It's not the winning or losing...

…but losing was never really an option for Robbie ;)

This was Paul’s Stag Do and about 15 of us went down to Camberly for Go-Karting. Out of those who went there were 3 guys who really fancied themselves to win, Paul, myself and, of course, Robbie.

We three had never raced against each other before, so the race was preceded by a good-humoured, very blokey discussion about who was going to win and why. Robbie had form in the kart having famously won from near the back the last time Basingstokians went karting, I had only ever lost in a kart before by disqualification, Paul was an unknown quantity who assured and reassured us all that his victory was in the bag. It was on.

The qualifying races showed that we three were indeed to top dogs on the track with Paul starting the final race in pole position, me second and Robbie third. Both Paul and I had outpaced Robbie so I wasn’t sure at this point why he was grinning at us so confidently on the start grid… The race began…

Paul made a good start, but it only took me a lap to catch him and ram him out of my way at a hairpin bend. I was in the lead, but the best thing was the carnage I had left behind me on the track! Both Paul and Robbie were a long way back and stuck behind other karts on a narrow track without any real overtaking opportunities. I *knew* I was the fastest guy there, all I had to do was sit back, set a few lap records and rehearse my victory speech. Then with a lap to go…

…I got a massive shunt in the back of my kart! It was Robbie! I can only imagine the chaos he must have caused and the speed he must have been going at to get past all those other karts. He smiled and waved at me, then it was really on. I held on to that lead for dear life, at times Robbie’s kart was pushing my kart around the track and he managed to get the nose of his kart inside mine on one of the corners, but I just held on for the line. Victory was mine!

or so I thought!

After we crossed the line Robbie rather unpolitely rammed me into the pits, carried on and did another lap in the knowledge that with the extra lap the print out at the end of the race would show his name, not mine, at the top of the leaderboard!

After the race Robbie produced the print out, claimed to have won the race, and said “Here’s my evidence, where’s yours?” To which of course I had no answer…