Very happy with the result last night, it has been a great season, and a very close one in the Novice championship. Well done to both Billy, and Walter it has been great racing with both of you, and I hope for more close racing in the years to come.
As for my race, I was excited about Monza, I love this track and practiced so much I was dreaming about this track
I got a pretty good tow from Dave Rainer in qualifying, I’ve been much faster off line but I was happy with 2nd on the grid, and decided to concentrate on my race pace.
I did have an eye on the championship for this race, and talking with Arf before the race, I did say that I wasn’t going to race any intermediate drivers. However I have noticed in previous races that if you are slow at the start it’s asking for problems. I got a fantastic start, and was pretty much alongside Arf straight away, I thought I could get in front before braking for the corner, I left the inside clear for him just in case, but noticed that he dropped away. It’s such as shame that your engine blew, but it does look like you had a good race coming back.
Arf blowing up had messed up my plan, which was to let him past along the back straight and hoped that he drafted us both clear of the pack, where I wouldn’t have to risk anything being around other drivers. Well that plan was in the dust, I was first but the pack was very close behind me. The only driver in the pack that I was worried about was DaveC, as he was the only other novice driver. I decided to try to stay out in front and see if I could gap them. I couldn’t quite get away without taking too many risks, and in the end Rog got a great run on me, so I let him past. While I was wide Dave Rainer and DaveC both also got past. I followed these guys, repassing, and being past for the next few laps. Don’t know what happened to DaveC but all of a sudden he disappeared from the group.
With just Rog, and Dave Rainer, both intermediate drivers, for company I relaxed a little. I noticed on Prib that Arf and Walter was gaining on us, as we weren’t really going that fast at that stage. I was getting ready for a challenged from both of them. Again they pretty much disappeared from the radar, so I’m sure something happen. With only a handful of laps to go, and no pressure from behind I was pretty happy at this stage to run my own race and not risk anything. I let Rog and Dave Rainer past, and was happy to follow them. I noticed that Rog was pretty quick, and he started to break the tow he was giving to Rainer. I started to think about passing Dave again to keep myself in touch with Rog. With only a lap or two to go, I decided to go for it
perhaps not the best idea I’ve ever had, but I wanted to race, rather than just drive home safely. So I gave it a good go, but Rog just had the edge in the end, by 0.003 seconds. It was a great finish to a great season for me.
Congrats to Rog for the race win, congrats to Johnny on the inter title and to everyone else who raced. I’ve very happy to finial win the Novice title, it’s only taken me 5 years, over 100 races and 9 seasons to do it