Another great result this week, 2nd place. M
Did not qualify well, only managing 5th, and after we finally got the connection issues sorted we ended up having to do a rolling start. Good clean start with the leaders, but as I approached turn 1 I saw a green car in my mirror (@Fudge_Monkey ) approaching at a high rate of knots!! BAM!! I thought for sure that it’s race over as my car slowly rotated and threatened to spin, but somehow I recovered and didn’t lose any positions or time to the lead pack. @disturboed made an awesome start, creating a gap early, while @kayne greenwood and @seowster duked it out. @arnold watson was just ahead and my first target, while fudge monkey had stuck with us all and was just behind. I was close enough to Arnold in the second last turn for a dive under brakes but he veered left into the pits for a super-early stop. I closed up to seowster over the next lap, and got a better exit out of the chicane. I lined him up on the inside and managed to dive deep into the right hander then block his comeback at the left. He got a good run out of the final turn and I thought he might try a move into turn one, but he stayed back, and i managed to get the long left turn 2 just right and pulled a small gap. Over the rest of the lap I closed in on Kayne, as disturboed maintained his lead gap.
Over the next few laps I put as much pressure as I could on Kayne, and we both closed the gap down to disturboed. I put my fastest lap in on lap 5.
It was a great battle until lap 7, when I went a little too deep into turn 1. I scrambled to recover and then tried to drive out of turn 2 too early, making me have to back off slightly to get turned back in, allowing disturboed and Kayne to pull away. I tried to push harder and I did manage to close the gap briefly but it was mistake on top of mistake so I settled back into my rhythm. I seemed to have a good middle section but just ok everywhere else.
A glimmer of hope end of lap 8 as I closed right back up to Kayne, but he was too good into turn 1 and the gap opened back up. Up ahead, in the turn 4-5-6 section, disturboed run wide, losing a stack of time and falling back to rejoin just behind me. I managed to run a little wide on the left turn before the final double rights, and disturboed was right on my tail exiting the final turn. I could see he had my draft, and he pulled alongside. I braked as late as I dared, hoping to lure him in to deep, but he somehow pulled off an awesome skid turn deep into the corner, and blocked my entry into turn 2. I couldn’t help but smile at this, and tipped my hat as he slowly pulled away. I had half a go back at him at turn 3, but messed up my exit, allowing him to pull away again. I made a couple more silly mistakes trying to push again, and the gap opened right up.
So now I had a small gap on seowster, about 3 secs, and the same up to disturboed and Kayne, so I just settled in and tried to be consistent. I succeeded for the most part, and while it was good enough to be able to open the gap back to seowster, I was making no impression on the leaders, and at times losing hundredths. I had no idea when I was going to pit, and decided to watch the gap behind and hopefully choose a time to put where I wouldn’t come out in traffic.
Lap 13, Kayne pulls into the pits. Lap 15 I see we are starting to close on a backmarker so decide to pit. First seowster passes, then Fudge, closely followed by Kayne. I exit and quickly settle back into my rhythm. Up ahead Kayne seems to be struggling to find a way past Fudge, but the monkey pits at the end of lap 16.
Kayne is only a few seconds up the road now, and is a good carrot to try chase after. Seowster is next to pit end of lap 17, and I’m back up to 3rd.
So again I’m just trying to be as consistent as I can, while also looking for a few tenths here and there. Disturboed finally pits end of lap 20, and I look up to see what the gap is. Silly mistake, as I run wide again near the final double right, opening the gap back up. Ahead I see it is going to be close between Kayne and disturboed at the pit exit, and Kayne takes the lead, but it is short lived. Kayne has a spin at the entry to the chicane and drops back to 3rd just ahead of seowster.
So now with 6 to go, disturboed is walking away from me and I resign myself to just trying to keep 2nd. Kayne benefits from a mistake lap 23, running in too deep at turn 1, and again the next lap when I popped up on 2 wheels in the high curb turn 2. Now I really had to concentrate, or I was gonna lose my podium. My crew chief is in my ear now, warning that I need to pick up my pace, so I try to stop looking at my map and the gaps, and start time trialing my laps to get some consistency and rhythm. It works a treat, and while Kayne did close the gap down to be frighteningly close I managed to hold him off to the finish.
Well done disturboed and Kayne.
Last edited: Jun 26, 2018