I chose the baby Eagle from the cars available to me in the hope that Al would choose the same car and we might get some close racing. My guess was right and we both rolled out of the pits in similar cars.
It must be my aftershave, but I just could not get anyone to give me a tow in Qually and could only manage a 6th place on the grid. That was further back than I had hoped for and a second off my PB from practice on Monday evening.
I managed to pick up a place off the grid and hooked onto the tail of Goran, Al and Raoni who were intent on setting a fast pace. That was Ok with me
, and I stayed about a second back in case they got too ambitious through the Loop. It soon became clear that they were all being gentlemen ( rats!!) and intended to complete the race rather than punt each other out
so I would have to work hard to catch and pass them.
We had dropped Bernie some way behind in the first 2 laps and thought that our leading group were away and clear...when suddenly Bernie loomed large in my mirrors
going like a train!!! he breezed past on the straight ( a sign of things to come later in the race
) and rapidly closed up on the leading trio.
At this point I stepped out of my car because I thought I had stopped!!!
A few laps later and Bernie appeared to launch himself into the countryside at the Loop, but reading his post it seems that it might have been frustration at discovering lack of fuel??
I eased back just in case Bernie bounced back across the track and in doing so droped just beyond the tow from the group in front. I pushed really hard for a couple of laps in an attempt to close the gap and was slowly reeling them in when I had a mechanical malfunction as i braked for the last corner. I have yet to look at the replay, but it felt like the front left wheel locked up and the car just turned to the left and spun onto the grass!!
That lost touch with the leading group completely and brought Phil "the fezza" Thornton into play.
The next 30 laps were a battle between Phil's superior speed on the straights and the handling of the Eagle. From behind I could use the tow from the red thing to attempt outbraking into corners and make the pass, but Phil would use his speed ( and my slipstream to simply blow me away on the next straight bit..there were some choice words uttered each time he did that. Whenever he made a small error I nipped through and tried to build a big enough gap to stay ahead until the next corner. But with 2 long straights Phil simply had to wait and close up within the lap and choose his moment to retake 4th place on the next available straight.!!
I really thought that it would need a miracle for me to somehow snatch 4th place on the last lap. The only place I would be able to make it stick would be through Big bend and on to the finish line, but a few trial runs as the last laps unfolded showed that Phil was just about quick enough to fend me off.
I could not believe my luck when exiting the final bend with only 1 lap to go Phil got oversideways and half spun. I had to brake hard and swing inside of his Fezza losing momentum, but I was through with only the last lap to go.
I thought I had it sewn up, but when I looked in my mirrors exiting the Esses Phil was only 100 mtrs behind!!
This was going to be tight!! I braked as late as i could for The Loop and almost ran wide before nailing the gas for the exit. If Phil was going to pass he had to do it before The Ninety..... but he had vanished
. and I was able to cruise to the flag. Phew!!!
Hard Luck Phil, that was a tough way to end that race after so many laps fighting. Grats to Raoni Goran and Al who had their own fun up ahead somewhere. Looking forward to next time already