2009
Legends Cars Championship - Rounds 3 & 4, Mondello Park 9th &
10th May 2009
The Kärcher Handy Motorsport Team made the journey across the Irish Sea for rounds 3 & 4 of the 2009 Legends Cars Championship at Mondello Park, what a hectic weekend stood in wait for them.
Following
the team’s eventful journey to the circuit & a nice relaxed set up of
the garage in readiness for the weekends racing, It was Saturday morning
& the pit lane was open. Simon & Stephen were looking for a weekend of
points, points, points & no DNF’s. Prior to this meeting Simon had been
to Knockhill to try out some new settings, was well on the pace and came
back with a third overall from the 1st round of the SMRC
Legends Cars Championship.
Round
3 Warm-Up
Along
came Saturday morning and as if to order so did torrential rain which
delayed qualifying by 20 minutes. With the rain gone it was down to
business and the drivers were about to set their slowest laps of the
weekend, due to large amounts of standing water in many places around
the track. Simon quickly worked his way up the timesheets, finishing the
session 5th fastest with Stephen 3 places back in 8th,
with less than a second covering P4 to P8.
A
sunny Mondello sometimes …
Round 3 Heat 1
The first race was tale of 2 cars, Simon made a good clean start, whilst Stephen’s first lap was a troubled one following a couple of incidents and trip into the pits to remove damaged bodywork Stephen found himself in last position, Whilst Simon was enjoying a good race before eventually coming in 3rd just 18/1000 ths of a second behind Lee Fitzpatrick & local driver Niki Meredith. It was a determined and very eventful 13th place for Stephen.
Round 3 Heat 2
Solid drives from both drivers in this one, It was Stephen’s turn to stay out of trouble in this one, eventually bringing the 12 car back in 3rd place, making the best of his second row start. Simon’s solid drive with the track still damp following a shower and the earlier downpour, was rewarded with 7th place.
Round 3 Final
With both drivers starting from way down the grid in the 8 lap final, it was to be a race where a disciplined drive was required, with just over a second between 4th placed Matthew Pape and Simon it quite easily could have been a different result as Pape, Marshall & Belcher went past the chequered flag. Stephen again had some competitors bumps to deal with before coming back in 7th place, A difficult day of Legends racing was over …
Round 4 Warm-Up
With the sun shining and a dry track, it was a complete contrast to the previous day. It was time for Simon and Stephen to get down to hard days racing, Stephen was the quickest of the 2 cars with 3/10ths of a second splitting them, finishing 4th & 5th on the timesheets behind John Jon, Lee and Ross.
Round
4 Heat 1
The
first and probably the team’s best race of the weekend which saw Simon
starting from the second row and Stephen the back row of the grid. Both
drivers very quickly found there rhythm, Stephen made good progress
through the field and by the end of the 3rd lap was running
in third place behind Simon. With both drivers swapping places several
times in the second half of the race before eventually finishing with
Simon 2nd & Stephen 3rd.
No team orders at Handy
Motorsport then …
Round 4 Heat 2
Once again both drivers made strong starts, This time it was Stephen’s turn to show what he could do from pole, He stayed out of trouble to bring the 12 car home in 2nd place, He was back on the podium again. Simon’s race was going well until lap 5 when, he was challenging for 5th position when he clipped a bale at the chicane ending in a very expensive DNF, just when it was looking like it could have been back to back race success for the team.
Round 4 Final
After day 2 of the meeting had started so well both drivers hoped the final would offer them more of the same, It was not to be, Stephen made the best of his good clean start again making his way through the field, For Simon the news was not so good his car had developed a misfire and after nursing the car through the second half of the race he finished in 8th in front of Nick Brace. For Stephen it was podium again with 3rd behind John Jon & Lee, which gave him the honour of 3rd overall on the day.
Rounds 3 & 4 done, Stephen and Simon are in 3rd & 6th in the championship table.
The next round will be at Cadwell Park, Lincolnshire on Sunday 31st May - a track that the both the lads know well and like as it is a very technical ‘Drivers’ track. They can hardly wait to get there and put the mixed fortunes of Mondello Park behind them, looking to avoid any of those costly DNF’s.
Don’t forget to keep up to date with the teams progress in The 2009 Legends Cars Championship on Motors TV and at http://www.legendsracinguk.com/ukhome.html
