Moderator's Report
Mike collected the first win for the Clark-Hill Lotus team in the Novices! He followed Jim Rye closely for many laps then inherited the lead after Jim's wheel failed him on Lap 16. Jim Hurtubise was a good second while Nicky, who was involved with NHance in the start pile-up, came back to finish third.
However simple victory was not enough for the Clark-Hill ace. He was determined to complete his parade lap this time, and slowed down to concentrate hard and not miss the pit lane entrance. Unfortunately he still went off onto the grass, and then Jim Hurtubise hit him from behind to push him past (thanks Jim!). Finally Bookie clipped him to spin him round, before he finished his own parade lap by again ghosting through the pit wall. So Mike even claimed the worst pit attempt as well, despite some pretty stiff competition from Bookie and Hezemans.
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L1 Start
Nicky made a poor start and Nhance had a flier- and then risked the wrath of the grid with an outside pass aginst the pit wall. As with Bernie at Spa, there was barely enough room and when NHance glanced the barrier it was enough to bring him into contact with Nicky.
Nicky may have seemed to squeeze NHance slightly, however it's not clear that this was intentional.
While the start was ruined for many drivers NHance took an sng for his reset and I'm not going to add any further penalty. If being deprived of your favourite clubhouse drink by an angry mob doesn't deter racers from impractical start passes then a place penalty won't either. Also, there are no current penalties just for grid behaviour, just aggravation of any other deserved penalties. If a penalty was to be effective it would have to be on the passing attempt rather than the result, because lag is an important factor.
If you are stuck behind a driver who has started poorly in a constricted space, you could pull to one side to avoid the car behind, but remain in the leading car's mirrors. Real racers have more more of the vital information you need to make a successful pass off the grid.
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Bookie made an sng that was unecessary, which is just as well, because it wasn't carried out near enough the pitwall.
However he also ghosted through the pitwall, which is an automatic disqualification. An inexplicably harsh penalty perhaps, but it has been levied before.
Bookie doesn't even get the consolation of the worst pit attempt, as there were two further 'crowd-pleasers' on the grid. Hezemans effort was even on the same lap.
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L7 Barbeque
Clutch was showing a lap down because of his pit start, and had allowed Al past on the straight. As he 'unlaps' himself the side-to-side contact is due to warp.
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L9 Esses
Fabio braked early at the Esses and Al shunted him.
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L14 Crowthorne
Nicky may have expected Al to turn earlier and ran into the back of him when he attempted to lap. Both drivers asked that there be no penalty as a consequence.
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L18 Crowthorne
Al may have been unsure of his car at Crowthorne and seemed to brake early. Billy ran into him but no penalty was requested.
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L18 Barbeque
Billy was very slow approaching Barbeque and Graham couldn't decide whether to take the inside line to pass him. Billy slowed further to allow Graham past but Graham had opted not to, and ran into the back of him.
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L19 Barbeque
This was an oddity rather than an incident- Fabio seemed to drive through Billy's car after Barbeque..?
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L23 Barbeque
Graham was unable to avoid Fabio, after Fabio lost control.