Four time TeamSport Titans!
ELK RACE REPORT
The Whilton Mill round started extremely well for the Titans with 3 out of 4 go karting wins at the start of the 12 sprint races.
Regular drivers Jack and Andy O’Neill, Damian (Damo) Hickman and Owen (Harlem) Jenman all performing as we have become to expect. Team manager Martin O’Neill giving Owen Jenman the new nickname of Harlem after the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team. Owen's skill and showmanship mirroring the famous Globetrotters style making him quite the character in the team, both on and off the track. This was shown particularly in the final heat, when battling for the lead an incident saw Owen relegated to last place. With a damaged kart most drivers would have returned to the pits, but with every point counting Owen fought his way through to 16th place. Maybe at the end of the season those extra points may even win the championship! Overall in the 12 sprint races the Titan drivers managed to gain 92 positions, a fantastic total but slightly behind an on form Birmingham Bullets team.
ENDURANCE RACE
Damo and Owen were up next for the 1st endurance race of the afternoon. The battle continued with Birmingham Bullets which carried on for the whole hour of the race, with never more than a couple of seconds separating the two teams. The end of the race being one of the most thrilling of the season with the lead swapping on the final few laps multiple times. Unfortunately for the Titans the Bullets ended up victorious, with some intervention from back markers. With the final endurance race remaining, the Bullets for the 1st time this season had their noses in front and smelling victory. Jack and Andy O’Neill have won all of their endurance races this year, but only 5th on the grid (less than 0.1 seconds off pole!) would have the makings of an incredibly close race, and so it was for the first half with the top ten teams only being separated by a few seconds. However the Titans first driver Jack had spent most of practice running through the pit lane practicing for a slick pitstop and driver change, and so this proved with Andy emerging 10 seconds in front of the chasing pack. Andy then maintained the lead for the second half finally coming home 8 seconds in front, with the Birmingham Bullets only managing 6th.
An over complicated scoring system saw the Birmingham Bullets announced overall winners, but an eagle eyed team manager recorded both teams scores and disputed the result after the race. After a recount the EKL admitted making a mathematical error, with the Teamsport Titans emerging as the rightful overall winners.