Disappointing Silvercup 2.0 race for Michael Kernick as Nash catches fire
Sharonlea-based racer Michael Kernick had a good race in the Nash MVW3 before it caught fire.
Michael Kernick of Sharonlea was back in the Nash MVW3 for the Silvercup 2.0 championship at Redstar Raceway; however, the car caught fire, and he was unable to finish the race.
Silvercup is the premier closed wheel club racing category in South Africa. Kernick managed to clock a good time in the qualifying round despite having turning troubles with the car. He explained that he hasn’t raced the Nash since last year, so his first laps back in the car were interesting.
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“Fortunately, I managed to get used to the car quickly as there were only three laps in qualifying and I managed to get a good time and qualify first in class C by 4.8 seconds and 11th overall.”
In race 1, as the lights went out, Kernick was off to a good start and got around some of the faster cars. He managed to win class C and finished seventh overall. “I really had to work hard to keep ahead.” The Nash continued to have troubles, but Kernick and his team decided not to fix the issue.
“We decided to just leave it as we needed to go for testing to fix the car. If we made a change, it would be a total gamble as it may work better or worse, so we decided to leave it and carry on driving around the problem.”
In race 2, Kernick was also off to a good start, sitting in 6th overall and racing cars in other classes. Unfortunately, the Nash could not keep up, and it caught fire in the middle of the race.
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Kernick explained that when coming around the last few corners, he felt the car acting differently. “I thought I’d just get to the pits as fast as I could to sort the issue. But suddenly, the car died, and I saw an orange flash in the mirror.
The back of the car was up in flames; we managed to put out the fire, but sadly, that was the end of our day.”
He thanked the marshals for getting to the car and putting out the fire quickly.
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