2013-12-09 09:17:19.2
Eddie left Bayford Meadows in high spirits, despite being dogged by a series of mechanical failures throughout the day. The team lost almost all of the practice session with three kart changes in the morning race and Eddie and Jordan Hill were robbed of certain victory in the afternoon race with a broken exhaust.
It was looking like it was going to be another extremely long day for IMSD Racing. Stephen bought the kart in immediately in practice complaining of a terrible misfire. The tester took the kart out for an unusually long time before bringing it in and telling the team to get into a spare kart. Again, the kart was brought in after only a handful of laps because of handling problems and, again, the team had to wait for a tester. When the test driver took it out, he immediately parked it in the mechanics bay and the team were sent back out in their original kart, which hadn’t yet been fixed. Insisting that they have a new kart, the team were given a cold, untested kart. Fortunately the fresh kart seemed quick. Unfortunately there were only a few minutes of practice left and Stephen and Ian had to forgo any running to allow Eddie some practice laps.
Eddie only managed one flying lap in practice before qualifying but still managed to qualify a more than respectable 18th on the grid on a kart with cold, un-scrubbed tyres.
The team managed to run slightly longer than most teams in the first stint, which gained them valuable track position. All three dove well and, aside from a messy last pit stop where they lost a lead pin and almost left the pits without the fuel cap on, nobody made any mistakes and the team came home to score a solid top 10.
The afternoon race looked to be more promising. Eddie, standing in for regular Sugar Hut drivers who were competing at Monaco, was in confident mood. Returning to the championship that he won with IMSD Racing two years ago and racing for the team that won the last race, confidence was high.
Unlike the Premier race, the duo of Eddie and Jordan Hill, were given a kart that they both described as a “rocket”.
They qualified second on the grid, just a fraction behind the pole man. Jordan started the race and despite inevitably losing two places at the start because he started on the outside, was up in the lead within six laps.
By the time Eddie came in after his first stint, the team had a commanding 10 second lead over second place and were gradually extending their lead. Unfortunately during Jordan’s second stint the exhaust broke and the team lost the best part of two laps getting it repaired in the pits. Unfazed, the two went on a charge for the remaining hour, making short work of the rest of the karts and finished an incredible fourth and only a few seconds behind third.
