In the three years of my being part of UKGPL I consider this to be the first really competitive race in which I've participated. I qualified fourth, two seconds behind Eric but just two tenths in front of Francesco. Inexplicably, the guys who usually beat me like a drum every other Sunday night were in the deep background. It was clear that the three guys in front of me on the grid would soon disappear, but if I could hold off Franceso until his engine exploded --- as it seems to have been doing almost every race for a couple of seasons now --- I thought I might have a chance for a podium simply due to attrition.
Lap after lap I lost ground to the three leaders but could not shake the persistent Francesco. His Brabham closed all gaps on my Cooper in the straights, but I managed to keep him behind me. Finally I made a tiny error maybe 15 laps into the race and he slipped past me. Truly irritated, I bore down for the next lap or two to keep el signor in check and managed only to blow the poor Coop's engine for the second race in a row. At that point I was more than one mile ahead of Phil Thornton, who lay sixth. By the time I did a CTRL-R and a S-N-G in the pits, Phil was within a second of me with half a tank and hot tires compared to my full tank and cold rubber. I settled in for another grind. Not long thereafter as I came through T1 I saw a car coming out of pit lane to my left. It was Francesco, recovering from his mandatory grenaded engine. Now I was back in 4th place overall, much in the same position as I'd had been many laps earlier.
Would I be able to hold off the snake-bit Italian? Could I keep the Brits behind me at bay who usually laugh as they overtake me? I could. Don't ask me how. In the last ten laps I short-shifted in the danger spots and somehow held on to 4th, mere seconds ahead of a fast-closing Billy. Will I take a near-podium finish with a smile? I surely will.
I worked hard to get ready for this one and I'm happy to see that it went even better than I'd hoped.