Great race for me yesterday and a great finish to the series.
Practice and fiddling with setup had allowed me to shave ½ a sec off my pole time from last year. About a 10th off that in qual, but didn't matter, since Geoffers was almost a full second faster. Got a good start, retaining 2nd. Clive in very close attendance over the early laps, while Geoffers eased away up front.
Suddenly Clive was gone, and I assumed he had gone off, not knowing about his fuel shortage. Surprised the gap was over 20 secs though. Scratching my head when a fast moving Healey appeared in front of Geoffers - how could we be lapping another driver already, if he was fast enough to stay ahead for several laps ?
Turned out to be Clive, when I got closer, so obviously something had delayed him greatly.
Geoffers appeared gone, when a dust plume at St. Marys announced he was back within range. Later that lap we caught Bill at the chicane, where a misunderstanding seemingly caused Geoffers to veer off track, thus handing me the lead. 6 sec gap and way too many laps left for me to have any hope of retaining it. Drove as fast as I could, holding the gap for a few laps, but inevitably it started to shrink. When it was down to 4.5 secs, I caught a most uncooperative Healey. For some reason, its driver absolutely refused to help me even the slightest with getting past, essentially racing me for a full lap. Cost me my entire gap to Geoffers, who was rapidly all over my rear. We both got past the Healey down Lavant, and I fully expected to have to concede the lead shortly after.
My luck then, when Geoffers spun exiting the chicane. With 10 laps to go, being handed a gap of 20+ secs was an absolute gift. If I could avoid mistakes, victory should be mine and so it played out. Couldn't change the Championship result though, so grats to Geoffers on that, and he + Tony for the other podiums
Commiserations to Ziu for missing the last round and probably the Championship. Commiserations also to those that met with bad luck - sad to see Bill leave
Thanks to Tony for organising this great series - will be missing the cars next year
Cheers,
Erling