The good, the bad, the ugly and the amazing. Seems fitting for this event!
The UGLY
I'll start backwards though and talk about
UGLY first. I ended up racing the SEAT LEON STCC car after trying almost everything in the fleet! I settled on it seeing that this track was going to be about handling more so than outright speed. I needed to have a driveable steed to race well and this was it for me. I chose a car that was a bit pushy(understeering) becasue of the very fast nature of many of the corners. You can see your problem coming waaaay in advance with a pushy car and see where your going when ya lose it. Just drive straight and get on track and not lose too much time from the mistake. But man is this car UUUUUUUUUUGLYYYYYYYYY! And it doesn't sound very cool either............
THE BAD
Q session: THE BAD...... I don't get a very good lap in at all. Mistakes galore and I am feeling the eventual truth 1/2 way through the lap. I am going to be REALLY far deep in the pack at the start. Too many guys with too many laps in the 23's and I have only sniffed a mid 24 mostly due to a lack of seat time here. I watch the timing screen intently. Many guys who were faster than me appear to have slowed in Q! THe field keeps running their laps and it looks like I am actually a top 10! HEll I'll take that result!
The GOOD!
R1: I am stoked to be up here on the grid and have a VERY RACEABLE CAR. I have no doubts that some miscues will occur early and if I can stay clean, I can move up and drive well.
The start: I nail it and get ahead of
Michael Carver and
Dennis Phelan ( he's another Connecticut guy BTW!) in P9/8 respectively going to T1. Meanwhile I am door to door with
Brandon now and
Robert Isles has gotten a great run on the inside in a bimmer. This puts
BRandon in a sandwich!
BRandon dives to the curbing inside,
Robert is forced to brake hard and he taps
Brandons rear quarter.
Brandon is now into
Dariusz and the 3 of them spin. I see whats coming and go outside and pray nobody comes across and collects me. I am clean while
Dariusz make one of the truly great saves I have seen this year and spares me the crushing accident. I am P6.
T2 Keith gets a run on
Rhys and they touch entering th corner.
rhys fights hard to hold the honda on track and finally loops it.
NIcolas skates thru huggin the off line inside at exit.
Rhys is sideways to the traffic and right at the exit point of T2. The drivers all check up but I am unable to see it until I CRUNCH
William in the license plate mount with my hood badge. this propels him forward at warp speed past
Keith who is off track inside like a true gent waiting for
Rhys.
Willam makes the an AMAZING SAVE and loses no pace and we continue in pursuit of
Abdul and
Nicolas.
Several corners go by before
William loses it coming off the hill. HOLY COW I AM P3!
Dariusz chasing from 4th.
L2 I mess up the slow right hander by not shifting down to 2nd.
BRandon and
Willam repass me. I am now in P5 with
Dariusz ( not you again! ) on my heels. I collect myself and vow to be major mistake free from here on out.
L3 Dariusz finally makes a big mistake and goes off dramatically on the downhill section leaving
Keith to pursue me. Wonderful......
L4 Keith and I race hard and I make a mistake goign off track in the downhill losing P4 to
Keith. Always inevitable it seems.....
lap 5 I go off in T2 gifting P5 to
Ryan.
Lap 6 I catch
Tim MIller exiting thr pits and catch him mid T1 I am hoping he stays clean and the blue flag doesn't scare hium into some drastic move. He holds his line and I get thru clean.
L7 I hit my stop nicely!
Willam and Brandon are exiting pit lane as I enter. Gotta hope one of them has a slow outlap to gain. I leave my pit box and the car goes WAAAAAAY over the pit lane speed. Why is the limiter off on exit? I didn't hit a button! I slow down and hop the penalty doesn't hitme. And it doesn't! hhhmm I just learned something valuable!
I rejoin on Lap 8 in P10. Wondering what will happen as I cycle along.
I pass PItlane and
bIll K enters relinquishing P9 to me. Then P8 from
Glenn who pits also. I get P7 next time by when
Kevin is PItting and
Michael Carver is to. I am P6!
Sueddenly I am P5 but not sure who I pass to get it. nobody is on pitlane!
Oh well time to hold off
Abdul for P5!
Last lap I make a mistake and run of at T1. Scaring
Abdul in the process as I hurdle down the armco in the grass trying to hold it together when we meet at T2!
We are incident free and I finish P6! not bad so far...
R2 sees me starting in P3. I am alongside
Abdul and behind
PAul Wood and
Kevin Hopkins in P2. We get a the start and I NAIL IT! Passing
Paul and getting up on
Kevin in the Bimmer! uh not RWD advantage this time.... Abdul has completely missed the start and contact occurs from the guys behind him.
L1 I am on
Kevin very very hard. We are equal in some spots and I am quicker in other but unable to pass cleanly yet. I am gaining big from the last right hander before we climb the hill and down the hill but cannot get past
Kev here and forcing the issue here would be foolish.
L2 I am pressuring
Kevin and he get s bit sloppy in a spot or two but fights hard to stay P1! I am so close to Kevin at times I can't see anything but the hair on his neck. HE is driving a defensive line and it's costing him time and his car is a handful with the rear stepping out constantly. I can wait him out for 2 more laps. If he doesn't make the big one and I get a clean pass, then I'll be more aggressive on lap 5. Meanwhile........>
Dariusz is lurking in my mirror about a second behind.
L3 I bobble in T2 and
Dariusz is right there to capitalize should I totally muck it up. I hold it together enough to maintain P2 and keeping an eye on
Kev. Coming thru the downhill complex
KEv has a big moment but saves it. I get a massive run on him and have to check up or hit him. This stacks
Dariusz who has to evade a bit and goes off at the bottom of the hill but doesn't lose more than a second. Coming off the last corner I get a great run on
Kevin and he goes defensive down the middle of the straight. I go High to get a clear view and the fast line in T1. Can I hold it inside down the hill to T2 if
Kevin goes wide off T1?
Kevin drives it brilliantly and I am at bay for now.
L4 we stay status quo.
L5 I am on
Kevin again and get another MOnster run on him going into the uphill. I have to decide right now to stuff it in a bit or be patient. I choose patience again since
Dariusz is the only other car I can see back there. We have a nice lead on the field. My moment finally comes when
Kevin loses it on the downhill and I am P1!
L6 Dariusz and I cross the line about .4 apart and free to battle it out. No change of gap or position
L7 I have extended on
Dariusz a bit at the start of this lap. PIt stop coming soon! I pit and
Dariusz goes off without me to P1! damn hoping we'd pit together!
L8 I resume behind
Abdul and
Bill K in P10. Wondering what
Dariusz is up to?
Bill and Abdul have an incident and I am by into P8! I briefly go off track in the downhill. I run out the lap and hope I'll still be in touch w/
Dariusz!
L9 Dariusz has run a flyer while I was parked and has extended on me about 1.5 seconds!
L10 I cannot gain
L11 Dariusz is caught behind
Tony O who is not moving over for the leader. pppffft what a surprise.
I get close but never pass
dariusz for P1. Hurt the engine along the way so I had to limp home to preserve P2!
The AMAZING
IN the end, I am P2 overall for the event and am THRILLEd with this reult. 1 point ahead of
Dariusz for a change!
It was a brutal night of racing. Demanding is an understatement! Happy with my best overall finish ever!
Other amazing observations:
Rhys your bad luck is ludicrous at this point!
We see an A4 on the pole! WTF!?
keith of course. When you gonna pole a bimmer ya sissy?
Dennis and
Michael's Quali times are split by .008!
Thanks Yves, RD and Eric K for getting this going!
OH yeah one other thing guys................
Merry Christmas to you and yours!
