|
Gav's report... **full
results here**
ROCKINGHAM ROUNDS 5 AND 6
Gav still holds the championship lead after taking
sixth place, a win and a fastest lap today (26th May) at Rockingham.
Sunday 25th. The team arrived on Saturday morning
to set up base and to carry on where we left off. Me and Hollie
didn’t arrive until Sunday after a decision was made to give Saturday
practice a miss. The guys were all ready to go but unfortunately
the Sunday practice was cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances
therefore this was rescheduled for Monday morning. This obviously
meant a busy bank holiday Monday but we were all up for the task
ahead.
Me and dale had come up with a race strategy which
meant I had to take it easy - something I find very hard to do as
we were in championship mode this weekend. Sunday practice was run
of the mill, the wind was at least 25mph which made the entry to
turn 4 quite exciting but, in turn, made the exit a handful and
the run into turn 2 very slow. At times it felt like I needed to
change down a gear lol. We ended this session in 8th with just one
tenth of a second covering the top 10. The wind closed the whole
pack up and was certainly gonna make the racing close.
Race 1 - Usual grid position at the back with Paul
Poulter on my bumper. The track conditions were damp and with the
weather closing in the team decided to put a wet setup on the car
still leaving the roll bars on. The changes were made but with slicks
fitted. If the rain had come we would have been in pole position.
The car felt good and we passed a few cars in the first few laps,
Poulter was on the move as in turn were Phil White and Nic Grindrod.
Although they all worked together in each other's tow they couldn’t
pull away from the Nimbus truck. My car was in turn as quick as
the front runners but I knew even if I caught them up the car didn’t
have it in itself to put a move on them and make it stick. With
the front runners tripping over themselves lap after lap it enabled
me to keep in close proximity hoping that the unfortunate might
happen. I can tell you it was exciting watching them race from back
there. I could see Steve Dance coming in my mirrors and knew he
was a man on a mission. Dale, my spotter, spotter called him and
his lap times out and he inevitably caught and passed us and soon
made headway towards the leading trio.
We begain to pull White in a little each lap and
soon decided to put a move on him into turn two. With the track
drying every lap my car became looser and looser. When I dived up
the inside of Phil it unsettled my truck and I picked up a big push
onto the wall between two and three. I should have stayed where
I was I know but hey I had to keep Poodles busy - if not he would
have spent another £10 on texts between races. We ended the race
in 6th which is good but just didn’t seem as good because of 4 straight
wins to start the season with. I was happy because our nearest rival,
Richard Grindrod finished in 3rd gaining 10 points back on us in
the championship.
Race 2 - The reverse grid formation bumped me up
a bit with the previous 6th place finish, we were on the outside
as opposed to the inside in race 1. This meant a nice run through
turn 1 on the start. The track was very wet although not raining
so I knew a good high line would stick. As the green flag dropped
I followed Briggs and Wilkinson into turn one on the high line.
I couldn’t pass with the rule being you can only pass high on the
start as they were already as high as could be. A few cars passed
me on the inside which Dale picked up on. After 4 laps we had pulled
into 2nd behind Nic Grindrod who had a healthy 1.5 second lead.
Then I had Dale on the radio saying 4 minutes and they were throwing
the white (last lap) flag!!!!! I was like 'What did u say Dale?'
and he repeated. I thought 'Damn this is gonna be hard.' Nic was
fast and I soon had to get on with it. Two laps later and we had
pulled him in - the Nimbus truck felt good. I was right on Nic's
bumper about to put a move on him when Dale keyed up on the radio
saying 'Do not pass him!! He has a 10 second penalty for jumping
the start'. So I backed off and brought the truck home second on
the road but first on the results sheet. There was no threat from
behind as me and Nic had pulled nearly a 10 second lead so I just
kept him in my sights until the chequered flag.
When it rains Seager gains when it pours Seager
scores!
|
Report 