Third place in the Final was the best result of the night for Team Wainman.
I was feeling good about racing at Lynn. The car felt really good at Belle Vue, only a suspension breakage cost me the final win, but everything else was good.
I was in a different heat to the kids so I got to watch them. First Phoebe pulled off with an electrical problem and Lil Ted had a really good race, moving a lot of cars in one move to make up six places on one corner, it was good to watch! As a dad I was actually telling him exactly what I would do and he actually did it! Not sure how he heard me, or maybe just the fact he is more confident every meeting he does.
So onto my own heat. The car felt really good again straight away, and I had a good race with Stuart as we battled to the front. After taking the lead with about 4 to go, and with an extending lead I unfortunately got held up by a wandering novice, costing me the lead and I ended up finishing third.
Led two Finals, didn’t win either…!
The Final was another good race as I managed to get up with the lower grade front runners to battle for the lead. On the second to last corner Sarge put Dowsy wide, leaving the track open for me to take the lead, and going down the last straight I thought I had done enough to be far enough away from Dowsy going into the last bend
My calculations were not far away but Dowsy had other ideas and made a massive lunge, and just caught my back end mid-corner to turn me round. A quick reverse gear selection meant there was no way Dowsy was going past but by time I got turned back round I only managed tenth place. Still some qualifying points, but after leading both finals so far this year and only managing a 12th and a 10th, it’s slightly disappointing!
As for Dowsy, he was still sat there waiting for a tractor, but definitely can’t fault him for trying! Hero to zero this time, but this is what makes our sport so amazing, the willingness of drivers to win at all costs!
A flat right rear in the National after a really good start to the race brought the night to a close, but all in all a satisfying night as car and more importantly the driver were on it like a car bonnet, as they say, so everything to look forward to.
So onto another week of work, work, and more work, ooh and some cars to get ready for the weekend. We’re not sure if any of us are racing Skegness on Good Friday yet as we haven’t looked at the damage on Phoebe’s car, and as I only have a shale car for the foreseeable future then if Phoebe’s needs a lot of repairs then we’ll just concentrate on getting everything ready for the qualifier on Saturday at Stoke.
Oh, and Danny got third in the Final!
Cheers for all the support guys,
Frankie
Fourth place in Heat 1.
We asked the kids for some words and this is what they said…..
The car was really good. I was running 11th in one heat until the waved yellows. I had a good restart, and came out of the first bend in fourth place and stayed there for the rest of the race.
The Final was going well, I was running about ninth when a car slammed on his brakes in front of me down the straight, and we got hit by a group of cars, so that was that.
In the National the car wasn’t as good as in the other races cos of some damage, but I still managed to get 12th.
Frankie JJ
Didn’t finish a race, broke the car, but absolutely loved it!
I was super excited to race at King’s Lynn because I have wanted to race there in an F1 since I was in minis! It is my second favourite shale track, after Coventry, and I loved racing there in both the Mini and the V8.
I wasn’t allowed in the Whites and Yellows race at the start of the meeting as I hadn’t qualified for it with not racing last year, so I was a little bit gutted that I couldn’t take part in that.
Heat 1 and again, just like at Belle Vue, I was so so excited and not a nerve in sight! I lined up at the front of the yellow tops and waited for the rolling lap. As soon as the green flag dropped I had an awesome start and got up to second place in the first lap! About a lap later a blue top tapped me going into the bend and my car came out of gear. I really struggled to get it back in and when I managed to I was at the back of the pack and Chris Cowley was winning. He came up behind me and hit me, causing me to go into the slippy stuff and I hit the fence and a parked car. My car wouldn’t start after that so I had to wait the rest of the race out against the fence!
There was a lot of work to try and get me out for the Consolation, my battery leads had all come loose and we didn’t think the battery was working, that’s why my car wouldn’t start after hitting the fence, and my back bumper had also bent in and was rubbing on my back outside tyre. We only just managed to get out for the Consolation!
I didn’t get a very good start in the Consolation as I started at the very back of the yellows and the blues were on me before the green flag had even come out! I was really loving racing with everyone and lap after lap was just so much fun! My goggles kept steaming up so it was quite hard to see where I was going. The leader came to lap me and I went a little bit too wide, I hit all the slippy stuff on the outside – again! – and hit the fence – again! I couldn’t get my car going after that as it wouldn’t go into gear, so I waited the race out against the fence.
When I got back to the truck I realised that I had quite a lot of damage and had to load up as there wouldn’t have been enough time to fix the car for the rest of the meeting. The back outside wheel had buckled, the back axle had come loose because I had ripped the suspension mounting point out of the sump which caused the propshaft to come out and then that hit the gear stick which bent it… I mean, they don’t call me wrecker for nothing!
Even though I didn’t finish a race, I absolutely loved the laps that I did and I really cannot wait to race there again! And I also need to buy myself some anti-steam goggles!
Phoebe
Karl placed sixth in the Consolation.
