Race report:Quali: Only had 5 mins and managed to find my self going on track with the chance of getting one lap as I was in the bathroom
Managed to nail a lap and started 2nd
Race #1: (this will be long as it was incredible)
Start got away clean and along side Patrick in T1, dropped in behind him and was bump drafting down the long straight. At the end I moved the the inside line to see if I could make him outbrake himself and it worked. He went slightly wide, which I capatalized on and was now leading. Not 3 corners later I run myself wide and patrick almost gets by me but he went wide (cold tires) The rest of lap 1 He was breathing down my neck. Next lap in the very same spot I run wide allowing Patrick and nico through. Nico and Patrick battled hard while I pursued. Lap 3 Nico runs wide midway through the course allowing me to pursue Patrick while we tried to distance from Nico. Chased Patrick down and was on his bumper trying to force a mistake. (not easy to do patrick is a solid as granite) Lap 5 in I believe T5 he caught the curbing and got sideways allowing me into the lead., and Nico into second. While leading the next few laps I am trying to distance the battle behind me of Nico and Patrick, but I keep making small mistakes and they are gaining even while battling. Then after leading with a 2.5 sec lead I go off wide in T1 on lap 9 allowing Patrick into the lead with a 1.8 sec lead and 3 laps to go. I had a hard time catching him but was determined. lap 11 i start closing, and on the last corner on lap 11 I got withing striking range. In T1 I get along side patrick but could not carry out the pass and tuck in behind him for the long straight for the last lap, I fake inside hoping to get him to outbrake himself to no avail,and exiting turn 2 I get right up on his buymper. Through T3 literally no air betweeen our cars and when he comes off the curbing exiting T3 he moves inside to protect. I had a wicked run off T3 and went outiside with intentions of a crossover. He went slightly wide and I got inside of him, we were near equal but there was slight contact and he went wide. I felt it was unecessary roughness and backed off to allow him back into the lead for the last few corners. With o nly 2 corners remaining I see a lapper in the front (he is not longer with us) and he spins around the 2nd last turn. Patrick checks up and this gets me back on his bumper for the last corner. He protect inside naturally but I had great momentum and setup wide for a crossover in the slow 2nd gear last turn for the S/F line run. Just before I execute the cross the lapper decides to ram me and ends my chances.
Needless to say race #1 was intense and I had a blast running with you guys Patrick and Nico. Clean racing through and through. Also huge high five to Gary from last to 4th when he failed to quali, due to sifting through setups
Race #2
Starting in 7th felt good about getting off the line due to 4wd and easy launching. When I left I saw the pole sitter lag but most cars were still moving so I went inside when suddely lag and im surrounded by cars and had to evasive manuever to the grass (was not intentional). Settled into 7th. T2 Nico was inside of Maurice and I glued myself to his bumper and followed him through into P6. Headed into T4 behind nico I saw him brake early and went inside. He came across to defend and there was a bit of contact he went wide but carried on but i was nudged by patrick from behind due to the slow down and now watching the replay I see that Maurice who was sideways beside me got collected by my left rear quarter as I ran up the track from the nudge. (Sorry maurice I had no idea during the race) T5 Rod runs wide putting me in 5th behind Nico and Zoltan. Nico is looking inside outside on Zoltan and im trying to keep my momentum incase od a mistake. Lap 2 headed onto the straight Zoltan runs wide on the grass and nico gets by on the outside into T2. Entering T4 I late brake and pass Zoltan and give chase to nico. With Gary leading I knew I had to get behind him so he did not check out. On Lap 3 on nicos tail he makes contact with Tibor entering T5 and I sneak by Nico. Now right on tibors bumper im pushing him trying to force a mistake. Lap 4 going through T3 Tibor loses momentum and goes inside to protect for T4 and I get right along side and stick the pass on the outside late braking. Now its lap 4 and Im about 2.0 secs behind gary and pushing 110%. At this point ive got the handle of the cars and the track and actually ran a 1:38.1 which was my fastest lap of the entire event. With Garys bumper getting larger on lap 6 I am thinking its going to be another exciting battle, as passing Gary is no easy task. At the end of lap 7 entering lap 8 I am now on Gary's bumper headed down the long straight when what do I see....donuts yes donuts. Gary almost collected him and it got his concentration off and he went a little wide and loose around T2 and this gave me the lead, and essentially the win. Once I had clear track I nailed lap after lap and I was lucky that Gary didnt catch me.
I am sorry that guy had to ruin what was going to be another epic battle, but some people just werent raised normal.
I wanna say thanks to Andrew who threw this together real quick in light of the crash and handled it well. Thanks to all the racers who were patient and stuck around. And thanks RD once again for this kick ass place to race.
Keith
(my fingers hurt, my gf is looking at me and asking "how the hell can you write that much about 2 stupid races," I simply reply "you would never understand")
