Skip to main content

The first round of our 2018 Karting Championship took place on 3rd June in White River Park, Collon, Co. Louth. A good group of PCI members and friends turned up to take part in this opening round. On the day we basked in glorious sunshine and with the heat it ended up feeling more like an endurance race for the competitors.

It was my first time to visit White River Park but I must say the track, karts and facilities lived up to their reputation, everything was first class. Looking around the room I could see we had most the karting regulars and I could tell, it was going to be a highly competitive afternoon.

The group agreed to book the Grand Prix session which runs on the 1.2km International track and has sixteen corners. Those experienced drivers were soon battling for a step on the podium with positions being very closely contested. So much so that one of our highly competitive drivers (you know who you are) called a steward’s enquiry.

The points system adopted for the 2018 season is as it was before; 1st 15, 2nd 12, 3rd 10, 4th 8, 5th 6, 6th 5, 7th 4, 8th 3, 9th 2, 10th 1 & fastest lap an additional 2 points.

The result for the first round was;

1st Stuart Clark – 15 points, 2nd Ben Deegan – 12 points, 3rd Hugh Maguire – 10 points, 4th Liam McGuinness – 8 points, 5th Neil Lane – 6 points, 6th Paul Sexton – 5 points, 7th Plunkett Govern – 4 points & 8th Aleksander Szeser – 3 points  

Fastest lap went to Ben Deegan +2

 

 

 

The second round Karting session took place on the 22nd of July in Tynagh, Co. Galway.

I stayed overnight in my sister in laws house and traveled only a few miles to the Karting center to meet up with our Friends. Paul who runs the Karting center was all at hand and had us sorted for our first session of 20 minutes to get familiar with the track.

It took myself a lap or two to get used to the Kart and the track since I hadn’t been karting for 2 years or more finding my lines and trying to fend off my “partners in crime”. All tried hard giving their best to get passed me with some success as I was watching some of the guys having some great battles and was looking for an opportunity to get passed others. Midway through I got passed one and with the helmets I couldn’t determine who I got passed but on the last turn before the end of the first session I got passed Eamon by taking a tight line and powered passed him with a bit of a nitro booster lol.  

After a break of 20 minutes and plenty of banter from the excitement of the 1st run we were called back to the karts for the Grand Prix session. Right from the start I knew my Kart I had gotten for this run wasn’t as fast but I tried best I could to follow Eamon who had passed me in the first Lap and as we were running down the pit straight and into the chicane, Eamonn’s Kart veered off into the gravel while losing his front right wheel coming to a halt in the tyre barrier. All I could think first that he would be ok and thankfully all was well as I could see him walking back to the pit for another Kart.

In the meantime, my Kart was slow enough as I had to give way to more of our competitors not without a fight but alas I was thinking of Alonso cursing the devil as he had the same problems with McLaren lol. Everyone was leaving it all out there with Eamon also back out and hitting the ground running with his new Kart.

Congrats to Neil for winning, Hugh coming close behind 2nd, Eamon 3rd, George 4th, Alexander 5th, Stuart 6th. I can only thank everyone for the Craic and competitive effort being displayed. I can’t wait for the next one. Fastest Lap also goes to Neil.

I’m only delighted to add to this report from what I hear our youngest member Jack, age 9, who did two runs at the smaller track for kids and beginners displayed the same competitive nature of his Dad or as they say “a chip of the old block”, good to know it will live on.

Hope to see you at the next one be careful out there and keep the revs up

George

The results of the second round were;

1st Neil Lane – 15 points, 2nd Hugh Maguire – 12 points, 3rd Eamon Mc Keon – 10 points, 4th George Neurieder – 8 points, 5th Aleksander Szeser – 6 points, 6th Stuart Clark – 5 points

Fastest lap went to Neil Lane +2

And so, the overall result after the first two rounds are;

1st Neil Lane 23 points

2nd Hugh Maguire 22 points

3rd Stuart Clark 20 points

4th Ben Deegan 14 points

5th Eamonn Mc Keon 10 points

6th Aleksander Szeser 9 points

7th George Neurieder 8 points

8th Liam McGuinness 8 points

9th Paul Sexton 5 points

10th Plunkett Govern

 

 

 

 

The third round of our 2018 Karting Championship took place on Sunday 21st October at Adventure Park, Watergrasshill, Co. Cork. Interest had been strong in the run up to the day but unfortunately due to work commitments, sickness and perhaps a cold damp start to the day, a number of those who were due to attend couldn't make it. Arriving at the track, around 11.30 am, I could see the karts on track were running wets and even with those, grip looked to be in short supply. It was my first time to Watergrasshill and it has to be said that the facilities, karts and staff are all first class. We'll be back!

I was joined by Hugh Maguire, Dave Whelan and Richie Buckley. We delayed the start time so we could join the next group booked in, just to make it a bit more interesting. As the morning passed the sun came out and the track dried off and we enjoyed a nice but brisk session on track.

We used the International track which is quite fast and technical. Once up and running our three karts ran nose to tail for a few laps until I spun off into the gravel at speed. Try as I might there was no catching Dave and Hugh, who spent the remaining time dicing hard with each other. It was clear to see that Dave had his Weetabix for breakfast, as despite Hugh trying every trick in the book, there was just no way to get past.

The results for the third round are;

1st Dave Whelan – 15 points, 2nd Hugh Maguire – 12 points, 3rd Neil Lane – 10 points

Fastest lap went to Dave Whelan +2

And so, the overall result after three rounds are;

1st Hugh Maguire 34 points

2nd Neil Lane 33 points

3rd Stuart Clark 20 points

4th Dave Whelan 17 points

5th Ben Deegan 14 points

6th Eamonn Mc Keon 10 points

7th Aleksander Szeser 9 points

8th George Neurieder 8 points

9th Liam McGuinness 8 points

10th Paul Sexton 5 points

11th Plunkett Govern 4 points

 

 

 

With one more round to go we would like to encourage you to come along and join us for what is a very enjoyable afternoons driving and overall great craic!
Details of the final round to follow shortly.

 

George & Neil


28/09/2018