had won a year’s worth of free racing at Hyperdrive. Michael came
home with an impressive second after qualifying fifth and Brad completed the
podium in third.
A huge
congratulations to our Season 2 Champion Ben Marley as well as all of our
finalists. An exciting season is over. But once again there is little rest for
us at Hyperdrive as season 3 is already underway! Stay tuned on our Facebook
page to keep up to date on all the racing. Also, log in every Thursday night at
6:30pm to watch the races live!
Comments
Post a Comment