"we were told my lad should have backed off (didn't matter the other lad was coming across on the straight nowhere near the corner) even though he was side by side."
There is a problem which depends on the definition of a racing line.
It is not always parallel to the axis of the track. If, for example, the first corner is a left-hander and the corner at the other end is a right hander then the racing line is a diagonal from one to the other. (allowing for exit and braking points).
If a kart takes up that racing line, and another kart attempts to overtake in the narrowing gap, then it is arguably the responsibility of the overtaking kart to ensure that the manoeuvre is complete before the gap gets too narrow. If the gap narrows then it is the responsibility of the overtaking kart to back out of it because the kart being overtaken has simply held the racing line.
It doesn't really matter if the overtaking kart gets up alongside, if there wasn't going to be room when the move was initiated, then the move should not have been initiated or it should be aborted.
The same rule applies in a corner, you only have to leave room if the driver could reasonably expect to know that the other kart had established an overlap, a lunge up the inside at the last moment when the other driver has established his racing line through the turn does not establish an overlap.
It is the other side of the 'one alteration' rule, the driver has chosen his racing line,and is not obliged to change it. Nor is it 'squeezing off' because at the time the racing line was established the overtaking kart had not established the overlap.
I agree, it is a very fine line between one interpretation of the rules and another, whether the overtaking driver chose to drive into a vanishing gap or whether overtaken driver was intentionally squeezing off. On this occasion it would seem that the CoC chose the 'drive into vanishing gap'.
In the case of the first lap, the CoC could probably claim that the element of choice was not there, one turned the corner side by side with another kart so the overlap was established and the CoC played the 'advantage' rule that the two infringements, one kart going off the track, the other kart squeezing were both probable, but no one gained an advantage (or there was no credible evidence) so 'play on'.
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