In it to Bin it?

In It To Bin It? team mates Alex Withington and John Emerson will again team-up for 2008, this time as part of a super-fast 4-driver team named “3Cubed”. This announcement follows the sabbatical taken by IITBI driver Alex Mace for 2008.

The team will retain the number 27, synonymous with IITBI, hence the team name of 3Cubed. Alex and John will be joined by fellow racers and previous rivals Eddie Hall and Ian Wilson, from team IMSD Racing.

Announcing the move, Alex Withington was delighted, “Once Macey had decided to take a year out, John and I were looking for winning opportunities to be on the grid for 2008.  Once discussions began with Eddie and Ian, it was clear they were looking for the same. With a 10 race UK calendar and 3 European double-headers, a 4 driver team looked a fantastic way to go. We are very pleased to have concluded discussions this side of Christmas to enable us to plan the season ahead.”

 On his official website, Eddie Hall was similarly upbeat, “I’m also really pleased to be teaming up with Alex and Jon. II2BI have been our main rivals for the past couple of seasons and I know they are both extremely quick drivers and I have a lot of respect for both of them. Of course, we have raced with Alex once before when he helped us to victory at the Lance Yeomans event a few years ago.”

Eddie also commented on the relationship within the team. “I think we will make a great team because, apart from all being quick and fairly evenly matched, we know we all get along – there have never been any problems despite our fierce rivalry in separate teams.”

Pre-season testing will start for 3Cubed in February and further announcements will follow shortly.

With the 2007 season now drawing to a close, In It to Bin It? have announced that main driver Alex Mace has decided to take a sabbatical from racing in 2008 to concentrate on buying a house and settling in the midlands.

Speaking about the announcment, Alex Withington was philosophical. “Karting is an expensive sport and right now Macey’s priority has to be securing his financial future. We did have a poor year results wise, but we win and lose as a team and Alex has been a fantastic team mate over the last 3 years. We look forward to him coming back to race in 2009.”

Withington did confirm that both he and fellow IiTBi? team mate John Emerson are looking for race drives next year and confirmed details are expected soon.

In It to Bin It? finished their 2007 season at Bayford Meadows, Round 10, with 21st place. Given the state of their championship, this was planned to be the team’s last race, to save funding for 2008.

The day started worryingly, with Alexes Mace and Withington reporting problems with the kart, and getting it tested. It was quickly changed for Mace’s qualifying. Alex did a fairly good job, putting the team in 14th place on the grid, however he did report power problems at the end.

With no option but to start the race, Macey seemed to be ok and was running well inside the top 15. However he soon started slowing and pulled off the racing line. The kart was brought into the pits to be tested (under Club 100 rules) and bizarrely found to be fine. However Alex Mace was soon brought back in again as the kart was failing, and the team provided with a new kart.

However this left the team 3 laps down on the lead, within the first 30 minutes. The drivers then set about bringing the team back into contention, with strong and consistent drives from Alex, John and Alex Withington. For once, no spins however the damage was already done. Alex Withington spent the last 15 minutes chasing RBB Economics, who also had problems, but could not quite catch them up.

The result leaves the team languishing in 20th place, after a strange season where they showed real pace and performance in many races. However driver errors and an unusually high level of kart problems meant very few strong points finishes. Taking round 11 off gives the team more chance to focus on a busy 2008 season, which features a 3 race European championship in addition to the Premier UK championship.

In It To Bin It? had another average finish at Round 9 of the 2007 Championship at Clay Pigeon. The race started well, with the team holding a net 8th place in the first half of the race, however 2 incidents midway through saw them drop into the 20’s and only a determined fightback brought them some decent points.

Alex Withington took qualifying, which returned 18th position. “The margin was close, we were about 3 tenths from pole! But again we didn’t perform in qualifying, and we really need to sort that as it’s hurting us.”

John Emerson took the start, and just as earlier in the year, didn’t waste any time in making up places.  In fact, with John’s quick in laps, and a speedy handover to Alex Withington, the team were soon running inside the top ten, with Alex battling once again with Marc Craddock, of championship leaders D’Oily Kart. However unlike Du Var earlier in the season, he was unable to find a way past Marc and settled into 8th place.

Alex handed over to Alex Mace, who continued the good pace until about 10 laps into his stint, when a backmarker exiting the pits moved over his line and forced him off. This lost the team about a lap. The situation wasn’t helped minutes later when Macey was put into the grass when lapping another slower kart. This left the team back in 20th place and staring at another poor result.

However this galvanised the team and they put in a great performance in the second half of the race, Alex Withington this time overtaking D’Oily Kart’s Graham Coombes in the process. Alex Mace was left to finish the job, and the team crossed the line in 14th. Disappointment was lightened by news they had beaten rivals RBB Economics by 2 places.

Summing up, Alex Withington, “Again a pretty poor result, as we were on the pace for a top 8 finish, maybe even better. However if you don’t stay out of trouble you will suffer in this championship, the laptimes are so close. However it was great to be back fighting with the top teams, but we just need to make sure we stay there until the end of the race!”

A sunny August Saturday greeted the team for Round 8 of the 2007 championship at Buckmore Park, but that was as good as it got. A combination of unfortunate stewards decisions, mechanical failure and some driver errors left the team in a poor 23rd place.

Alex Mace clipped a cone (covering the pit lane exit line) in practice, and the stewards deemed this as a black flag offence, which meant being disqualified from practice, and starting at the back of the grid. Checking the rules, hitting a cone is not specified as a black flag, and so appealed the decision. They were re-instated and then almost instantly disqualified again. Alex Withington explains, “Macey was unlucky really. Either side of that cone is still just as dangerous but hitting it they classed as a penalty. There were people flying off then running on the grass during practice, we got a penalty for the cone. Rubbish! We checked the rules and it’s not specified, so I appealed and it was agreed it wasn’t in the rules. However they booted us out again as they’d done the same for other teams over the season so it would be inconsistent. We can all see the stewards logic but rules and rules, so we were very disappointed, particularly given the innoculous nature of the incident.”

Alex Mace took the race start and, starting from the back had a hard task. He passed a few drivers early on then collided in a 50/50 incident at the 2nd hairpin, losing the team another 30s or so. However worse was to come when, approaching his pitstop, he was to be found crawling back to the pits. The rear axle weld had snapped and the team were forced to change kart, losing around 2 laps.

However the new kart was a bit of a rocket! John Emerson immediately went on the attack to make up time. In the process setting the 2nd fastest lap of the day before handing over to Alex Withington. Alex lapped within 0.1s of John’s time but couldn’t better it. Alex Mace went out and drove well, though by now the kart was developing a nasty case of oversteer. This caught out John Emerson on his out-lap for his second stint, spinning at the bottom of the hill. He also had a collision in the pack late on. It was left to Alex Withington to bring the kart home, cheekily unlapping themselves from rivals IMSD Racing on the final lap, however the damage was done.

The result leaves the team 18th in this years championship. 

Round 6 saw the team score consistent points in extreme conditions.

Llandow, saw the team travel down to South Wales for one of the best circuits on the calendar. However the team were unable to enjoy it to the maximum as heavy rain started towards the start of practice and continued for all of the day. Alex Withington, out at the end of practice, took qualifying and the team were placed 15th. Alex’s view of qualifying was fairly neutral, “I was comfortable with the conditions so it was just a case of pushing as hard as possible, but I never felt like we were front runners. I kept pace with a few Premier teams but just lost some time somewhere… though I can’t figure out where!”

Alex Mace started the race and picked up one position before being held up by one of the Clubman teams. Quick strategical thinking on the pit wall had the team ready for an early stop, but Alex’s persistence paid off and he got through into 13th before catching the main pack very quickly. Due to the poor conditions all drivers double-stinted, so Alex stayed out for a total of approx 45 mins.

Alex Withington was next out as the team moved into 10-11th position. His stint was again uneventful, aside from a quick early pitstop where Alex went in a little too quickly, and collided with the pit wall!! Luckily it was next to the fuel bay so the damage was minimal.

John Emerson finished the race with 2 stints, again showing good pace, bringing the kart safely home in P11. Reasonable if not a spectacular result, however it could have been a disaster, with some of the teams rivals experiencing major problems with penalties and reliability, the team were able to pick up a few points in the race to finish in the championship top 10.

The team finished a fairly poor 15th place in round 7 of the championship at Rye House. However the team were weakened by the loss of race driver Alex Mace due to the effects of flooding near Hereford, and team manager Julian Withington stepped in to take one stint. However the team did manage to beat rivals IMSD Racing and RBB Economics but have lost some more ground in the championship race to get into the top 10.

More to follow…

The team continued their steady improvement in results with 11th place at round 6 of the Premier championship. The race was wet from start to finish, with heavy rain falling for most of the last hour.

The result sees the team close the gap on rivals IMSD Racing and RBB Economics.

More to follow…

The team emerged from round 5 of the championship with 12th place, but it could have been so much more.

Practice was a fraught affair for most teams, the tarmac not giving up much grip meaning many teams were in for kart checks, including In It To Bin It? The team were told the kart was ok to race, but were not 100% happy. Alex Mace took qualifying and hit a quick lap early on but only marginally improved over his 7 laps. Other teams improved and we were left in 26th place.

John Emerson took the start, with the team planning a flexible strategy, depending on how the earlier laps went. John did well to avoid some of the early incidents and quickly got the team inside the top 15, ahead of rivals IMSD Racing and RBB Economics. The team went for a long run for John, and he came into the pits in 5th place - from starting 26th!

Alex Withington went in next, and maintained John’s pace, the team settling into a net 11th place at this stage. Alex Mace took stint 3, and good pit work from the team got him out in double-quick time, once the pit stops had shaken out, they were inside the top 10, and a good result seemed on the cards. John and Macey went back in for their 2nd stints, and as Alex Withington emerged from the pits the team were placed in 10th, with other teams still to stop. In fact, at one stage Alex was 8th before cruel luck struck.

Alex had caught championship rivals IMSD Racing, with Ian Wilson in the driving seat. IMSD were back in 20th place, and Ian and Alex acknowledged each other as Alex came past. A backmarker then held up both teams coming to the back of the circuit, and Alex went side by side to try to pass. The backmarker pushed Alex a little wide, and as he did Ian came charging down the inside, knocking Alex into spin. 15+ seconds stationary and the loss of momentum left the team back in 12th when the chequered flag dropped just a few laps later.

“Not a bad result, but disappointing as we deserved so much better” - explained AW. “Ian and Stephen (Deucher, Captain of IMSD) came up to apologise afterwards which was good to hear but obviously doesn’t give us any points back! It wasn’t a deliberate take-out, but I explained to Ian that in those situations you have to think a little more. But it was an accident, so we’ll move on and hope to repeat our performance at the next race.”

The team moved on to Llandlow in South-Wales, scene of their first victory last year. The race is on the 30th June.

The team finished 12th of 32 teams in Round 5 of this year’s championship at Clay Pigeon. They had been running in 8th position with 5 minutes remaining before Alex Withington was knocked off the track by rivals IMSD Racing, who had just been lapped. It was a clear accident and the team accepted IMSD’s apology but the incident destroyed much of the good work done by the team to get a good result.

Full report to follow…