Well the Cobra is not one of my fave rides in any event and I adopted much the same thinking as Clive in as much as this seemed an ideal track to get one of the Cobra drives off my schedule and make use of its speed with only a few turns thrown in to make life difficult.
Due to lack of time I had not run anything near race distance in a single session so was more than a little surprised when the tyre grip fell off a cliff on lap 21. It wasn't so much the lack of grip under power, I could control that it was it's reaction to braking. It always seemed to be plotting to kill me at every available opportunity.
Qualified in 6th with a mid 1:34 which was pretty close to my PB, Got a great start but had to hit the brakes almost immediately so as not to run into the back of Erling who seemed very slow off the mark Saw Geoffers tag Matt at the 1st chicane and slow for him to recover so had gained a place by the Semperit Kurve. Got a very good run onto the back straight and passed Both Steve and Erling into the gentle right before Öst-schleife. Erling was so much faster than me though through Schikane and also the chicane at the end of the S/F straight but fortunately not enough to make up for the speed difference down the long straights so I slowly increased the gap over the next few laps while (Almost) staying in touch with Ziu and Clive ahead.
Then around Lap 7 found a recovering Clive who had found the limits of adhesion at the 1st Chicane so I was through to 2nd. This lasted for about 3 laps and the odd nudge from Clive pointing out I was very slow into the chicanes, that combined with the realisation I was going to destroy my tyres even more quickly trying to stay ahead I waved him back through on lap 11. A few very untidy laps followed as I mistakenly thought I might find it easier to follow Clive than be harassed by him put Erling back within spitting distance and finally I lost it under braking into the 1st chicane on lap 20 (Possibly due to entering unknown territory regarding the tyres) and was passed 1st by Erling and at the end of the same lap Geoffers and now had Bob making enquires, To be honest the last 8 laps or so were disastrous. Handling degenerated into like trying to herd cows on rollerskates and I was all over the place, Bob seemed to have similar issues and the pair of us slid around the circuit like two people auditioning for Bambi on Ice. Finally on the last lap I succumbed to the pressure and made a complete horlicks of Schikane and Bob was through. Spitting feathers I roared out of the final turn and..... Bob hit the brakes?
? I tried to stop as well somewhat confused but slid across the line ahead of him to take 5th.
Not really happy with the result as I didn't deserve it at all. The only reason I messed up Schikane in the 1st place was due to unrelenting pressure from Bob so it seems unfair to be handed the place back when there was no contact at any time. for sure I will return the favour given the chance in future races.
TTFN
John.
