2013-12-09 09:17:19.2
Round 7 of the Club100 championship once again provided mixed results for Eddie. Blistering pace in the endurance championship saw him secure his second podium of the season. This was in stark contrast to his struggles in the sprint race that saw him make several kart changes and ultimately score his worst result of the season after an uncharacteristic spin.
Saturday
With fresh tyres and new brakes all-round, the Galliard team looked strong from the outset. After only a handful of laps in practice, Eddie was sent out to qualify and proceeded to put himself second on the grid, equalling his best start in the Premier championship.
A slow start as a result of needing to apply the brakes to avoid being pushed across the line in front of the pole sitter by the karts behind, Eddie recovered well to end the first lap in third. He kept within a couple of seconds of the leaders and even led for a couple of laps before pitting.
Chris Hoyle and Paul Williams both put in equally storming drives and kept in touch with Tanked Up Racing and Slipstream Racing at the front. Tanked Up stalled exiting the pits at their second stop handing second to Galliard, a position they held until the last pit stop when the recovering Tanked Up nipped ahead.
Williams nevertheless crossed the line to score the team’s second podium of the year in what was their most competitive showing of the season. Eddie taking fastest lap of the race as well. Hall.
“It was a great race. The kart was awesome all day and it was nice to be back up the front and keeping pace with the leaders. I think our pit stops still need a bit of work because, having looked at the stop times, we are giving away several seconds to the top teams. Still, the team did a great job today and all credit to Paul and Chris. Galliard really are mighty.”
Sunday
After the success of the endurance race, Eddie was confident of a good result on a circuit where he usually performs well. Sadly, the day got off to a slow start when he pitted after one lap in practice complaining about a lack of power. His spare then kart lost power on the rolling up lap and spluttered to a halt down the pit lane. This left Eddie having to take a third kart without any chance to check it. Struggling on cold tyres, he dropped back at the start but clawed his way back up to 4th.
Suffering with similar problems in his next two qualifying heats, Eddie managed to salvage 6th and 7th from two 14th place grid slots. This put him down in 17th on the grid for the final.
Making a good start, Eddie went for a gap into the first hairpin only to lose it under braking and drop to dead last. He set about catching the pack and, despite setting the second fastest lap of the race, could only manage a lowly 19th position. Eddie was surprisingly calm but nevertheless annoyed about the day’s events.
“It’s not like me to criticise the equipment but it really was quite bad today. I went through three karts in my first heat and took two more into the mechanics bay in my other two heats. I’ve never made that many kart changes in one day before. I think the carbs must be getting worn or something.
“It wasn’t helped by the fact that I had pretty awful grids again today. I mean, a fourth and two fourteenths is pretty ropey. Of course the only goodish grid I had was ruined by kart problems. When I finally got in a kart that had some power, we were already rolling up so I couldn’t tell if it was alright. Of course it had cold tyres and cold brakes as well so I really struggled in the opening laps.
“I was surprised to be so low down in the final but the kart felt great in practice so I knew I could move up and score some good points. Sadly I never got a chance because I’m an idiot. I don’t know what happened. I made a good start and made up a few places going down the hill but going into the hairpin, I went down the inside of Jason Sichel and the back-end just came around on me. No grip I guess. It’s just odd because I’d pulled that same move several times over the weekend. Anyway, there was nothing I could really do from there. I made up a few places mainly thanks to other people going off but it was a day to forget really. A real shame because I knew I could have been up there with that kart.”
