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Daytona Max Winter Endurance Series Rd1

8th November 2008 – Daytona Max Winter Series Round 1

Endurance Series

The day dawned over Daytona’s circuit with the promise of rain in the air. That rain duly arrived before the start of practice for the inaugural race of the DMAX Endurance winter series. Thankfully, the wet track didn’t dampen the spirits of the 18 teams assembled for the big race and practice got under way with the DMAX karts sporting the new all weather tyres unique to this championship.

After the 40 minutes of practice, the Honda F1 team were heading the time sheets with Team UK Platforms and Team Balgaurd hot on their heels. The green flag dropped indicating the start of timed qualifying and the tension throughout the pit lane rose as the clocked ticked down inexorably on the 15 minute session.

As the chequered flag fell, it was Honda F1 that again showed the way after pipping Marc Lee – who was doing the race all on his own – by hundredths of a second. Team Number 7 and the Laid Back Runners completed the first two rows.

The rain had stopped by the start of the race but with much moisture in the air and errant leaves lining the track in places, conditions were challenging to say the least. The 2 hour duration was interspersed with 3 mandatory pit stops and the teams had to plan carefully to make the stops at the optimum time. The Honda F1 team almost persuaded legendary engineer Ross Brawn to oversee their race, but sadly he was too busy washing Jenson Button’s hair.

Marc Lee had overtaken the Honda team early in the race and slowly pulled out a comfortable gap. But the Honda team are a tenacious bunch and during the pit stops re-took the lead. Meanwhile, further down the field, Team Backdraft were making significant progress from their 14th place starting position and were up to 6th late on in the race.

After the mandatory pit stops had finished and the race had settled down it was Marc Lee who again had jumped into the top spot and a late rush of blood to the head and some over aggressive driving saw the Honda F1 team take a black flag penalty with only minutes left. At the flag and the end of the 1st race of the series, it was Marc Lee who took the chequered flag, followed by Honda F1 and the Laid Back Runners disproving their name with a fine podium finish.

The final finishing positions are as follows:

1st – Marc Lee
2nd – Honda F1
3rd – Laid Back Runners
4th – Team Backdraft
5th – Seriously Sideways
6th – KPMG2
7th – Team UK Platforms
8th – Wooley Apple
9th – Days of Thunder
10th – Gonzales
11th – KPMG1
12th – Team Balgaurd
13th – ROC Racing
14th – Slicks

A number of teams were ineligible to score points and have not been included in these results.

A fine atmosphere and some superb racing and camaraderie made this 1st round very enjoyable indeed and we look forward to the 2nd round of the series on December 6th 2008. Thanks to everyone who took part.

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