KDS Racing

Daytona Tamworth Endurance Series Round 2

Team, Matt Spencer, Carl Bannister, Andy Spencer

Result 🥇🏆

We couldn’t have asked for better weather for round 2 on Easter Sunday, the complete opposite of what we had for round 1 as we aimed to build on our early championship lead.

The day started well, managing to top practice and keep our 100% pole record intact too. The top 5, especially KWH Racing and Sonic Racing had all looked fast throughout the morning though so we knew we would be kept on our toes.

Matt took the race start and had an entertaining first half an hour, swapping positions with KWH numerous times, while Sonic got caught up in battles in the early laps which cost them time that they would never make up.

Some really consistent times in the second half hour from Carl along with a great pit stop saw us pull a small gap out front as each teams strategy began to differ it became more difficult to follow who was where.

At around the hour mark KWH had a chain come off and go through the radiator necessitating a new kart and causing over a lap to be lost. Suddenly all the pressure was off.

The remaining 4 stints between all three drivers were just a question of being kind to the kart and consistent as we had such a big gap and Andy brought the kart home after 3 hours to a victory of almost a whole lap. A fantastic result and hugely important in our quest to defend our title.

We hope for more of the same at round 3 in June where it sounds like an even stronger grid awaits...

Easter Sunday sees round 2 of the Daytona Tamworth Endurance Championship.

After taking a slightly fortuitous win at round 1 we want to try and extend our championship lead. It will be a tall order as although the grid isn’t massive it’s a quality one with most teams being in with a shout. Should make for a great race.

Race start is midday for those who fancy a sunbathe and watch some good racing.

Our team for round 2 is

Matt Spencer (Captain)
Carl Bannister
Andy Spencer

Best of luck to all the other squads

Daytona Tamworth Endurance Championship, Round 1

DMAX class
Team: Matt Spencer, Carl Bannister, Andy Spencer

Qualified P1🏅
Race P1🏅

Pole, a win and the fastest lap doesn’t tell the whole story in this one, it was far from a done deal. As expected, the weather played a huge role in the first round of the season, heavy rain greeted us for practice but the forecast was for some improvements as the day went on.

We managed to top the hour practice session so felt confident of a decent grid position in the super pole qualifying which was to follow.

Andy was chosen for qualifying and managed to secure a solid pole position and keep our 100% pole record intact.

For the race, strategy would be key, not only would we have to keep an eye on the fuel tank, we had to be aware of the track conditions which seemed to change every lap timing our pit stops and five mandatory driver changes around this.

Matt took the start and put in a solid first lap keeping us in front before diving into the pits for a very early first stop. Andy took over and had the longest single stint of 1 hour 7 minutes, during which he managed to build a steady gap to the rest of the field. KWH Racing and MY Premier Racing being our closest challengers just like last year. Despite this we were really struggling with rear grip issues and things were far from comfortable. Things got worse the further into the race we got. It looked like we were in for a tense and difficult conclusion to the race.

When he handed back over to Matt for stint 3 we had a 40 second lead, this was cut to around 30 seconds by the time he handed over to Carl for stint 4, with just under half the race (90 minutes) still to go. This pit stop included fuelling the kart for the one and only time in the race.

Shortly afterwards one of the karts in the Sodi class suffered a huge oil leak and covered the whole track. Combined with the already soaking wet surface and slick tyres the decision was made to red flag the race on safety grounds. At this point there were 80 minutes left and we had a nett 30 second lead after pit stops had been counted. It looked like the race would be in for a cracking finish when we got back going.

Unfortunately it never materialised, despite the sun being out the track refused to try and with nothing to wash the oil away the problem still remained, so the race was declared a result at around 2/3 distance.

This was a real shame from a racing perspective although it did mean our grip worries were over and we had done it. A slightly fortuitous victory to start the season! They all count though.

Round 2 is Sunday 17th April and we will be looking to continue our momentum.

The season starts tomorrow!!!

Round 1 of the Daytona Tamworth 3 hour Endurance series takes place tomorrow afternoon, the forecast is better than today but still best described as ‘iffy‘.

Race start is 2pm

This year we are only running a team in the DMAX class, we are aiming for nothing less than to defend our hard earned title from last year. Tomorrow’s lineup is

Matt Spencer (Captain)
Carl Bannister
Andy Spencer

With 6 rounds this year (February-December) it promises so be a long and hard fought season, all the top teams from last year are on the entry list so the competition for the big prize will be stiff. Good luck to all our rivals, may the best team win.

Daytona Tamworth Endurance Series, Final Round 31/10/21

Team: Carl Bannister, Andy Spencer

3 teams went into the final round with a chance to take the title, ourselves, KBH Racing and MyPremier Racing, a winner takes all showdown. The reverse layout at Daytona Tamworth and monsoon like conditions greeted us on Sunday morning, the scene was set for an epic finale.

The forecast was everyone’s major talking point in the run up to the race and throughout the morning, conditions were so bad that the Sodi teams actually outpaced the DMAX teams in the 1 hour practice, surely a Sodi victory couldn’t happen?!

We were the fastest of the DMAX teams after practice although for most of the session had been way down the order, with the weather now beginning to improve it was going to be a strategic nightmare.

Qualifying was the usual super pole, out lap, hot lap and in lap. Andy was the chosen man for qualifying. Due to the timing loop being 3/4 of the way round the lap it created a little confusion for us and Andy went flat out on his out lap and then lifted off for the flier, it was only after 3 corners when he was about to pit that he realised the others were gunning it, DOH!

Luckily the time set on the out lap was still fast enough for pole position! Even better for our championship hopes was that KBH and MyPremier were only 3rd and 4th.

Into the race with Andy starting, we just needed to stay where we were, a tough ask given the crazy conditions. We rolled the dice early with a lap one pitstop (to save time while the others battled and the track was still wet) and came out at the back of the pack. For pretty much the entire race we were now out of sequence with everyone else so it wouldn’t be so much of an on track battle, more a strategic one. Carl had a solid first half hour with no mistakes and pitted just as it was beginning to dry and the lap times dropping. The next stint was probably the one that decided the race in our favour as Andy lapped on average about 0.5-0.7 faster than the rest of the field for the best part of an hour on a slowly drying track.

This put us in a commanding position but having made the (risky) decision not to fuel on stop 3, with the theory being we still had a fair bit in the tank, we got to stop 4 very low on fuel. This was a miscalculation and very nearly cost us the race and championship. As Carl pulled into the pits the kart cut out and had to be pushed to the fuel bay. We held our breath as the kart was fuelled, really worried it wouldn’t re-start. Eventually after 3 attempts and a lot of time lost the kart started and we were on our way again. Phew!

The final hour saw us leading by around 25 seconds from KBH. This would have been about 45 had the fuel stop gone to plan but it could have been so much worse. Fortunately the track was now completely dry and less time could be lost or gained compared to the wetter conditions earlier. Carl put in a flawless last stint and crossed the line around 20 seconds ahead to crown us 2021 champions!! KBH Racing and MyPremier Racing completed the podium, truly how a championship finale should be, with all the contenders on the podium.

Before the season, anything other than the title would have been a bad result, but having had such a terrible start we were pleased to go into the final round with a chance to win.

Well done to KBH Racing and My Premier Racing for pushing us all the way, they would both have deserved the title on merit had it not fallen our way. Looking forward to more of the same next year (hopefully in the same order!)

Thanks to Daytona Tamworth for putting on such a fantastic season, well run and entertaining throughout, we can’t wait to defend our title next year.

KDS Racing - 2021 Daytona Tamworth Enduro Champions! 🏎💭🏆🥇🏁

Daytona Endurance Series Tamworth, Round 2 - Race Report

DMAX 1st 🏅
Sodi 2nd🥈

After 3rd and 4th placed finishes respectively for our two teams at round 1 we needed something more at round 2. With the championship being so short at 4 races long we could not afford to lose any more ground to the leaders.

Our teams for R2 were

DMAX - Matt Spencer, Andy Spencer, Carl Bannister
Sodi - Oli Saunders, James Willis, Chris King

DMAX - As with the season opener back in April we managed to start the day well by topping practice and then followed that up with another pole position. From the early stages of the race ourselves and Team Sonic broke away at the front from My Premier Racing and championship leaders KBH Racing, all 4 teams were contenders from the very start of the season and we expect things to stay that way til the death. At the half way mark it looked to be between ourselves and Team Sonic for the win but they had made a huge mistake in calculating how long a tank of fuel would last, we would see this from quite an early stage so actually felt pretty comfortable. So it proved, Team Sonic had to make a third fuel stop to everyone else’s two and despite mechanical issues for both KBH and My Premier the extra stop relegated Sonic below them at the end. We did exactly what we needed to do, a perfectly executed race in both pace and strategy to win by over a lap. We are now very much back in the championship hunt so well done to the whole team.

Sodi - Round 2 began in a similar way to round 1, going through 3 karts in practice and being well off the pace. 5th place in qualifying was a decent effort but victory looked like it would be almost impossible without Alpha Delta A hitting trouble, they had incredible pace and were on pole by around half a second! We felt that 2nd place would be achievable though if everything went right. Despite still being off the pace a little throughout the race, supreme consistency, great traffic management, pit stops and strategy meant me did reach our target and bring the kart home in p2, keeping our championship hopes alive. A fantastic effort from the lads, they really got the maximum out of the hand that they were dealt.

Round 3 is Sunday 29th August

Daytona Endurance Championship, Tamworth 26/06/21

After a disappointing first round of the championship both our DMAX and Sodi squads are looking to make some ground back up on the championship leaders this weekend.

3 hour race, minimum 5 pit stops and a lot of strong teams entered, should be a great race. Weather looks interesting too 👀

Our lineups this weekend are as follows

Dmax GT - Matthew Spencer, Andrew Spencer, Carl Bannister

Sodi RT8 - Oliver Saunders, James Willis, Chris King

Daytona 3 hour Endurance Championship R1

What a crazy days racing, 4 seasons in one day and it really made for some exciting stuff out on track.

P3 in Sodi and P4 in DMAX, not the results we were really hoping for coming in to today but could have been much worse.

In DMAX we were in the fight for victory until a snapped throttle cable cost us 3 laps. We ended up 4th 3 laps down but although the result was frustrating, the real shame was it cost the race a great fight for the victory. Well done KBH Racing for keeping it all together for a deserved victory, hopefully we will continue the fight in round 2.

Sodi, we had a really tough start to the day with 3 kart swaps in practice so to finish 3rd was probably the best we could hope for. Just lacking the final tenth or two to stick with the leaders today but early on it was looking pretty grim. The lads can be proud tonight. Well done to Alpha Delta Racing on a great 1-2.

Onto Round 2, 26th June where we hope to be back with a vengeance and kickstart our championship challenge.

After a couple of quiet years, we are delighted to announce we are back for the 2021 season!

This year sees us racing in the Daytona Endurance Series which comprises of 4 races on 4 different configurations of Daytona Tamworth. First round takes place this coming Sunday (11/04)!

We are competing in both the DMAX and Sodi classes

DMAX team - Andy Spencer, Matt Spencer, Carl Bannister

Sodi Team - James Willis, Chris King, Oli Saunders

We can’t wait to get back on track and show why we are one of the most successful teams in rental karting.

See you on track!

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