B-SERIES AINSDALE 2009 OPEN

The first round of the new National B-Series Racing for Blokarts was held at Ainsdale, Southport over the weekend (21^st / 22^nd March).  A fleet of 19 competitors attended, even after the worryingly light winds forecast earlier in the week.

Racing started on the Saturday with a gentle 10 to 12 knot breeze and a rectangular course that had most people breaking out their 5.5m sails.  Early speculation from the local spectators as to the days favourite (current national champion, Justin Heap) was soon crushed as the first race was won by Josh Sharp, followed by the second and third victories being taken by Gwen Heap.

A course change took place over the lunch break to set a slightly easier course for those novices in the fleet in the dwindling wind.  Special mention at this point should go to the Positive Futures team who brought a number of local children to take part in Blokart racing for the first time – some of whom, despite only having the small 3m sails were soon giving some of the fleet a run for their money!  The afternoon session gave a quick glimpse of the previous winning form from Justin Heap as he finally took his first race, but Josh Sharp fought back taking the other two afternoon races and leading the fleet into the Saturday night.  In the production fleet, Tim Seed did a fantastic job leading the class with Andrew Stewart and Colin Peet close behind.

Sunday brought more wind and so the speculation started in the fleet as to the correct sail choice for the day, with some opting to keep the 5.5m, others dropping down to the 4m and even the 3m.  A traditional triangular windward, leeward course was set and racing was quickly got underway.  The first race saw a fantastic performance from Colin Peet in the production class, getting to the first mark in second place and managing to keep many of the performance sailors behind him throughout the race, finishing overall in 5^th.

Justin Heap and Josh Sharp fought closely with little between them all day, but Justin just managed to edge ahead, winning 6 of the 7 races for the day.  Tim Seeds domination of the production class was challenged in the increasing breeze with Colin Peet or Andrew Stewart finishing higher in all the days races but they were unable to wrestle the overall top position from him.

So after 13 races in a variety of wind conditions, with several lead changes and much close racing, the overall positions were 1^st Justin Heap, 2^nd Josh Sharp, 3^rd John Endean .  In the production class 1^st Tim Seed, 2^nd Andrew Stewart (also 1^st Novice), 3^rd Colin Peet.  1^st Junior went to Charlie from Positive Futures.

The next round of the B-Series racing is to be held at Benone in Ireland on 9^th and 10^th May 2009  All levels from novice to experienced racer welcome.

Results

1st Novice:  Andrew Stewart

1st Junior: Charlie (Positive Futures)