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News and Reviews

European Championships 2005

During 15th - 20th September 2005, the Irish PKA hosted the Charles Hurst Toyota European Parakart Championships, in Northern Ireland, on Benone beach. Considering that the original hosts pulled out in June the I.P.K.A. did a marvellous job in organising, and getting sponsors in so short a time. The beach was checked by FISLEY on 20th June, who gave them the OK, which left them just over 10 weeks to get the package put together and ready to run! That was one hell of a rabbit to pull out the hat!

The only downside was that some teams were unable to respond as quickly as the I.P.K.A. to the change and this affected numbers. Never the less, 34 pilots battled for the honours, with a nailbiting finish. SWW

The conditions on the beach added to a large element of luck being added to the results. With gusty offshore conditions and down wind starts on a narrow beach it was very easy to have an accident or a DNF.

On most days the beach is simply a narrow reach which made kite choice essential but with the wind going up and down faster than a whores knickers it was anyone's guess what to go out on. Reaching up and down a beach does not show how a kite will perform on a wide and varied course. Neither does tacking up a narrow beach which benefits the lighter pilot due to the easier manoeuvrability (smaller kite) and acceleration and deceleration. With no priority to down wind pilots it was tricky to say the least.

With short courses a good start was essential if you got away first there was a massive advantage. It is so difficult to overtake other pilots because as we know everyone can reach really well and this always hands a bonus to the first starting pilot. However not everyone can start first especially when the best position to start is in one small part of the start line and the start line is down wind.

Wheel choice was another major issue in the morning it was mainly discs and the afternoon mainly bigfoots but there were exceptions, however often there was not time to change between races. In my opinion on balance the wheel to of been on was a rock hard light all week. Pete's normal set up. The deciding race for the event in real terms was the one where Pete beat me by 40cm.

Having said all that the cream did rise to the top and the three best pilots with the best kites were in the top 3 spots and Pete did fly very well. He is defiantly one of the best starters I've seen. Congrats to him he deserved the win.
The Combat is an impressive kite and I'm sure they have more yet to get out of it.
For me it is clear that any serious race pilot will want to be on either a set of Yakuza's or Combats.

The above is not meant as criticism to the organisers they did the best they could with the conditions and it did product some racing which had a close result. The whole event was well organised and if the beach was 4 x the width it would have been perfect.

Gray K700
Charles Hurst Toyota
European Parakart Championship 2005

Final Results (sorry for the delay)
updated 12:50 hrs 22/09/05:

N° Voile Nom Prénom Club Cl 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 pen total
1 K2 SWANN Peter UK 8 5 10 0 4 0 0 0 4 0 0 1 9
2 K700 STEEL Graham UK 8 2 3 4 0 4 2 11 0 0 0 - 11
3 K3 BOSWORTH Simon UK 8 3 0 9 7 6 5 5 2 0 0 - 21
4 B1003 CARELS Bert INT 8 6 4 3 3 2 4 4 10 0 0 3 23
5 F109 MIVIELLE Erwann FR 8 31 6 2 2 23 3 9 3 0 0 - 25
6 F133 SAHIER Damien FR 8 0 5 7 9 3 8 13 6 0 0 - 29
7 B1021 BROUSSE Thibaud INT 8 9 7 6 8 7 6 2 5 0 0 1 34
8 K5 MAXWELL Stu UK 8 7 8 8 11 21 17 6 7 0 0 1 48
9 F220 MARTIAL Hugues FR 8 13 11 11 5 5 9 10 9 0 0 1 50
10 F161 BARTHOLOMEUS Benjamin FR 8 10 2 5 29 8 7 20 35 0 0 3 55
11 F89 PAZZAIA Julien FR 8 19 18 15 10 9 11 3 8 0 0 1 57
12 F179 BOINET Jean michel FR 8 4 9 12 6 12 19 17 23 0 0 - 60
13 SCO23 ARLOTT Kevin SCO 8 16 21 13 16 17 12 12 11 0 0 1 81
14 K279 WASS Graham UK 8 12 14 14 12 15 15 23 25 0 0 3 85
15 IR1 FINLAY Robert IRL 8 11 17 35 27 16 18 8 13 0 0 3 86
16 F203 VAN AERDE Charles FR 8 20 20 17 17 14 16 7 16 0 0 - 87
17 F190 LEROY Philippe FR 8 8 19 25 13 10 23 18 22 0 0 - 90
18 SUI14 RAYNAL Pierre-alain INT 8 26 16 18 18 18 10 14 14 0 0 - 90
19 K14 COOK Barry UK 8 17 15 19 13 14 20 25 12 0 0 3 93
20 K8 BRAZIER Dan UK 8 15 26 21 15 20 13 15 21 0 0 3 102
21 IR13 CALDWELL Christopher IRL 8 21 25 26 21 11 14 22 19 0 0 1 109
22 K11 MANSFIELD Karen UK 8 22 13 20 23 22 22 26 20 0 0 1 120
23 K10 WILLIAMS Richard UK 8 14 32 27 26 19 21 35 15 0 0 3 125
24 K599 FULFORD David UK 8 18 12 10 19 35 35 35 35 0 0 - 129
25 IR43 RABBETT Gavin IRL 8 23 29 23 25 26 25 16 17 0 0 1 134
26 IR2 LINDSAY Dean IRL 8 25 23 16 22 24 24 24 24 0 0 1 134
27 K12 HUNT Kevin UK 8 24 22 22 35 35 29 19 18 0 0 1 135
28 IR91 MCMILLAN Richard IRL 8 29 27 28 30 25 28 21 28 0 0 - 157
29 SCO19 ARLOTT Tom SCO 8 27 31 24 28 27 30 35 27 0 0 1 164
30 IR85 RABBETT Damien IRL 8 33 30 30 24 29 26 35 30 0 0 - 169
31 IR73 COPELAND Kevin IRL 8 30 24 31 31 35 27 35 26 0 0 3 173
32 SCO81 WALLIS Jim SCO 8 28 28 29 35 28 35 35 29 0 0 1 178
33 IR14 DOHERTY Sean IRL 8 32 33 35 20 35 35 35 35 0 0 - 190
34 IR23 SAVAGE Kurt IRL 8 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 0 0 1 211

Steve Walt Webb