Friday Night Challenge 08/11/19

Good Evening and welcome to another exciting night of racing here at Kingston Park Raceways Friday Night Challenge. Tonight, we had 2 grids FULL of drivers ready to take that top step upon the Coca Cola podium, although only one driver can take that coveted top step prize. We had a lot of returning faces and a few past winners of the Friday Night Challenge. Stacey has proved to be the girl to beat in the past weeks and Andy also being a very formidable opponent on our Le Mans track having cracked the 59 second lap times last week. We also had a return for Stefan Lawrence a past multiple winner although the last we had seen of him was round 3 for the Triple M tag team challenge.

Throughout the night we saw some very hard racing and the black flag got quite a work out during the Heat races but race control did an excellent job nipping it in the bud. Once our Heat 3 and Super Final came around everyone showed the class of driving we have come quite used to seeing each week on our Le Mans track.

After the Heat races were completed race control took the Top 8, based on points throughout the night, to our famous Super Final where our drivers where all roaring and ready to take top spot honors for the night. Our starting order for our Super Final was Andy starting off in pole position with 176 points followed by Josh in 2^nd with 174 points, off the second row was Trent in 3^rd with 174 points as well with Stefan starting alongside him with 174 points as well. Matthew would start out of 5^th with 172 points with Stacey alongside him with 172 points as well, to complete our grid we had Daniel with 164 point and Paul with 160 points. Andy had also achieved fastest lap of the night honors, the hot night proving quite a challenge for the drivers to achieve low 60 second lap times.

The drivers were all eager and ready but as always race control had something up their sleeves……. a lucky dip for kart numbers for the Super Final. Race control chose the 8 go karts they wished to take to the track for the Final and had the numbers ready to be drawn out of the hat. The pace kart set out for the formation lap and got the drivers formed up and ready to go. The pace kart pulls in the karts as they make their way down, the lights go green and they are off!

Andy gets off to a good start, Trent follows him through and Stefan tails in behind, meanwhile Matthew  has lost a bunch of spots at the start having Stacey all over the back of him. Into turn 2 Andy feels comfortable, Trent tries a very naughty block brake checking Stefan mid corner and Stefan gives him a bump and run for his troubles. Trent throws his hands in the air in disapproval screaming for a black flag but race control are having none of it rubbing is racing after all. End of lap 1 and Andy is in the lead but Stefan has his head down and is fighting hard to get onto his tail. Trent follows in 3^rd but is defending hard against Stacey, this allows Matthew to start to catch up. Andy starts to defend against Stefan this would allow Trent to have a shot but he is to busy trying to block Stacey. Trent is having none of it, he doesn’t want to lose any more positions. Matthew is all over Stacey but she’s now sandwiched between the 2 boys with not much room to go. We now have 5 laps to go and Andy is defending his title. Stefan sees this and wants the lead badly but he wants to get away from the 3 way fight behind him before he makes his move. This invites Trent, Stacey and Matthew into a 5-way battle for the lead. 4 laps to go now and Andy moves right than left than back right again to keep Stefan behind. This doesn’t sit well with race control they are getting the bad sportsmanship sign ready, any more of that and Andy will see himself out of this race. Coming into turn 2 and Trent wants to make a move on them but couldn’t quite succeed. Into turn 3 he tries to block Stacey but she’s already committed to a move, it’s too late to cover now. He gets shoved out wide and Matthew makes a spot up as well. This allows Andy and Stefan to get some breathing space back. 2 laps to go and Stefan is throwing the kitchen sink and more at Andy. To make a move Andy sets up for turn 3, Stefan goes for a move, Andy squeezes him they are side by side as they go through the pinch they both give each other just enough room through turn 3. As they go into turn 4 Andy just holds on. I don’t know how he does, Stefan was probably a little nicer than he had to be on this occasion. These 2 show their class and how much respect they have for each other. Last lap now and Stefan Lawrence wants to have a go into turn 1 but he doesn’t get the run he needed out of turn 8. He tries again into turn 2 but Andy makes him go the long way around and covers the inside. Into turn 3 again going into turn 4 there is no room there for Stefan. He follows to closely to possibly get a run into turn 5, Andy covers again, Lawrence tries the criss-cross, he knows its all or nothing now. Andy covers the inside through turn 6 and Lawrence sets it up for the run into turn 7. He goes full desperation into turn 7, almost up the inside, but Andy aggressively covers, now Andy doesn’t have the line for turn 8 its going to be a drag race down the main straight. As Stefan sets up for the exit Stacey joins the party this throws a spanner in the works and Stefan knows he’s got to cover not attack down the straight. It’s bumper to bumper almost 3 wide across the line. They shoot past the line almost onto the Monte Carlo track.

Andy hung on from start to finish, WOW what a race, great stuff from Stefan to come home in 2^nd. My money was on him for most of the race and Stacey completes our podium, coming home in 3^rd almost upsetting the 2 boys at the finish. Our top 3 separated by just 0.25 seconds at the drop of the checkered flag. The look on the faces showed how much it means to our drivers, Stefan knew how close he came and was just wishing he could possibly have another go at the move. Andy was absolutely stoked to say the least naming it his “greatest win yet” and I must say, it will be a while till you top your PB. Stacey  come in going “why is it an 8-lap race? Just 1 or 2 more laps and the honors would have been all mine plus it would have been nice to get one up on Stefan he’s been bragging for 2 weeks that he was going to beat me.” Stefan didn’t have much to say other than “If Stacey would have been a nice team mate I could of got Andy across the line I wasn’t expecting that move from her and I was fully set up to take the lead away down the straight maybe next time she can do a Fabian Coulthard from this year’s Bathurst but I would of gone for it if I was her to.”

1^st Andy Barber

2^nd Stefan Lawrence

3^rd Stacey Maiden

Well that concludes another exciting night of racing here at Kingston Park Raceway if you think you have what it takes to take the top step on our coca cola podium make sure you grab your helmet and join us for racing on our Le Mans track every Friday Night from 6:30pm until next time I hope we all had 1 hell of a night out!