Ultra 4 Europe Kirton Off-road Rampage
As we arrived on Friday night we set up camp and than Proceeded to walk the course; it was soon apparent that the racing was going to be quick. Saturday morning was dry and bright we had drivers briefing and got the lowdown of the day’s events which consisted of 4 rounds of 5 laps. We did 4 laps 2 sighting laps and than 2 quick laps to give us our starting position.
The first heat was going well, and we were keeping up with the lead cars. We had just about completed the first lap but on the last jump as we landed we managed to twist the rear prop shaft taking us out of the first heat. With the prop changed ready for heat 2, the heavens opened and that changed the course making quite slippy which slowed the pace of heat 2. As we all set off from the line over the first jump and got to the bomb holes it was a close call who was going to give way to whom but we got though without to much time lost as the lead trucks got in front. We kept on the tail end of them coming home in 5th overall which we were happy with. For the 3rd heat of the day the rain had stopped but with it still being slippy we kept on the pace like before. As the track dried out slowly we found ourselves getting quicker (not a bad thing really when you’re in a race) coming home in 4th.
The 4th heat was the final and knowing we were in with a chance of getting on to the podium we pushed on hard. During lap 3 the truck was lacking power a quick stop found that the air filter was blocked; a quick clean off and we were back on it to finish 4th overall.
It turned out that they were running two classes, the ultra 4 class and the every man class; we were in every man meaning that we had done enough to secure a second place!!
Team Sharp