It was one of those bittersweet moments in life as Alex left Thailand and his friends behind and moved back to Kazakhstan to continue his journey in KZ2 shifter class kart racing. To make the week even more complicated, rain was forecast for the weekend of the second round of the Karting Championships of Kazakhstan at Sokol Race Track. Another lesson in life that things change for the better and that the pain of change is greater than the pain of staying the same.
Sadly, our new Parolin chassis was not complete as the race weekend started but getting back into the CRG felt like a comfortable old pair of gloves. They knew each other well and it was time for one last dance. Friday unofficial practice was met with cooler weather than Alex had hoped for, 7 years in Thailand with tropical weather meant he was not used to any temperature under 20 degrees Celsius! The track was dusty, and a bit slippery meaning Alex had to work a bit harder in the early sessions and not overcook things.... By late afternoon lap times were coming down and unfortunately, so did the rain, washing off any rubber that was put down on the track during the day. Saturday morning was going to be interesting!!
Qualifying Day...
Saturday morning was full of bright sunshine and hope for a good qualifying. Our dear old CRG took to the still damp track like a duck to water and handled the conditions well. As Alex tried some standing grid starts and we immediately noticed that his starts weren't going as well as the previous round. Either the clutch had issues or the brakes, or both! That investigation would have to wait until after qualifying which was not too far away.
A well-planned qualifying session saw Alex out on track with 3 minutes to go and an empty track ahead. He put in a good lap that placed him third by only 0.001 of a second.... Heartbreaking but that's racing. He would need to make a good start in race 1 Sunday to make up for the mistake in qualifying. There was still the issue of the bad starts, brake fluid was replaced, and the clutch cleaned, but still it wasn't quite right.
Race Day...
Again, rain the night before had washed the track clean and although Sunday early morning was sunny and warm (still cool as far as Alex was concerned) the winds were at full force over the Central Asian steppe making even opening the hotel room window a bad idea. "At least I might get a push down the back straight" Alex joked....
A quick rain shower delayed the start of the race, Alex remarked that it's not like Thailand or Malasia where standing water means swimming pools on track and after a 20-minute delay race day was underway!! Warm-up went well but again; the starts were not what we were expecting.
Race 1 started as we had experienced during practice and by the end of Lap 1, Alex had dropped from third to seventh meaning a great deal of work to do in the following 15 laps. As the tyres started to heat up, he started his march towards the front of the field. Some inspired passes around the back sector and the final turn onto the main straight, he found himself back up to fourth. and closing fast on P3.
It wasn't long before he took third and the race for second was on. It had been a great effort to recover from the bad start and once on the bumper of P2 on the penultimate lap Alex made an attempt to pass that sadly didn't work out. Having lost a little time in that maneuver, Alex passed the finish line in a well-deserved third place.
Race 2...
Again on the second row of the grid for the next race Alex was surrounded by some experienced KZ2 racers. Sadly, the same start issues as in race 1prevailed and by the end of lap one, Alex had dropped to 5th and almost 6th. As the drivers settled in during the opening laps, Alex started to make his way back up the field and again found himself in third. A few laps later he was again on the tail of the driver in second place. With good pace, again on the penultimate lap, Alex made a spirited dive down the inside of the Parolin Kazakhstan Team principle, Erzhan who quickly shut the door and went on lead Alex to the flag. A fantastic learning experience in what is only Alex's second KZ2 race.
Although Alex has shown some good driving results, the prevailing theme in this race series is how he has grown personally. How he has made friends in Kazakhstan and respects those around him. In turn, this leads to them respecting him and allowing him into their lives.
Our list of people to thanks is incredibly long, too many names to mention. The karting federation, track staff, officials, spectators, track hotel staff, the catering team, our fantastic team-mates, mechanics and every single person who was at the track on race day.
To our new-found friends from Spain, thank you for your support and friendship. Let's hope our paths cross again in the near future....
And what a better way to top off a great weekend of friendship than to go back out in the rental karts at Sokol with our friends....
We couldn't be happier...... Thanks you!!!
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