The annual Go-Cart Competition was staged one day after the championship sailing on Tuesday 22 August at the Eastleigh Indoor Go-Kart track. The track was really good with a bridge/flyover, 2 hairpin bends and a long curved downhill “straight” plus a mixture of other bends and corners. The Go-Karts were also much better (more powerful and more equal) than last year and could not be driven flat out around the course and frequently spun off on the shiny smooth course. 3 days of heavy sailing had taken taken it’s toll on the Go-Kart entries. Initially we had 15 pre-entries but Paul & Matt Smith had to go home as Paul’s back was bad, Keith Ball “had no strength left in his arms, Jim Bryce and Paul Bailey both felt not up to it and Frank Sandells “did a runner”. Never-the-less we picked up a few spontaneous entries and ended up with a group of 12 taking part. Team Shanklin were determined to defend their honour and despite the sailors going home on Monday a group of 4 took the ferry back on Tuesday to take part in the Go-Karts – “we can’t let Erling down” was the explanation.
In the first heat Kevin Dutch went like the clappers too win from Alex Cavaciuti and last years champion Will Baker. Steve Roberts (one of the early favourites) proved to have too heavy a right foot and spun off several times. His undoing was one of his spins was on the bridge out of view of the marshals so he festered there unable to move for a couple of laps. In the second heat Chris Pierce narrowly defeated Paul Roberts, who was a new addition to the Sprint 15 fleet this year and was proving a dab hand at the Go-Karts.
As we had more Go-Karts at our disposal we decided to stage an 8 Kart final with the top 4 from each heat taking part. Paul Roberts led off from pole position and hung on for a few laps but he sadly got stuck after a prang on the incline to the bridge – his Go-Kart had insufficient power for a standing start on the hill! That left Kevin Dutch to thrash it out with team Shanklin. In the end Chris Pierce won from brother and fellow Shanklin competitor, Charlie Pierce. Kevin Dutch had to be satisfied with 3rd place ahead of Paul Roberts in 4th. Finally a 4 cart runners up consolation race was held so everyone got 2 races. We then went and had fish and chips at the local chippy and exchanged war stories over a pint at the local pub.
So at the end of the day "Team Shanklin" returned home happy in the knowledge that they had not wasted the ferry trip and that "Erling would be proud of them".
Sprint 15 Go Kart Grand Prix
Heat 1
- Kevin Dutch
- Alex Cavaciuti
- Will Baker
- Gerald Sverdloff
- Steve Roberts
- Tony Skinner
Heat 2
- Chris Pierce
- Paul Roberts
- Darren Kiggins
- Charlie Pierce
- Bob Carter
- Martin Searle
Grand final
- Chris Pierce
- Charlie Pierce
- Kevin Dutch
- Paul Roberts
- Gerald Sverdloff
- Will Baker
- Darren Kiggins
- Alex Cavaciuti
Runners up final
- Bob Carter
- Martin Searle
- Steve Roberts
- Tony Skinner
