AKOC Round 4 Macau

International Kart Grand Prix 8th-11th October 2009

ProSport and Birel Motorsport achieve
2nd and 7th at Macau...

The team turned up at Macau on Tuesday 6th October and set about unloading the kart and getting ready for practice on Wednesday. Jon Reveille and Josh Clegg would be competing in the Formula 125 Senior Open using the Iame KF 2 engines against the largest field this year in AKOC of 58 drivers.

This was to be Josh’s first time at Macau and due to a tight practice and race schedule he would not have much time to learn the circuit but this was to be Jon’s third time.

Wednesday
Practice went well and with just one small hiccup for Josh when an engine seized. Both drivers were on the pace and were setting some good lap times.

Thursday
Jon driving the Birel RY 31 S-1 and the IAME KF 2 engine had to start qualifying with the engine not fully run in due to the morning’s practice being cut short due to rain, so it would be tight to get a fast lap in the eight minute session. Mike spotted the flag marshal climbing the stairs and signalled to Jon to put the power down and set a time; and one flying lap is all they had. P3 so no problem for the first heat.

Friday Heats, again went well for Jon and he would start the PreFinal in Pole position.

Saturday
Due to the problem with the track breaking up after renovation work, the main CIK events were cancelled for the afternoon sessions due to unsafe track conditions. But the AKOC drivers would be forced to drive in these conditions?

After a few laps Jon had settled down and worked his way back through the pack to finish 3rd behind the Japanese drivers KoKi Hoshino and Hayato Kurosowa.

After the race ProSport, Birel Pacific and Birel Motorsport met to decide what would be the best set-up for the karts for the final to cope with the degrading track conditions. A radical set-up was agreed, so onto the final to try and take the win.
 
Sunday Final
Starting in third place Jon had time to get to the front as the race would be 24 laps. Lights changed to green and Jon shot into second place. Two drivers, Jon and Koki, would break away from the rest of the pack. Lap 8 Jon takes the lead which he held until lap 17 where both drivers came across back markers. Diving into the tight complex off corners, Jon was blocked which allowed Koki to slip through into first place and Jon, pushing hard, was unable to regain back his position, so Koki Hoshino went across the line first followed by Jon Reveille, 0.104 seconds later.

Josh, competing in his first International event, found himself among the top drivers from Asia; and with only the top 36 drivers getting through to the final, he had his work cut out.

Wednesday
Practice went well and Josh was learning the track quickly, but being a bit over anxious to set a fast lap time, he seized a motor and the second engine was put on for the next day’s qualifying.

Thursday
Bad luck struck again and the second motor stopped on the start and finish line at the end of the qualifying session but Josh had set a good time, so the team set about rebuilding the engine ready for the races.

Friday
Heats proved not to be as easy as Josh had thought and a crash at the first corner put him at the back of the pack. Josh pushed hard to gain some places back, but with a damaged kart he could only get back up to 27th place. Heat 2 was much more promising as Josh went up to 4th place were he finished across the line, but he would have to wait until all heats were over on Saturday morning to see if he was through to the main group for the pre final and finals.

Saturday
After a long wait on Saturday morning the results were out and Josh had made it, starting in 17th place. Pre Final another great result and up to 7th where he stayed until the finish line.

Sunday, the Final.
Starting in 7th, Josh started well and worked his way up to 5th place on a difficult track, but coming across back markers made it hard to overtake. With the pack chasing him, Josh made the wrong choice and lost a few places, but never gave up and pushed until the chequered flag, 7th across the line. What a great achievement to finish ahead of all the top Asian drivers in his first International race - well done Josh.

ProSport and the drivers would like to thank Mariano De Faveri for all his assistance in achieving the best set up for the karts (Jon had set the fastest lap times in all of the heats, Pre final and Final) Ronni Sala for his support with spare parts and his input to get the drivers to the front on the Birel karts of Birel MotorSport and to Tady Sasaki of Birel Pacific for his knowledge of set up under difficult track conditions and for pushing Jon to achieve a win.

Next race for Jon and Mike will be at Suzuka Japan on the 24th and 25th of October in the Grand Final of the All Japanese Championship with the Birel Iame Racing Team where Josh will be joining the team to help out and to learn more about International racing.