Moderator's Report
Monsanto is a challenging course with several tricky corners that follow long straights with
some complexes that demand patience and concentration. A few of the drivers were patient but not
all.
Yet another qualifying session dominated by the Bulgarian McRae. Evil has pushed him close
though and there is a spread of times to the rear of the field where Badblood is set so far back
that he can't see the corner, let alone the flag! This is surely punishment for nearly being
lapped in qualifying by Hristo!
At the start everyone gets away cleanly but nobody gets away better than Mr Muttram. With cold
tyres and an early corner the field compacts nicely and battles are joined up and down the grid.
Well, except for lonely Badblood of course.
Evil nearly gets H but it is not to be and Mr Muttram starts putting some pressure on the Dark
one...
Further back, Phil spins on his still frosty tyres. Ivan zooms past but before Paul can get
theres (whilst carefully observing the local speed limit) Jason helpfully knocks Phil round and
pushes him across the track to avoid the speedy Blood. Blito then parks up to watch his front
left wheel make valiant efforts at continuing the lap. Jason out.
More excitement ahead as up the road Evil lives up to his name and puts in some wicked braking
for the Riding School. Tim doesn't see it as so fearsome. As Clive slows, Tim sadly doesn't,
however, aptly, he mounts up... all over Evil's exhaust pipes. Tim has put the Honda in its
place (which is out) with a huge rear end shunt. One upside down Clive and a rolling Tim.
Amazingly the "Full Metal Gasket" protects Mr Muttram as he rolls twice and he drives on without
a stain on his character, ahem!
Tim has started in sixth but makes a great start (which is bad news for Evil, as we have seen).
His 'incident' costs him a place or two and he gets the foot down to recover well and finish the
lap in.....sixth place. Mind you, he is charging now and he takes Ronnie P on the S/F straight
by taking to the grass. At the end of the straight Fulvio is dispatched.
Fulvio had made a poorish start but had caught Goran to get a place back. Tim's troubles had
promoted him but he takes to the banking and lets Tim through. This banking will prove hard for
many drivers.
Phil continues his exciting lap with a few spins and finishes lap 1 dead last but not dead! Phil
settles down to an unexciting race just cranking out the sub 2-min laps (well, mostly). He
suffers the indignity of following Badblood for more than a lap but BB parks up sideways and
lets Phil through. At least thats how BB sees it! BB's race is nearly done, at Clover Leaf he
decides to back into somebody's driveways and finds a wall to demolish.
Maddog has made a good start and passes Raoni early and takes advantage of Evil's misfortune to
take second place. Raoni is battling back though, the pressure tells and he nips back into
second. Martin now third with a fast gaining FMG behind.
Martin is not a fan of the Riding School and he gets it wrong under braking, loses it, catches
it, loses it. End up facing the wrong way but Tim, gentleman that he is, nudges him round. Down
to fourth. Martin settles in behind and pushes Tim for the next few laps until Tim makes a small
mistake at the unnamed kink at the end of the first long straight. This is the same corner that
caught Fulvio out letting Tim gain a place. Poetic justice? We shall name this turn Heartbreak
Ridge. Martin is through but he hasn't learnt his lesson and stops for a mouthful of hay at
Riding School. As Martin is kept behind for lines his race is run.
Tim can now concentrate on catching Raoni. Senhor Frizzo has built a lead calmly but on lap 15
he has an exciting time all by himself. The Heartbreak Ridge at the end of the long straight
causes him some problems and he takes to the banking with no obvious ill effect. Lap 16 and
there is a repeat, but again a trip through a sapling or two is not a problem. Has the handling
taken a knock? Hard to tell. On lap 17 Clover Leaf is almost his undoing but he gets going
again. Not for long... Heartbreak Ridge catches him out and a spin is terminal this time.
Will Tim inherit second?
No.
Clearly lap 15 had something about it because FMG also finds Heartbreak Ridge unmanageable
and takes to the air off the bank. Race over.
We have hardly had time for the midfield
What of Goran, Ronnie, Ivan and Sky? They have all had their moments and GJ's mistake at
Heartbreak lets both Fulvio and Ronnie through. Sky then gets good traction out of windmill to
sneak past the Swede. Ronnie wastes his efforts at Windmill with a spin and lets Goran back
past. Ivan is in close attendance and takes a place. These four will race in close attendance
for several laps. Sky leading Goran with Ivan and Ronnie behind. Ronnie gets his place back at
the last turn on Lap 3 and that is how it stays until lap 8 when Sky makes a bit of a mess of
Clover Leaf. Goran is through.
Lap 10 - Sky leads Ronnie into Clover Leaf and spins, Ronnie is regretting not giving Sky more
room when he is launched on to the hay bales. Ivan does a bit of rubbernecking and forgets that
there is a left hander to negotiate. Either that or he fancies a picnic with the camper vans.
End of race for all three. Ronnie is aloft, Ivan has three wheels and Sky?
He has recovered but managed to drive himself into a hay bale. Not the best donut ever.
What is this? He has got away somehow... amazing. H passes and Sky battles on.
But only until Windmill. The handling has let him down and this time the hay wins.
So. H is miles away up front, steady Fulvio is second and Goran is third. Mr Thornton comes
chugging round in fourth.
And he is my driver of the day for maximising what he had. Even if Jason won't be too pleased.
I don't think Silverstone will be quite as incident packed.
Paul "Badblood" Whitfield
Server replay time: 0h02m10s
Tim is following Evil towards the "riding school" left hander and when Evil brakes for the turn Tim is too close and do not brake in time but hits Evil from behind.
