That was a much better result than expected. Had no confidence during practice but eventually at least settled into a reasonable rhythm.
Fourth on the grid ahead of Gizmoto was actually better than I expected. Watched the front three pull away and just settled into a safe pace, trying not to take big risks in the traffic on the nastier corners. Jove had some sort of drama that effectively removed him from contention and then Ian had his disco which disappointingly ended what I thought would be my only real fight of the race.
Made my stop with no dramas; fuel prediction looked spot on and resumed in third thinking I would just stroke it to the end... but that all changed when Darren had to make a second stop (that pace car parking spot clearly needs reporting as a bug!) and suddenly I was having to go hell for leather to try and make the
circa 20 second gap I now had in second over him last the rest of the race - a tall order given that he'd pulled out some 30 seconds on me in the first half of the race!
I started taking much bigger risks out the back of the circuit, and being more aggressive when passing the Mustangs - but it all went horribly wrong when I found myself catching Mike Miller in Dingle Dell, and making a snap decision to try and pass in Sheene. Big mistake - I didn't dare brake as hard as I wanted or I'd have collected Mike, so I ended up running wide and spinning into the gravel.
That completely wiped out the gap, and with Darren now just two seconds back I thought it was curtains for my second place.
So imagine my surprise and delight to find that he'd lost it in exactly the same spot a lap or two later and given me a gap I could actually manage to the end of the race.
Well done to Jamie on what looked like a flawless win, and to Shark for his victory in the Mustang class.
p.s. This is what laughably passes for a broadband connection round here:
The only thing I can say for it is that at least I don't have any packet loss!