K-CLASS THUNDER ENDURO ROUND 5 LONG BEACH – 16th OCTOBER 2018
MIKE’S STROLL ALONG THE BEACH
Nikemikerules takes control with victory ~ Great day for KRR as they fill out the podium ~ Good drive through the field to 4th from Bradderstig ~ Basslinjunkio drives to AM honours in fantastic 6th ~ Disappointing day for ABigPieKey and Cerberus drivers ~ Many accidents give some a hard race with many stops.
Last season Long Beach saw a fantastic race at the front, and late heartache for some, this time around and after the last two rounds, the drivers rolled up at Long Beach with more powerful cars wondering if they were in for a difficult day especially on the first lap. The entry was good, 19 cars lined up, with a single entry for DART and RML, but a return for Badbeat and AtomStew. One team looking positive for the future were the Fife Flyers, who were hopeful that they had finally rid themselves of the electrical issues that had plagued them since last season, and were now in a place to concentrate on improving the pace of the car.
Nikemikerules chasing Basslinejunkio early on, it was a great day for the pair of them
The support race was for the Renault Clio’s, and the little French cars were a handful on the opening lap on cold tyres, which caught many out. Early on and CelticFox was to the fore but under pressure from Nikemikerules and BMR Sutton. Mike was soon in the lead and shot away, Sutton unable to keep up but happy to take second, whilst Celtic held on for third under massive pressure from Bradderstig.
The main event lined up with CelticFox and the Aston Martin on pole, but the Scot was aware of the first of the AWD cars directly behind him in the hands of RangersRick. Rick didn’t disappoint to grab the lead into the first corner, Celtic slipping into second, ahead of Nitrorush and BMR Sutton in the second Nissan. The Aston Martin was not at its best on cold tyres, and Celtic had the backend sliding around and was struggling and dropping down places whilst he set about getting them up to temperature. Trying to take advantage of this were Sutton and Kinkycowboys, the former slotting in quickly behind his teammate, whilst Kinky was having a ball for the first few corners, until both he and CQR Posh Rob slipped up and picked up damage. So after this eventful first 2 miles, Rick led closely chased by his teammate in second, third was Nitrorushmini, 4th was Basslinejunkio after a brilliant first lap, then we had Robraceruk, Nikemike, Devil Lord, CelticFox, Bradders up from the back, Penfold, Mad and Major Raver leading Championship front runner ABigPieKey who seemed keen to keep out of trouble. Out front the two KRR cars continued to stretch away, and it wasn’t long before BMR Sutton was looking to take the lead and on lap 2 he did so, diving down the inside of the first right hander, these two quickly moving away from Nitrorush who was comfortably a head of Bassline and Mike, who both found a backmarker in the way which lost them time. Even when back markers try to be helpful at Long Beach it isn’t easy to get out of the way, and we had a few early on, who had fallen foul of the close walls. Next to fall foul of the concrete was NitroRush, as he damaged his car, losing his third place, which had started to come under pressure from those behind. Mike was now up to third, but he had Bradders closing in, the Ferrari had steadily moved through the field after a careful first lap, then took his time to pass the battling CelticFox and Robraceruk, before passing Bass’s Escort and setting off after the top 3. Out front and Rick was keeping Sutton honest, and it was obvious that team orders were not in place at KRR as these two continued to fight. This was allowing Mike to stay in touching distance, although he now had his mirrors full of the flying Bradders. Bass was settling into 5th place, and making the ex Cerberus Esort fly, much to the bemusement of the two ex drivers. Kinky had fallen to the back after his feisty first lap, but he had some real pace and was flying along in the Audi, whilst team mate Devil Lord wasn’t finding his version as a fleet, and was tumbling down and out of the top 10 overall. Behind Bass we had a lively scrap starting to brew (see what I did thereJ), as Robraceruk was under a lot of pressure from Major Raver. Rob was really struggling with man flu and having to concentrate with the big Alfa behind him was the last thing he needed. On lap 8 they both touched, but both got going with only a few seconds lost, the Lotus quicker on traction, the Alfa mighty on the straight and brakes. Finally on lap 12 Raver was passed, as the RML Lotus got it all wrong in the roundabout and ending up banging the tyre. Behind these two and running at a similar pace was Celtic, the Aston now had it tyres warmed and he was keeping a decent distance to ABigPieKey and Devil Lord behind him.
Whilst Bass was fighting for the top 5, the other AM runners were having a jolly old dice and a bit of fun together. Badbeat had had a decent first lap, getting him up to 12th, whilst Penfold was just in front of him. This two were to spend the race chasing the class runners up spot, and spent a part of the race dicing with the second Lotus of the recovering Mad. So well was Penfold doing, just out of the top 10, that twice he let Cerberus Audi’s passed him that he thought were lapping him, only to realise from his pitboard that they were in fact for position on track. It wasn’t the best circuit for the DMR Kia, but this was turning out to be possibly Penfold’s best Thunder Enduro Performance. Behind them and Posh Rob was on the recovery in the Ferrari, he had
Team mates battling to the end, as BMR Sutton slips inside RangersRick.
stopped on lap 1 and was now in the process of trying to make it to the end without a further stop needed. The first retirement was on lap 4, with the Subaru of Atom Stew coming to a stop, it was a difficult race again for a pilot who is rapid in other series. One person still going was Devilbogeyman, whose Mercedes was running cleanly and now starting to improve its times, after losing a lap early on through a first corner accident. He was soon passing Hoppers for 4th in the class as the Porsche looked a handful around the American streets, and a lacking of testing was taking its toll. It got so much for the plucky AM runner, that he finally parked the ill handling car on lap 29 and retirement.
So the pit stops started at half way, and the leader was the first in, followed by his teammate Rick and also the Ferrari of Bradders. This left Mike out in front and the field left wondering if he could do the race without stopping. Rick reappeared back in front of his teammate, Long Beach was well known for the overcut and it was at play again here. In fact Sutton now had his hands full of the DARE Ferrari who fancied his first win if Mike was to make a splash and dash. These three were equal, and it seemed Sutton had less to lose and was more robust in his defence and attack, repelling Bradders and then attacking and passing his teammate on lap 31 for second place. Rick now had his mirrors full of the black Ferrari and these two were having a fantastic clean dice for the final podium spot. Out front and Mike was home and dry, slower than the 3 behind, his 30 second lead was more than enough and he crossed the line for his second win of the season. Sutton held on for second, he has literally turned his season around in the last two races, the Nissan now handling much to his liking. Teammate Rick was able to hold off Bradderstig for third, it was a massive day for KRR, two podium places putting the team well back in to contention in the teams championship, and Rick a very strong lead in the class championship as well. Bradders was a little disappointed with 4th, but it was a good recovery from his starting position, and also it turned out to be a decent day for DARE after a great recovery drive from his team mate. Posh Rob managed to go through the race without stopping again and steadily rose through the order. He was into a last few laps battle for 5th, he had caught Bass, but both of these were struggling for very worn tyres, and finding the very late stopping Major Raver flying on fresh rubber and closing in on them fast. Thankfully for them Raver made a slight mistake when he latched on to the tail of the pair, and Rob was able to come out on top in the battle two laps from home. For Bass it was a fantastic performance, which proved that the Escort Cosworth was still a fantastic car. It put the K Class Vapes driver to the top of the AM Class, and it will be interesting to see how it performances with a Pi drop now. Raver was happy and disappointed with 7th, the Alfa was a lot better at Long Beach, a circuit it wasn’t expected to be, great on the brakes, it did struggle a lot at the last corner and through the roundabout for traction. 8th fell to ABigPieKey, who didn’t have the speed in the little Alfa 33 and after yet another unlucky day in the support race, he was happy to get out with a decent points haul. He is also looking forward to next week’s race at Le Mans, knowing that the car will be faster and may have a fuel and tyre advantage as well.
Penfold chases Devil Lord, it was a decent race for the DMR Kia Stringer
9th fell to the poorly Robracer, who was so weak he struggled to get out of the car at the end and had to be helped, he was only just able to hold off the flying Kinky. Kinky needed a second stop, but so quick was his pace, that if you took the time out that he lost in both stops, he would have been on for a win. It is turning into a difficult season for Cerberus and 14th for Devil Lord backed that up, who had the problems of his teammate but without the raw pace. These two must surely have a better second half to the season. Splitting them was the recovering Mad and the tyre issue plagued CelticFox. Mad did well after his first lap dramas, and like Kinky was driving rapidly in the second half of the race, whilst Celtic
went well when the tyres were up to temperature, but the problem was he needed to stop, more than once, and both times he went through the same tail happy issues on the cold tyres. The Quicksilver team will be another looking forward to the next two circuits that might favour the car and team well.
13th was Nitro, who after his promising opening few laps, had a number of scrapes and issues that resulted in a disappointing result. 15th and second in AM fell to Penfold. The Kia was damaged 6 laps from home, and this opened up hopes for the SMEG Racing team that Badbeat could relieve the DMR car of the runners up spot. These two even resorted to banter at each other over the team radios, but Penfold decided to drive around the problems of the damaged car and hold off his rival. It was a promising run for both drivers, and they will be lifted with the Pi penalty now on the Escort of Basslinejunkio. Final runner at the end was Devilsbogeyman, who was utterly delighted to finish the race without electrical dramas and he got more confident as the race grew older, and was lapping at the same pace as the other Mercedes A45.
So the victory for Mike has given a lead that he was use to in last season’s charge to the title. His big problem is that although his Pi goes back to 780 for Le Mans, his qualifying time puts him near the back of the grid, and that didn’t go well for him at Monza. His rivals will be hoping for a repeat. So next week is the half way point, a longer race, a threat of rain and half the grid back to 780pi It could also see the return of WeeBilly. KRR have left Long Beach back in the team hunt, expect things to get lively between them, RML and DARE, and don’t write off that little Alfa of ABIgPIeKey either.
Result After 27 Laps
1 . NikeMikeRules TVR Sagaris 50mins 20.570secs
2. BMR Sutton Datsun Sunny +34secs
3. RangersRick Nissan 370z +39secs
4. Bradderstig Ferrari 360 +40secs
5. CQR Rob Ferrari 360 +1min 26secs
6. Baselinejunkio Ford Escort +1min 26 secs
7. Major Raver Alfa 8c +1 Lap
8. ABigPieKey Alfa 33 +1 Lap
9. Robraceruk Lotus Espirit +1 Lap
10. Kinkycowboys Audi TT +1 Lap
11. Mad2210 Lotus Espirit +2 Laps
12. CelticFox Aston Martin +2 Laps
13. Nitrorushmini Corvette +2 Laps
14. Devil Lord Audi TT +2 Laps
15. Penfold Kia Stringer +2 Laps
16. Badbeat Mercedes A45 +3 Laps
17. Devilsbogeyman Mercedes A45 +3 Laps
18. Hopperswwfc Porsche 911 GT2 DNF
19. AtomStew Subaru BRZ DNF
Rush to the first corner, all made it safely through.
FASTEST LAP: BMR Sutton 1 minute 24.418seconds (New Lap Record)
CelticFox had tyre issues throughout which made his car lively
Bradderstig just missed out on the podium spots with 4th