Apricot hill saw he qually 4th with a 1.27.8 or there abouts. For a change I maintained my position in the opening lap even with Copperj attempting a move into the hairpin. A wobble from Oblisc down the straight had me on his tail but did not take long for him to stretch a gap. Copper and Homebrew continued to hound me and Vardz had an off late on lap 2 falling to last and I moved up to third. I ran with Copper and Homebrew just behind for several laps opening the gap when they diced for position.
I had already decided on a 4 stop strategy given the shortened format so had to use the tyres well and had a 4 second buffer over Homebrew when pitted on lap 11. Homebrew continued so must have been on a 3 stopper and when he rejoined the gap was out to 12 seconds.I knew I did not have the pace to go with the lead cars so concentrated on protecting my 3rd spot. As the laps continued I could see Vardz climbing through the field.
By my second pit stop on 21 Homebrew had closed the gap to 6 seconds. I rejoined in 6th but knew I had tyres and fuel up my sleeve. Home brew stopped on lap 27 and was 30 seconds behind me but Vards had closed to with in 25 seconds and was now in 4th. Both went past as I pitted for a 3rd time leaving me 7 seconds behind Homebrew and 13 from Vardz. I knew we all had 1 more stop to do and thought I had them easily covered due to their wearing tyres late in their stint. I probably took this stint too cautiously due to this overconfidence. The gap to Vardz stayed the same and Homebrew stretched his gap slightly until very late in their stint when I reduced the gap to 9 seconds.
After we all pitted a final time the gaps were 3 seconds Vardz to HB the a further 9 back to me. Bugger it. I decided I had nothing to lose and drove as hard as I could to fight back. I could see the gap reducing every lap slowly and on lap 44 Vardz was 10 seconds ahead. Lap 45 down to 8. 47 was only 6 seconds. And HB was just ahead struggling on very worn tyres then coming on to the main straight he ran wide and I passed him. 5 seconds to Vardz and I was pushing as hard as I could. With 2 laps to go the gap was 4 seconds. Come on little MX5. On the start of the last lap there was 2 seconds separating us and I knew Vardz would be looking at me in the mirror with terror in his eyes. He runs wide at the hairpin and im all over him like a rash but can only get to within 1 second at the line.
Congrats Jako on the win and also Oblisc and Vards on the podiums. Thanks for a great race especially at the end Vardz and Homebrew. Seems like we have been battling like this all season so far, and as usual i had a ball battling with you guys. Unfortunately I will not make the next round as I will be on holidays in Cairns but will be back on board for Nurburgring.
Cheers
Kart
Last edited: Sep 15, 2014