As the championship is now getting pretty tight I thought I'd go testing at Cadwell Park before the next RGB double header In Friday testing I went 3.5 second faster than my previous 1:46.8 Personal Best,
this is some step up from my last visit here i
n May. I can't really say I worked up to this as I did it in in just one session as I parked the car firmly in th
e barriers at the hairpin breaking the front body work and floor.
The data logger later confirmed that I had firmly planted both the brake and 25% throttle at the same time at the Hairpin, in what is fast becoming known as the "Hoverd Erratum" after my
mate Tim who did this at Anglesey earlier in the season. Oops
Andy my local Marshall who lives in the same town as Me came over to commiserate and promptly helped me dismantle the thing... then he took me into Louth to buy some plywood and also spent the rest of the afternoon helping me do woodwork and put
the thing back together. So against the odds we were ready for race day. Top Chap there'll alway be a beer in my fridge for him.
Practice was surprisingly dry... but it was heavy showers all day and so I did both race on my wets. as wets in the dry aren't such a bad compromise as drys in the wet.
On the first race start .. I stalled.... the most fortuitous stall of my life.... no one hit me fr
om behind...
But it also meant I wasn't terribly close to the first corner accident that wiped a wheel off both Henry Carr's Fury and Rich Wise' Striker... Unfortunately it also gave Pau
l Rodgers (class B leader) a ding on the rear corner which had him retire. I felt sorry for the guys as their cars were very badly damaged poor chaps.
So we re gridded after the inevitable red flags and I noticed Stephen Dean in my
mirrors... a class B rival, he exited up the pi
tlane... It seems my stall had caused a concertina effect and he had run into the back of Judy 3 or four rows back and has sufficiently damaged his fury so the Marshalls wouldn't let him restart.
Neil Constable Berry (also a class b rival) also headed up the Pit lane to sort out a broken headlight that he'd acquired in the original 1st corner accident. Neil would join the race from the pit lane and eventually take second in class B behind me.
This time I didn't stall and there then followed about 6 laps of terrific 10/10th dogfighting between me Stuart Tanton and Rob Grant... who if you remember was my nemesis at Brands.
Eventually I got them b
oth by out braking them at Park and arrived at Clearways to see Tony Guant's silver Wol
f on the side lines... that left me in class B 1st place... so I became a little more circumspect 9.8 10th to protect the points haul and laurels and spent the remainder of the 18 minutes defending hard.... and searching for the checkered flag. But they neither got back the places and I didn't lose P1 in class B. A Genesis can be very wide :-)
Overall finish was 8th, and I wasn't lapped by the leader Derek Jones in a 20 minutes race. Best time was 1:43.2 another 10th off my PB, and my highest ever finish ...8th overall
Guy (a buddy in the stands) said it was a terrific battle to watch and I enjoyed it immensely. And Kate and the Kids got to see some success at the same circuit where I caught fire.. The kids were pleased as punch.
Neil just circulated but got the 2nd place point
s from the pit lane as the attrition meant he was the only other class B...Those 8 points will be crucial at the end of the year and I think he has probably secured the championship 3rd now. Still he saved me from being the one and only class B.
In the second race Neil and I were again side by side on the grid... except they gridded him up incorrectly 1 row ahead... this time I got a much better start and w
as flying up towards the first corner when he jumped into a half gap directly in front of me. I had to brake to avoid a heavy collision and we still touched... the loss of momentum meant I dropped a couple of placed and got caught behind Mike Allen from class A about 3 cars back from Neil. I out braked him into Park but he forced himself onto the line for Chris and into the Gooseneck. In retrospect we were getting much to racy on cold tyres . Any way we arrived at Mansfield with me crawling all over him. He half span and I hit the brakes just a shade too hard and span down to the apex... the rest of the field streamed by to leave me dead last. ARSE
So I spent the next 20 minutes clawing back places. Driving the wheels off the car and notching off Mike, Tony Carpenter, Stephen Griffin and Judy (all on dry tires in what turned out to be a dry race)... . Memorably I out dragged both Stephen and Judy in 1 pass up the main straight and threw it into coppice in 6th after just a short lift. None the less I still finished 4th in class B and 14th on the road with a fastest lap of 1:42.41 so another second of the PB. and a fastest theoretical lap of 1:40.7 I thin
k. Its amazing what gritted teeth will do.... and in this session i felt i really got to grips with the faster section of the circuit. Coppice... short lift and hard on it, all the way from there to the Mountain.... Only the Hall Bends and Hairpin still intimidating me a little.
So great to come home with some Laurels..... but you think I'd learn about cold tires and simply holding station on lap 1.... Mike pushed me into the mistake of pushing to hard, to early and I won't forget that lesson in a hurry.
Because of the depleted field in race 1 the win is only worth 9 points and second is worth 8. So I took one point out of Neil's championship lead in race 1, and he got second in race 2 so took two points back in race 2. his lead is now 4 (allowing for drops) with
only 5 round to go. If Stephen had started race 1 my win would have been worth 12 and second 9 and the tables would have been turned.
but hey ho... after hitting the barriers testing, rebuilding it, stalling on the grid, 1 fantastic race long dogfight, 1 spin and 1 huge "on it" race eating up back markers you could say I had a fab weekend. :-)
Oh and I've got a first in class trophy, a winners cap and some Laurels to hang in the garage... fantastic
Fab.... glorious season this Innit?
Never has it been truer "To finish first.... first you must finish", but I did feel very sorry for Paul Rodgers, Richard and Henry. At least for Paul normal service was resumed in race two and he took home the Laurals for Class B
This season of Personal Bests, First Podiums and First Wins just gets better and better :-)
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