This one meant a lot.
Frankie JJ
King’s Lynn was a really good meeting for me! I was in Heat One starting off the back of the reds. I managed to make my way to the front with only Mathew Newson in front of me, but I wasn’t close enough for a last bend lunge so I was very happy to get second!
In the Final I was running just behind Mat again, I followed him as we were a similar speed and managed to get sixth, and in the National I made a bad tyre choice but managed to pick up ninth. It was a really good meeting!
Phoebe
I got quite a good start in my heat and the car felt really quick! I was in quite a good place when someone hit me going into turn 1. I hit the fence and my car just cut out. I rolled for a little bit whilst trying to get my car started but it appeared to be something electrical so I couldn’t get it going again. The race was stopped and my brother pushed me onto the infield. On the infield I watched my brother who was FLYING! He finished in second place, I wasn’t even mad that I hadn’t finished the race anymore, I was so proud of him!
When I came off track we couldn’t figure out why my car wouldn’t start. We eventually figured that it wasn’t getting a spark so we tested the coil and discovered that it was the coil which had stopped working. We put a new one on and my car started straight away.
The Consolation was one of my favourite races so far this year! I was flying! I got up to fourth place and the leaders weren’t even pulling away from me, I was keeping with them and was absolutely loving it! There was a yellow flag and on the re-start I went to pass the yellow top who was in front of me when someone behind me hit me at the same time, this made my tyre lock with his tyre and we ended up in the fence together. I managed to get going again and I finished in 9th meaning that I qualified for the final. I was a little bit annoyed as I could have gotten a really good place, but at the same time I had so much fun so I was on a bit of a high.
The Final was an awesome race. I got quite a good start and could tell that I was on pace as I was keeping with the blues. On the last few laps I remember coming down the home straight and looking at the board to see if my dad was in the top three and he was in first place! I was actually going around shouting “COME ON DAD!” and looking to see if I could see him. On the last lap I could just see him in my mirror take the chequered flag… that’s right… my dad didn’t even lap me! I finished the final in ninth which I was very very pleased with! More points for me!
The National wasn’t so good. In the first couple of laps a few of the blues, including myself, went into the fence in a bit of a train. My car cut out again but it had gone flat so I couldn’t start it up. The yellow flags came out a couple of laps later, I thought that these were for me but later found out that they were for someone else. If a driver causes a yellow flag, that driver cannot continue the race and they have to pull off. My dad pushed me onto the infield, he was trying to tell me that the yellow flags weren’t for me and that I could carry on but I couldn’t hear him. When we came off track my dad told me that I could have carried on, I was a little bit annoyed with myself but I genuinely thought that the yellows came out for me!
Absolutely buzzing with results today and also with how awesome my car is going! Next week is Belle Vue so hopefully my car will be just as good!
Frankie
Well, I thought I should try get up to date on my racing reports, I’ve been absolutely flat out the last couple of weeks trying to get truck on its way and it finally looks like we’re getting somewhere with it. So we’re back to King’s Lynn again. I had a win in the final the last time there, after a near win at the first meeting, which means we’re all looking forward to the night’s racing!
The shale car is on good form at the moment and a heat and final win last time out at Bell Vue means car prep this week is mainly maintenance and set up and sort the wheels and tyres out, so all good and plenty more time to get the kids cars sorted.
So we leave the farm at 12-30 for a nice steady run down, it’s a good run to Lynn, over three and a half hours on a good run depending how many tractors we come across on the way, ha ha!
No White & Yellow race for us tonight as Phoebe has progressed well, she’s up to Blue top, so her and ted are up first in Heat One. A superb drive from Frankie saw him in a brilliant second place, but Phoebe ended up tangled up and stuck in the fence.
Danny was unlucky in the Final.
So out for my heat and the car’s not hooking up as good as last meeting and I struggled in the heat, but still managed a good 3rd place.
A good look round after the heat by me and Norm revealed the problem. The new right rear tyre we put on had grown bigger than we hoped so we had way too much stagger. An easy fix, you might think, but after searching through all my spare tyres, then Frankie’s, and then Phoebe’s, it soon became clear the only tyre we had that was the right size was one from last year that had already done a handful of meetings, and to be honest I only took it in case I had a really bad night and damaged all my others, sort of a third spare if you like.
We decided to go with it, sacrificing out and out grip for better handling, a decision we later definitely didn’t regret! So as usual Gary Jones is calling us to get on track for the Final, only this time he makes a point of coming to have a word with me to remind me that the Final is the Mo Jones Memorial Race, and that it had been run over ten times yet my name did not appear to be on the trophy…
I’ll be honest, it got to me a little bit as I grew up around Mo and Gary, and spent some time at their house with their son Keith “Beefy” Jones, who was sadly taken from us in a tragic car accident back in the eighties. It didn’t get to me what Gary was saying as we have mint banter and I can give as good as I get, it got to me coz I hadn’t ever won the trophy and I bloody should have done!
Gary and Mo with the kids.
So with all that fresh in my mind there was only ever going to be one outcome, and after 20 laps and the fastest car on the track, the chequered flag dropped once again on us… I say “us”, that’s me and the purple rocket!
I’m usually looking round for the kids as the race goes on see what they’re up to, but I’ve not seen either till about three to go when I can see Phoebe a quarter of a lap in front of me, which I thought was good as she hasn’t crashed and must still be on the lead lap.I later found out Ted managed a brilliant sixth and Phoebe an equally brilliant ninth place… absolutely awesome! Danny was well on pace too tonight and was looking good for a final top three until a flat tyre with three to go ended his final.
I was quite emotional after I passed the flag and my slow down lap was a bit of a haze, but once I got to the start/finish line and had a massive gobful of the usual abuse from Gary, quickly followed by an friendly embrace, everything was good again.
So that’s two on the trot at Lynn, and straight away on the mic it’s mentioned about three on the bounce, but for tonight it’s job done.
All hands on deck to change the gearbox between the Final and the GN.
So back to the pits and post race checks are all done and okay, but not leaving us a lot of time to prep the car. I noticed a small vibration in the last five laps and after nursing the car home we diagnose the gearbox is about to explode again. After already damaging two boxes already this year, the only option is to try swap the box before the National. A tall order, as I think we only had one race to get it done. Norm, Matt, Russ, and Antony set about ripping the box out as I get some gears sorted and into the spare box so it’s ready to go straight in. We even have time to connect the gear linkage, which is always a bonus… we have been known to just stick it in top gear and go, ha ha!
Out for the National now and on the same tyres, so hoping they’ll last till the end. An early yellow meant I was on the back of the pack after just four or five laps, so with lot of hard work and bumperwork I manage a superb fifth place, so all in all a superb night’s racing.
I’d like to say a massive thankyou to all the mechanics, without them we wouldn’t have made the National, and to Sam and the kids for keeping me entertained on the way home until we got back at 3-35 in the morning again. Another final win under my belt helped the journey no end!
Yours in sport… 515
