BF Racing Win Season-Opening Ipswich 7-Hour
press release
The BF Racing Azzurro of Brett Francis, Michael Hutton and Matt Taylor crossed the line a mere 9 seconds in front of Phantom Racing in an exciting and frenetic opening round of the Track Safety International 2011 ProKart Queensland Endurance Karting Championship, held at Ipswich’s Willowbank Kart Raceway on Saturday, March 5.
Above: The BF Racing team
In what was essentially a 7-hour sprint race punctuated by only one safety car period, the gap between the 2 karts challenging for the lead was as close as 4 seconds in the closing hour, with both teams scything through lapped traffic in an effort to gain an advantage on the other prior to their final pitstop, which by regulation must occur in the final hour. The racing was exciting and visually spectacular as teams commenced racing during the afternoon and continued well into the night.
Competitors in the opening round of the 2011 ProKart Queensland Endurance Karting Championship were greeted by rain and overcast skies as they arrived at Willowbank Raceway. By the commencement of practice however the rain had stopped and really never returned for the duration of the event, despite threatening skies throughout.
Practice provided an indication of what was to come; with the majority of the field registering times well within a second of each other. In qualifying this gap was further reduced with the Top 11 qualifiers within 1 second of the fastest lap of the session, reinforcing just how competitive this series is.
Above: The Phantom Racing team was just 9 seconds off the leaders after 7 hours
After a 30 minute qualifying session it was the Phantom Racing team of Simon Ham and Steve Thompson who qualified on pole position with a lap of 57.781 seconds, some 3 tenths of a second clear of the rest of the field. With the next 10 karts all within 7 tenths of a second, the battle for grid position was one of the closest in recent ProKart events and provided a thrilling start to on-track competition.
The only safety car of the entire event ultimately proved to be the defining moment of the race. Having led most of the first 6 hours of the event, the #152 MS Kart of Phantom Racing was fending off the hard-charging #2 Azzurro of BF Racing, Matt Taylor at the wheel doing everything possible to pass the leader and place themselves back on the lead lap. His efforts would reap the team a significant reward not long after.
In ProKart competition, whenever a safety car is on-track it will ‘pick up’ the leader of the event, with all karts behind following in single-file until the safety car period is concluded and the race resumes. Any kart however that is in front of the leader on the circuit is ‘waved around’ to rejoin the single-file queue behind the safety car (and behind the leader); essentially able to regain the majority of one lap. This process ensures the leader of the event is the first kart to take the green flag when racing resumes, but can offer teams a chance to regain lost ground if they’re on the same lap as the leader of the event when a safety car is deemed necessary.
The intervention of the safety car brought a change in fortune for the #2 kart of BF Racing, as team principal Brett Francis explains. “For most of the night we thought we were racing kart #50 of Team5150R for second place. And before Team Faith had their problems, we thought we were racing for third. Phantom had done such a good job pulling out an early lead, and showed no sign of slowing, whereas we didn’t really have the pace of them. Plus we started having to content with a sticky throttle pedal fairly early on. Thankfully I think the combination of using clutches, and not having a whole lot of horsepower, meant that we could push the brake pedal that little bit harder and the sticky throttle wasn’t as much of an issue.”
Above: Brett Francis inthe winning machine
“When Matt managed to overtake the Phantom kart just after the 5 hour mark to put us back on the lead lap, we were just pleased for him that he had the pace to overtake the Phantom boys. Little did we know that it would be the moment that turned the race for us! I wasn’t even paying attention when the Safety Car came out a few laps later. I just happened to look over and see this intruder on the circuit. I went over to see why, and realised that Matt was still in front of Phantom, and that he was just about to be waved past the Safety Car to join the back of the line. A fifty second chunk that we were never going to be able to make up had just been wiped off Phantom’s lead. I can’t really describe how that made me feel…Because Matt was showing such good pace, at the restart we decided to bring him in for a Stop-Go to get one of our stops out of the way. He could then rejoin on some clear track to work his magic. And he did just that – keeping us on the lead lap, and one stop up on Phantom. It was only then after Mike and Matt had done two awesome stints that I thought we could go for a win.”
And win they did, their first place finish registering the second outright victory for the team from BF Racing and demonstrating that they are clear competitors for the 2011 championship.
Above: The Atlas Racing team grabbed 6th overall\
A rejuvenated Team Faith in their #27 MS Kart demonstrated they will also be outright contenders this year. Consistently quick, they often led the race throughout the first half of the event. Ultimately however, Phil Wallis and the rest of Team Faith experienced brake issues which saw them lose 20 minutes whilst the team scrambled to affect repairs. This team demonstrated genuine pace and will undoubtedly be a consistent contender for race wins and possibly even the championship this year.
Finishing 3rd was the #50 Phoenix of Team5150R, with brothers Ian and Shane McMah setting a solid pace and running reliably throughout the event. Normally capable of contending for outright victory, the team has only recently changed chassis manufacturers and will certainly increase their competitiveness as they develop their new Australian-made Phoenix.
In 4th position were the Rock Oils sponsored team from KnK Karts. This team is consistently one of the fastest in the series and once they find improved reliability will surely be a contender for outright victory. Look for the team to have a new and further developed KnK Chassis at the next round of the series in April.
In 5th was the #51 kart of Team5150R; giving the team a strong start to their 2011 Championship campaign. Despite some early technical issues including a wayward rear bumper, the team recovered to put in a solid performance as they welcomed new recruit James Page to the team.
Behind the Top 5 in 6th place was the team from Atlas Racing in their #22 Azzurro chassis. Not having had much opportunity to test their kart prior to the season opener the team recorded a solid result and have every reason to be optimistic for the next event at Cooloola; where they have often been closer to the front.
In 7th were the current Queensland series champions of PDS Racing. Driving the #661 kart for this event were Mark Johnson, Carl Brown and production car competitor Sarah Harley. Despite their undoubted pedigree, the team struggled with understeer throughout the event and look forward to some testing and development of their all-new Phoenix chassis prior to Round 2 of the series. Never to be underestimated, it is certain that the team from PDS will rejoin the leading group in the not too distant future.
Finishing 8th were the recently reformed team of 2Dadz Racing. Without doubt the ‘best presented’ team of the event, 2Dadz demonstrated they not only know how to present themselves, they showed genuine on-track pace and reliability and signaled to everyone that they will be a competitive force throughout the year. The team’s immaculate presentation earned them the ProKart “Best Presented” award and the admiration of competitors and spectators alike. This team is fast establishing a new benchmark in the ProKart series.
Rounding out the top 10 were the #14 kart of 2 Dogs Racing in 9th and the team from Frog Racing 101 in 10th. For Frog Racing this event represented a further gain in their consistent improvement, both in speed and results. A lot of work in the off-season has found the team increased speed and a greater understanding of the technical aspects of their kart. Exceptionally committed and universally lauded in the ProKart series, Frog Racing are sure to continue their march up the leaderboard as the 2011 series progresses.
The next event in the Track Safety International Queensland ProKart Endurace Karting 2011 Championship is scheduled for April 16 and 17 at Gympie’s Cooloola Coast Kart Club, just south of Gympie on the Bruce Highway. The
Full results of the Ipswich 7-Hour event can be found at www.mylaps.com
