Had a great race, I seem to be pretty rubbish at practicing here (I consider the qualy time for clubmans to be a fluke) but always seem to hold it together quite well in the races.
Knew from last week that I could have been challenging for 2nd spot in qually (prib has claimed in the past I'm capable of a 1.39, so maybe better if I got lucky!) but couldn't keep it together..
Come the race I got an awesome start while both H and James appeared to bog down slightly, lept into 1st and set about going as fast as poss. Had no doubt Hristo would eventually catch me but wanted to ensure the rest of the field had been dropped before that happened - all was looking good till I made a silly mistake on L2
Re-joined in 5th I think and set about chasing Evil (in 4th) down while he in turn hassled James. When I was about a lap from being close enough to have to start considering a move Evil claimed the 3rd spot - James was now on the chase and was prooving pretty hard to get around.
Thankfully he managed to find neutral (an italian gearbox in a BRM?) and I slipped inside him approaching the hill.
Caught Evil after a bit, went around the outside of him on the run towards the hill having got a good jump on him - he presumably didn't see me as he bonked me off the track.
Thankfully (for me) James had retired by this point so apart from loosing about 4-5 seconds I remained 4th and could set about chasing Evil back down.
Got past Evil 2nd time lucky and started chasing Doni - was making a fair bit of progress until I span and gifted him back 4 or 5 seconds. Rejoined and got back to chasing....
It was clear I was now too far back to catch him if he stayed on track but I continued pushing anyway for 'just in case'.
With 3 laps to go Doni started spluttering and slowed down - I caught him and was suprised by the fact he was crawling around and simply moved over to let me by. As a result I pushed hard for the next lap to insure there was space if he re-awakened and gave chase, this never happened of course so I settled back into my more normal rhythm.
Then at the start of the final lap the engine started spluttering just as I was completing a lapping maneuver on (Micheal?)! I instantly selected 5th and backed off - letting (Micheal?) back through about 2 corners later when he caught me back up. Finished the lap in high gears without exceeding about 7,000rpm at any point until the finish straight!
Congrats to my fellow Waza's for 1st and 3rd! SHE will be pleased!!
Commiserations Doni for a good fight, and well done to all the finishers!
To be honest I was hoping Doni would manage to keep Tim in 3rd to allow me to close up the gap in the championship standings a bit more
You can choose your friends, but not your family and team mates eh Hristo?
