2011 BLSA B Series Overall Results. 

Light Perf
Position	Sail No	Name	Points
1	K3	Chris Moore	0
2	K50	David Hare	6
3	K23	Donny Macfarlane	14
4	K76	John Watts	15
5	K12	Lorraine Etherington	15
6	K101	Brian Tweedie	19
7	K220	Alan Gibson	19
Light Prod
1	K182	Martin Letters	8
2	K1111	Jonny Harvey	8
3	K15	Tim Seed	11
4	K145	Dylan Letters (Junior)	20
5	K6	John Britton	21
6	K1	Dave Miller	22
7	K237	Lachlan Wright (Junior)	22
8	G1	Olaf Buhl	22
9	K197	Tom Rimmer (Junior)	23
10	K129	Steve Varden	23
11	K175	Mary McGarry	23
12	K33	Graham Suthren	24
13	K8	Jo Letters	24
14	K200	Simon Larson	25
15	K189	Pat Larkin	25
16	K211	Craig McKinney (Junior)	25
17	K540	Gary Evans	26
18	IR25	Laura McNulty	27
19	K150	Rob Burns	27
20	K113	Tom Hollingsworth (Junior)	28
21	K17	Annabelle Gillborn (Junior)	28
Heavy Perf
1	K99	Nick Dodge	6
2	K85	Ed Delahaye	9
3	K29	Sean Croudace	10
4	K151	Darren Hall	12
5	K888	Steve Turnbull	12
6	K166	Graham Deal	12
7	K72	Nick Glynn	14
8	K9	Graham Bobin	15
9	K37	Jon Rimmer	16
10	K67	Robert Smith	16
11	K62	Arthur Bosley	17
12	K43	David Juleff	17
13	K41	John Juleff	20
14	K178	Adrian Shaw	24
Heavy Prod
1	K94	Chris Selway	9
2	K57	Paul Farrow	13
3	K500	Crisso Smallman	13
4	K19	John Gillborn	14
5	K137	Andy Jaques	17
6	K199	Andy Etherington	17
7	K38	Paul Margetts	17
8	K136	Pat Letters	18
9	K34	John Corkhill	22
10	K193	Ted Harthill	24
11	K219	Jane Gibson	24
12	K79	Richard Hollingsworth	25
13	K198	Malachy Martin	25
14	K171	Gareth James	26
15	K78	George Brien	26
16	K333	Dave Purchase	27
17	K2182	Mick Caulkin	27
18	IR29	Ivan Macken	28

 

 

BLSA B Series - Perranporth

"Buckle up for thrills and spills in Northwest France"

 

Following the success and great turn out at the Weston leg of the series, the regulars were buzzing with anticipation about another weekend whizzing around on the Tarmac of an airfield. The pre-event banter on bakebook was, as always, second to none. I read the rules on Blokart modifications and found out that my Boudica Spikes would have been removed upon scrutineering, while El Capitano (Chris Moore) and Ed Delahaye were taking make-up tips from our resident 'man of product', Tim Seed, in preparation for their small screen debut on 'Escape to the Country'.

 

This was my first visit to Perranporth. After driving 550 miles south of Stranraer, and picking up a French radio station on the way, I could have been forgiven for thinking that I was in the north west of France, but luckily the absence of White flags made it clear that I was in fact in Cornwall. Friday saw us all arrive at the campsite, where we all set up camp for the weekend. It was interesting to see that 'wee man' had brought a tent about half the height of me, yet somehow he still had standing room. Someone also commented that he looked the same height wether he was far away or up close. He's like a proper Blokart Pilot only smaller ;)

 

Friday night saw us all arrive at the airfield ready for an evening of racing in the local hot wheels series. I intended to sit this one out as I was knackered from the 13 hours of overnight travelling, but I was instead recruited as a make shift Race Officer for the evening. After some initial confusion over the 'kart opening the gate start procedure' or whatever it was called, some exciting racing took place, helping everyone find their feet on the conversion from sand to Tarmac. The first three races saw John Jouleff coming in towards the back of the field, cursing his Blokart and then ordering me into it for the last two races as he didn't want to play anymore. Now, is it just me or was giving his nice shiny performance Blokart to an absolute newbie not a bit of a mistake? Anyway, it was much appreciated and I really enjoyed the chance to have a go in the performance machine. Was I converted? Not a chance, I'm too much of a purist to change from my production beast :)

 

Later that evening, we all headed off to a local eatery for some food, drinks and of course the obligatory banter. El Capitano was the bravest of us all, ordering death by chocolate for desert. I am pleased to report that he did survive this, however this caused the staff at the establishment a few problems as a few of our members' hopes had been dashed and were demanding their money back.

 

Saturday morning saw all at the campsite disappointed as the breakfast van hadn't opened as expected. Luckily for Nick Glynn, Tim and I, the legend that is Crisso Smallman, came to the rescue and made us some lovely bacon and egg sandwiches. It was only upon arriving at the airfield that we realised that Crisso had stolen the 'Brazilian bit' of Darrens Goatee. Anyway, our arrival saw the briefing take place, with our illustrious leader Kevin doing a great job convincing us that the green flag in his hand was in fact yellow and that the black flag was in fact chequered. The time came for questions and we were all astounded when Ed fulfilled the Welsh stereo type in asking "where is the baaaa". As it happens, he was not looking for the Welsh version of a leisure centre (sheep tied to a lamp post), but after some translation was wondering where the local drinking establishment was (bar).

 

Five paragraphs of writing and eventually we get to the racing, but let me tell you it is worth the wait. The first session of four races saw us take on the short course at the bottom end of the airfield in wind conditions forcing a choice between the 5.5 and 4m sails. Most of the heavys went for the former with the lights going for the latter. A nice into wind section made for some tactical sailing, with the run back down the runway at top speed and into a right hand 180 degree u bend over some rough ground sorting the men from the boys and seeing the majority of the crashes for the day. This coupled with thorns puncturing our tyres saw Chris' shop open and everyone beg, steal and borrowing parts off eachother to continue racing. It seemed the key to this weekend was going to be keeping between the hedges and not trimming them (a la Chris at Skye). Oh yeah and not crashing into eachother would have been good too. One incident saw me spitting out my dummy and borrowing some toys to throw out of the pram.

 

The evening saw some more very close racing over a long course, made even longer as the wind bouncing off the cliffs at the end of the airfield created a hole, reducing everyone to a wheelchair race up the last section of the long runway. However a slight tweak for the last race made life much easier as we came at the hole from a different direction, picking up enough speed to carry us through. A beer or two back at the campsite at the end of the day and the offer from Nick for me to 'park in his porch', although slightly worrying, was enough to provide a few laughs and restore the fine fettle to all involved. The top three at this stage were as follows:

 

Light Production

1. Tim Seed 0 pts   2. David Miller 12 pts   3. Jonny Harvey 16 pts

 

Heavy production

1. Chris Selway 2 pts   2. Paul Farrow 9 pts   3. Crisso Smallman 13 pts

 

Light Performance

1. Chris Moore 0 pts   2. David Hare 10 pts    3. John Watts 18 pts

 

Heavy Performance

1. Graham Bobbin 5 pts   2. Darren Hall 8 pts   3. Ed Delahaye 10 pts

 

So with all to play for it was decided that Sunday would see us back on the short course. This time the wind had strengthened overnight and was gusting up to 50 kts making the 3m the sail of choice with a few braving the 4m and one brave ... well brave or stupid and rather heavy soul electing to try out the 5.5. It was briefed that only 4 races would be run and, with the points being quite tight in all categories, everyone was out to sail at their best. I for one had to beat Dave Miller into third place in every race just to tie for second place and countback still would not have separated us. So racing began and for me things were going to plan with 2nd place in the first two races. Unfortunately the third race saw me finish in third place and so I shook Daves hand and conceded the game. This was maybe a bit premature as in the last race I was off to a flyer. By the end of the first lap I was ahead of both Tim and Dave and couldn't quite believe it, but I didn't have time to get carried away. I had to stay calm and keep sailing as well as I possibly could. I somehow managed to keep Tim and Dave behind me and won the race putting me into second place on count back (remind anyone of Weston). In Daves defence he did have the most spectacular crash and ended up in a very sore state for the final races. Hope you recover soon mate and we will do battle again in the Midlands!! ;)

 

Also worth a mention was the almighty comeback from 5th to 3rd place of the lovely Lorraine Etherington, who, in the process of her comeback, gave husband Andy a master class of how to sail a Blokart! Now that I've caused a domestic, here are the standings at the end of the weekend:

 

 

 

 

1. Ed Delahaye 12 pts   2. Darren Hall 13 pts    3. Graham Bobbin 15 pts

 

Now I know it was close at the end, but either the BLSA have adopted the governments policy in schools, were nobody is allowed to lose, or the engraver is in big trouble for putting first place on all of our trophies. Either way, congratulations on first place everyone and I look forward to seeing you all at the last installment of this years B Series in a few weeks time.

 

Jonny Harvey

K1111

  BLSA B Series - Weston Super Mare

"It's not Glastonbury, but it's as much fun as you can have with your clothes on"

 

After enjoying the B Series race at Benone and hearing the numerous stories and antics of the Skye leg of the series, I was massively looking forward to the Weston Super Mare race. Organising the logistics of the trip could have been a bit of a nightmare for me as my only form of transport was a motorbike, and, even though the Blokart packs up nicely in its bag, I wouldn't have fancied taking it on the back of the bike! (Note to BIL: Please can we have a motorbike version?) Luckily Team Ireland pulled together with Pat and Jo Letters travelling with all of our gear in the back of their van, with me arriving by motorcycle and Martin arriving with young Dylan via Bristol Airport. Luckily they didn't fly with a certain airline, who I shall refer to as Bryanair for legal reasons, and their flight actually landed in the correct country.

 

With all assembled at the camp site we headed off to meet up with the rest of the travellers, who, were just finished tucking into a nice curry (Trying to create wind for racing I believe). Most headed off early to bed (Taking this racing stuff far too seriously lol), while Martin, Chris, The Wee Man, Tony and I all headed to the pub. A quick check on Bakebook (This is what we call it in NI) revealed that John Gillborn was trying to convince his wife that he was definately going Blokart Racing and NOT going to visit the festival at Glastonbury. John, it is such a shame you didn't make it as I think you could have ended with a good result at this race, but we hope you enjoyed watching Coldplay! ;)

 

The conversation then turned to the fact that the local greyhound association had arranged a dog walking morning on the beach on the Sunday of racing. Someone commented that it would be funny to tie toy rabbits to the back of the karts and watch the ensuing chaos, with Chris pledging to go buy some toy rabbits. I suggested that he should be careful of what shop he buys 'Toy Rabbits' from, with Martin asking if they'd be branded BLSA and could we get our sail numbers on them :o. If you don't get that, see Anne Summers!

 

Now, to the racing. On turning up at the beach we were greeted with what I can only describe as quick sand. The beach was soaked through and the sand was very very soft to say the least. The wind was at the point where it was a toss up between a 4 or 5.5 m sail and most of the heavys going for the 5.5 and the lights going for a 4. Briefings complete it was time for some interesting racing. With lots of nervous newbies in the field, nobody really knew what to expect, lots of mistakes were made, collisions at the start, cutting people up at the marks, the usual stuff, and most of it down to the old hands! Lol

 

Some problems were encountered in the morning with most of the field being unable to maintain enough energy and drive to get round the final mark and over the transponder line, resulting in lots of pushing by the marshals and a little tweak of the course at lunch time. The break also allowed for a little clarification of the rules of the road from the fantastic race director and also for everyone to work out who the competition were in their class! I have to say at this point I was having a shocker, coming dead last in my class on three occasions as I was really struggling to make that 4m work.

 

After the lunch break, which, may I add, was served up by the loudest man in the Northern Hemisphere, racing resumed. I stupidly stayed with the 4m for 2 races before giving in and deciding to go for the 5.5m. This worked a treat for me and I was flying from here on in. There were some interesting battles going on in all classes with newbies challenging old hands and everyone really pulling their best performances out of the bag. The day ended with everyone caked in sand, which turned into concrete when it dried! Talk turned to were the sand had got to and it was suggested that we might as well just race in the buff .... Nobody needs to see that! Lol Anyway, on a cleaner note you should try getting the axels out of the kart when they're cemented on by the dried sand. This revealed a new dealer in the Blokart accessories market, and I'm pleased to announce I'm now the proud owner of the Miller Axle Protectors. No idea what I'm talking about? Well it turns out that Mr Miller has robbed all of the kids bikes in his local area, ripped out their inner tubes, cut them into 2 inch long sections and stuck them over the join between the axle and the kart to stop sand from getting in. Again for legal reasons I'm obliged to say that he only allegedly nicked kids bikes!

 

Racing over it was time to meet up at the local leisure centre for some food, a few beers and a lot of Craic! It was here that we all learned the standing at the end of the day and discussed the weather forecast for Sunday. It was looking pretty calm and racing was 50/50. This pleased those of us at the top end of the leader board with those behind praying for some wind. Poor Tony was being pestered with all manner of bribes from the 'we don't want to race' camp, but even a Northern Irishman saying "I know where you live" didn't phase him, in fact I think it made him more determined to make racing happen lol. It was at this point I was also accused of sabotaging Mr Millers tyre with a pin in the last race, which apparently had 'made in Ireland' on it. Of course I deny these allegations ...... The pins were in fact made in China ;)

 

Anyway, Sunday came and the condition of the sand on the beach was perfect. Unfortunately however, the wind wasn't! Every breathe of wind that came was a tease, with the Sea Breeze fighting the prevailing wind and both ending up cancelling each other out. A BBQ lunch and a long wait followed before the Race Director announced the end of racing and that the result would be called from Saturday's standings. A small cheer may have been heard from those in podium positions!:D

 

The results were as follows:

 

Light Production.  1st John Britton, 2nd Jonny Harvey (My first podium .... Woohooo, 3rd David Miller.

 

Light Performance. 1st Chris Moore, 2nd David Hare, 3rd Donny Macfarlan.,

 

Heavy Production. 1st Paul Margetts, 2nd The Glastonbury Reveller, 3rd Andy Etherington.

 

Heavy Performance. 1st Nick Dodge, 2nd Sean Croudace, 3rd Rob Smith.

 

A big thank you to our professional Race Director, Mr Tony Elliot and his team of Marshals for their sterling efforts during the course of the weekend. Also a big thank you to Chris and Weston Windsport for their kind sponsorship and great hosting for this event. Now onwards and upwards. I have attached some Boudica spikes to my wheels and I look forward to seeing you all in Perranporth!

 

Jonny Harvey

K1111

If you’ve never been to the beautiful island of Skye you’re really missing something, especially when it’s combined with blokart racing. The late May Bank Holiday saw the second Blokart Scottish Open hosted by Simon and Anita Larson of Speed Kart Xtreme.

In 2010 only five sailors made the trip (possibly because the event was over the Easter weekend and there had been snow) for the inaugural event but in 2011 fourteen sailors made it to the Broadford Airfield at Ashaig on the north-east coast of the island. Whatever way you odds it, it is a long way to the airfield, even for Simon and Anita who live on Skye. Dave and Donny, despite living in Scotland still had a multi-hour journey to get there. I would like to say that I had the longest journey, coming from Devon, but that accolade has to go to Olaf and Karin Buhl who made it all the way from Germany despite their car (a Land Rover – a great British make) breaking down and them having to hire another one to tow the caravan.

I decided this year, after doing an epic 15 hour, 4 brief stop drive last year, to stay overnight at a Travelodge on the M6. I have stayed in some dives in my time but this had to be about the worst hotel I have ever had the displeasure to enter. So, if you decide to go next year do not stay at the Lancaster M6 North Travelodge. You have been warned.

The weather forecast promised bracing late spring /early summer Scottish fayre with a light Highland 35+ knot breeze over the weekend and, of course, some ‘light’ rain so we didn’t get too hot. After some (actually) gentle breezes on Friday, Saturday morning saw everybody wearing waterproofs and sheltering in Simon’s container at the airfield. Between the ‘showers’ Pat and Chris laid the course and we eventually started some racing.

The airstrip a single tarmac runway, about 600m long and two-thirds the width of the main runway at Perranporth (to give it some perspective) and has a fairly decent slope to it. Either side of the runway is a wide strip of fairly rough terrain with some largish stones in it. There are also runway light at the edge of the tarmac which, as Simon pointed out, we needed to stay clear of as it would cost if they were broken.

The wind direction was 10 to 15 degrees to the south west of the runway centreline which meant that you had to tack up the runway from the start to the first mark, using the whole width of the runway. This made it interesting when, having rounded the top mark, you were no on the downwind leg with 30 knots of wind behind you and competing for the same runway space as those coming upwind. Everyone was desperately trying to avoid going ‘off tarmac’, due to the rough ground and runway lights. However, there was the bottom mark…

The bottom mark was definitely ‘off tarmac’. It had to be to get enough turning circle at the speeds being achieved on the downwind leg and, perhaps more to the point, to miss Chris’s motorhome which was serving as race control and parked fairly close to the edge of the tarmac. Fortunately, there were no major incidents and good racing was enjoyed by all. Chris and Dave played a cat & mouse game with which sails they used, i.e. who would crack first, whilst the slightly less competitive amongst us stuck with a 3m or 4m for the bigger boned, good shout Crisso!

Saturday evening saw all competitors, marshals, partners and children attend a fine meal at the Claymore Restaurant in Broadford. There was slight issue with getting everybody there on time due to the large number of blokart people on the camp site and the number of showers available, i.e. one. The other issue, once we arrived at the restaurant was actually being allowed to start eating the food as Karin insisted that a photograph of the untouched plate was required before tucking in. In fact, Karin had been looking through the lens most of the day as well as doing a great job marshalling and produced some fantastic photographs except at the one time it really mattered (more later).

Sunday dawned with the winds having picked up a few knots and shifted slightly so it was straight down the runway. This meant that we could see the squalls coming and come they did. We sat in our karts and got wet, but you really had to feel for the marshals. With ever increasing wind speed when the squalls came we resorted to standing starts as a dial up would have been chaos. It was all we could do to hold the karts in place when facing into the wind. Even the big boned were reduced to a 3m and the downwind leg and bottom turn even more interesting than Saturday. During one race and a particularly strong squall, Chris tried to turn at the bottom mark, go blown across the rough stuff sideways, accelerated across the tarmac (sideway) and was deposited in the hedge/ditch on the far side of the runway. At least he missed the motorhome but where was Karin with the nearly-ever-present camera to take the shot of the year?

With the racing over and after some drying off, the prize giving took place at the absolutely fantastic Eilean Iarmain Hotel. The location is amazing and the food equally good. Simon and Anita presented top three prizes in each category with a Scottish/Celtic theme and, of course, Karin took several thousand pictures. Being the only competitor in the Heavy Performance category I came first, second, third and last, but I only got one prize…

On Monday, the Bank Holiday, some made the long trip home whilst the remainder did a seal spotting boat trip around Loch Carron from Plockton, followed by a very relaxed afternoon barbecue at Anita and Simon’s home in Ardvasar, a jewel amongst spectacular scenery, including some great entertainment courtesy of Simon’s and his friends guitar.

So, Tuesday… For many, the long trip home was started and completed, whilst those who were enjoying some further days off headed for points North and East, some to meet up at St. Andrews for a sail on Donny’s home beach.

If you didn’t attend this b series event you really missed a good one. It will be run again in 2012…

  

"All the gear and no idea"