Driving up to Albury was only 3 hours (i say only because the last meeting we went to was 11 hours drive) but we left Saturday morning... at 4.30am. We arrived and setup and the kart was good as soon as we dropped it on the track. However the track appeared to be rather harsh on tires. Something to think about during the racing.

There were 5 races over the 2 days with 2 heats on the Saturday and a heat, pre final and final on the Sunday. I drew pole, 6th and 9th for the heats with only 10 in the class. I hung on at the start of the first heat and managed to pull a comfortable gap with some of the faster guys getting held up in traffic. The second heat from 6th i made my way through the traffic and took the win again.

The 3rd heat on Sunday morning is when things livened up a little. Starting off the back row I was 3 wide in the middle heading down the straight for the first time and didn't think we were going to make it through the first coner. I made it through the first corner however a lot of them didnt make it and i came out in 3rd. I made the move for 2nd on about the 3rd lap but aparently it was made under a yellow flag and i was pinged for it (5 places effectively, i was the ONLY one not to see the flag, officals and other drivers saw it, oops) but i still went on to win the heat and still have enough points for pole in the pre final.

The pre final i got a clean start and pulled a gap which was comfortable enough where by i could save my tires a little bit. Starting the 12 lap final from pole i was confident i could go on with another race win. I made a good start but at the apex of turn one i could hear the screeching of tires and the banging of plastic but luckily none of it was me. I just concentrated on the road in front of me until the half race distance and had a look over the shoulder. A clear track - a very nice feeling. From then on i just enjoyed the rest of the race and i think the lead extended even more as positions 2, 3 and 4 were fighting each other for position.

5 wins from 5 starts was a great weekend. It would have been even greater if i didnt get the penalty for passing under yellow. There was a cash prize of $3000 up for grabs for the highest point scorer in seniors. Myself and Lee Mitchener (Clubman Heavy) both won all our races over the weekend - he won the cash overall because i got the penalty... i'll be watching for those yellows a bit more closely now i think, doh!

The race format was good however i think with all those races it would be better to have a real pre final - where the finishing positions from the pre final determine the starting positions of the final and the final only counts for the meeting but thats just my opinion. The club did an awesome job getting through so much racing in such a short period of time. Like last year we enjoyed ourselves at this race meeting and will be looking forward to the Victorian Closed Titles there in Decemeber and also the same meeting again next year.