Round 8 of the Club 2000 championship held at Red Lodge Karting took place on the 1st July 2023.
Qualifying
Qualifying was an interesting one. The top 3 were swapping places every lap. After the great battle, it was Riley that came out on top with a best time of 44.309, set on the very last lap of the session.
Heat 1
The first heat was fairly closely fought. Although Riley was beaten off the line, he held second until lap 4 where he was overtaken. Not to be beaten though, Riley fought back and on lap 9 re-took 2nd place, where he would cross the line 2 tenths ahead of 3rd. With a best time of 42.987.
Heat 2
Heat 2 saw Riley line up in 2nd place. Beaten off the line, Riley found himself in a no-mans land, with a gap to second and a gap behind to 4th. With a best time of 43.162, it was becoming more apparent the engine didn’t quite have enough to keep up.
Heat 3
For heat 3, Riley lined up 3rd on the grid. The race itself was again relatively uneventful, with most people staying in position. Couple of positives from this though, Riley wasn’t as far off the leaders as the previous heat, and his time was much better at 42.549
Final
On to the final, and once again, Riley found himself in no-mans land. He was unable to keep up with those in front but well clear of those behind. When crossing the line in 3rd place, he had a 12 second gap in front, and a 12 second gap behind. His best time of 42.699 wasn’t bad though.
Conclusion
After this round, we have sent the engine off to GMS Motorsport to get a top end rebuild. I believe this is the first the engine may have had. We’ve hit a tough point with Riley finding himself in no-mans land a fair bit at Red Lodge. It’s also been tough watching people just drive away from him down the straight, so lets see what happens with the rebuild of the top end.
Thank you as always to our sponsors helping make this happen.
