K-CLASS THUNDER ENDURO ROUND 4 LONG BEACH – 24th JULY 2018
MAD FINDS LIFE'S A BEACH
BMR Sutton grabs his first victory ~ Mad2210 loses victory 7 laps from home ~ Bradderstig & A Big Pie Key both drive well for podiums ~ Nikemike continues to lead championship with a fifth ~ DART new Ferrari shows promise ~ First corner accident slows last week’s top 2 ~ Top class battle early on for the lead
MaD Motorsport and Mad2210 came so close to a fairytale victory
This race was always going to throw the form book out of the window; the unforgiving walls of the west coast circuit would punish any mistakes and make overtaking difficult. What it also did do, was give us a great scrap for victory that in truth could of gone to about 9 different drivers.
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The entry had a few changes from a week before, a swap of drivers at Team HARD, saw Diboor missing and RGreenwood making his debut for the team after joining from team Alert-IT. Alert-IT were in the paddock, but the teams BMW never made it on track. Team Senna Sempre arrived with the older Honda NSX, and fast AM ranked driver Atom Stew.
Atom Stew had promised much in testing, as had Mad2210 and BMR Sutton. It was a welcome return to for Badbeat in the loud Honda, but one car was in the pits making no noise. Poor Devil Lord could not fire up the Ford Escort Cosworth, and as hard as he tried, it became obvious as the grid formed that he would be a non-starter. It was a start of bad day at the office for the Team Championship chasing Cerberus.
The first corner at Long Beach is always a problem, but no one made it at the first time of asking, as a number of stallers saw a delayed start. Finally, 5 minutes later the cars reformed and CarcrazyCal made a demon start from pole, chased into the first corner from row 2 by the first AWD car of RangersRick. Rick saw a slight opening on the inside, looked to take it and thought better of it, but it was too late, and he and Cal gently landed into the tyre wall. It was the others behind them that had nowhere to go that turned the gentle contact into more car damaging. CelticFox was another with nowhere to go, and then the mayhem further back saw a lot of damage to the likes of FKart and Wambogini. The mayhem had allowed BMR Sutton to take the lead, but Mad was fast starting and challenging hard, he had a look through the first right handers and this gave Bradderstig in the now yellow Honda a chance to snatch second place. Mad was back alongside the Honda and on the inside line on the run down to the first corner of lap 2, but Bradders hung on to the outside line and amazingly the second place, brilliant stuff from them both. Bradders now homed in on Sutton, but his look for the lead at the last corner, turned into déjà vue defending from Mad at turn 1 again, the pair side by side. The Honda was mega in the slower stuff but eaten alive on the straights. The crowds were loving this, this was battling and racing of the highest order. These 3 were fighting tooth and nail and now bringing Pie Key into it is well, the Nissan trying to make it a 4 way fight. Lap 5 and Mad was now going for the outside of turn 1, but Bradders was holding on, the two side by side every lap on the run up to the roundabout. Sutton though made his first mistake under the flyover, going wide and the Honda was through in a flash, but Bradders now had the main straight and it became 3 a breast across the start line, Sutton grabbing the lead back, Bradderstig sliding slightly as the two made contact. Through the last corner and Bradders was back in front again, but again the Honda was left breathless down the straight, this was still going on for the next couple of laps, Bradders and Sutton a longside each other, Sutton holding on and Bradders finding Mad now alongside him, it couldn’t be closer and cleaner either, all 3 quicker in different places.
Sutton was the first to stop at the start of lap 13, and it was an unlucky lap as well, as he made contact with the wall at the final corner and forcing him for an early visit. Sutton had come across a large group of backmarkers and he braked more than usual not having the traction on to the straight, this catching Bradders out who had nowhere to go and the little tap enough for the Lancia to hit the wall. As the Lancia shot into the pits, Bradders was slow getting going and this allowed Mad to pounce and take the lead and for the next 3 laps he opened out a gap out front, before Bradders stopped 3 laps later, the Cheetah Honda rejoining again just behind Sutton who had been flying on new rubber.
The battle for the lead in the first third of the race, was world class and a credit to all
Mad took advantage of this to knock in some quick laps; the AM runner looked confident leading and was moving away from A Big Pie Key behind him. He led until lap 19 when he finally stopped, leading a train of other visitors including RangersRick and A Big Pie Key. Mad flew off the jacks and out of the pitlane and in front of Sutton, the overcut had worked and although he was second on the track, he was technically the leader of the race. Spoiling this briefly was Major Raver who after a second lap visit up the escape road, was now flying along in the new Ferrari, and the clear road was allowing him to punch in competitive times. Raver led until Lap 25, rejoining in 8th ahead of his usual sparring partner Robraceruk. Mad now led on the track and looked comfortable, but on Lap 27 he suffered heartbreak, going slightly wide and putting himself in the wall. Sutton pounced straight away and took the lead Bradders also passing the ailing Ford quickly. Mad knew it was over, and to finish the race in the points would need a stop, which he did at the end of the lap, dropping him behind Raver into 8th place. Robraceruk fancied a go at the two earlier leaders and was running a good pace, but a backmarker got a little racey down the main straight with him and a mistake saw the RML Mazda hit the wall hard and the damage terminal. It was a bitter blow to the team on what looked like being a competitive result for the RML number 2.
Out front and Sutton was still in front, 6 seconds to the good on Bradderstig, the Team Cheetah Honda was trying its hardest to stay in touch but Sutton was driving faultlessly and holding on for the victory, he was in no mood to repeat the earlier battle. For Bradderstig it was another podium, and the preseason favourite happy with the car and result even though he amazingly hasn’t won a round yet. In third place was a Big Pie Key, and that was a demonstration on consistent driving. The Nissan GTR was a bit of a big car around the tight street circuit and Pie Key’s fastest lap was well down the order, but he kept it clean and deserved the podium, even leading for 5 seconds in the pit lane when he stopped with Mad. He came close to joining the battle for the lead but was always just out of the range of it. 4th fell to the second KRR racing Lancia 037 of RangersRick. Rick drove brilliantly after the first corner and fought back well for 4th, hassling Pie Key for the final podium slot and top in class A. A trip to the steward’s room left the results provisional and Rick was very quick to apologise to all which was a credit to him. Just behind these two and nearly in on the battle was NikeMikerules. The Championship leader was having a better race than at Road Atlanta last week; the Mazda looked great through the bends but was again suffering along the main straight. Mike had to stop early at the end of lap 5, he had suffered damage early on, but held on till his pit window was open for the RML run car. A long race on one set of tyres, picking off other cars worked a treat for him and kept him a healthy lead in the championship; you had the feeling that without the first lap drama, he would have been in the lead battle early on. Mike was smiling that he has that lead in the championship with his rivals now 700Pi or below as well.
Major Raver picked up the spirits at DART after a difficult week for the team
Major Raver was overjoyed with 6th, although still feeling stupid about his costly lap 2 error. Mad tried hard to chase him down but the Ferrari had too much pace in the closing stages, these two the quickest cars over the final 6 laps on the track. For Mad 7th was no consolation for him and the team, a result they would have been overjoyed with 24hours earlier, felt like a major kick in the teeth now. 8th was Kenty, another whose strategy was out of kilter with the others, the Hyundai back to showing the form of Hockenheim again. . Kenty had been involved early on in the first lap mess and had driven a great recovery, but a late splash and dash at the end dropped him out of the top 5 and back to 8th place.
A new lap record and pole position for next week, were something to be happy over after a busy week of repairing shells and bodywork that left the team short of parts, Penfold short of sleep and the team down to one car. 9th was CarcrazyCal, last week’s winner was always playing catch up for the first corner and he spent a lot of the race fighting through the field in partnership with FKart5, and also with each other. The extra stop and time lost, 9th and 10th were a good result for the pair, although FKart is in need of a good result at Maple Valley to stop his championship hopes fading away.
Another fighting back, was Mr Unlucky, CelticFox who found his form of the first 2 rounds return, the Dodge didn’t quite have the speed of the two ahead, but he too did well to salvage the result he did. 12th place was Kinky in the sole remaining Cerberus Ford. This race promised so much for the team, but Kinky struggled for pace at a circuit he is no fan of. The race had started well, running 8th on lap 1 but that was as good as it got. 13th on his debut, wasn’t a bad result for RGreenwood, who was quick at times. Not the best track for the BMW, it was valuable track time for a car that should be quick next week at Maple Valley. Wambogini was 14th, caught out on lap 1 and pitting early, he showed pace on a par of his teammate, but a few errors and some fun dices left him a slightly disappointed and another looking forward to next week, a track he has won in on THORS. 15th was the returning Badbeat. The team had been busy working on the car, and although it still sounded great, it was more to its drivers liking. Badbeat drove a solid race to pick up the final point. He managed to fight off Hoppers, who had a fun race in the Lotus. The DARE driver really enjoyed himself, the little Lotus rapid out of the corners. One of the most disappointed drivers was Atom Stew. New to the series, Stew had a great first lap to run 7th and early on had a lot of pace, second fastest race lap proved that, but the Honda was a difficult car to control for 34 Laps and a number of visits to the wall and pits left him well out of the points. 18th was a little unlucky for DevilsBogeyman. He looked a lot quicker in the Mercedes and was all set to sneak through the first corner as high as 8th, but got caught by a reversing car giving him damage. His lap times improved and he is closer to the pack than we have seen so far. And finally, poor CQR Rob, the Volvo choking on lap 1 and leaving him to wonder what if.
So Sutton is proving to be a real title contender with a great victory, but you couldn’t help but feel sorry for poor Mad2210, it was nearly a day to remember for him and the team. For the fans, it was some of the best battling and overtaking ever seen at Long Beach.
Result After 34 Laps
1. BMR Sutton - Lancia 037 - 50mins 12.580secs
2. Bradderstig - Honda NSX 05 - +8secs
3. A Big Pie Key - Nissan GTR-95 - +24secs
4. RangersRick - Lancia 037 - +25secs
5. NIKEMIKERULES - Mazda RX7 - +29secs
6. Major Raver - Ferrari 355 - +54secs
7. Mad2210 - Ford Focus 17 - +57secs
8. Kenty76 - Hyundai Veloster - +1min 9secs
9. CarcrazyCal - Alfa Giulia - +1min 19secs
10. FKart5 - Honda NSX 05 - +1min 25secs
11. CelticFox31 - Dodge Viper - +1 Lap
12. Kinkycowboys - Ford Escort Cosworth - +1 Lap
13. RGreenwood - BMW M3 08 - + 1 Lap
14. Wambogini21 - Ferrari 255 - +1 Lap
15. Badbeat76 - Honda Civic 18 - +2 Laps
16. Hopperswwfc - Lotus Evora - +2 Laps
17. AtomStew - Honda NEX 02 - +2 Laps
18. Devilsbogeyman - Mercedes A45 - +3 Laps
19. Robraceruk - Mazda Rx7 +7 Laps (DNF)
20. CQR Rob - Volvo S60 - +34 Laps (DNF)
RangersRick late lunge, left him, Cal and Celtic playing catch up.
FASTEST LAP: KENTY76 1minute 25.179seconds (NEW LAP RECORD)
Hoppers here leading Badbeat, had fun in the Lotus
Mike drove well for 5th, but it was a difficult debut for Stew