Gav Reports...
After all the repairs from the first round and changing the setup
we left for Croft. After about six hours in the lorry we arrived
- I should say the boys arrived because I took the car - four hours4
is a lot easier - ha ha. We all knew it was gonna be a long two
and half days with the race format being split to Saturday race
1 and race 2 Sunday.
Qualifying started 12:30 Saturday so all the trucks took to the
circuit trying out new setups some just learning the track as it
was their first visit to Croft. As soon as the 54 truck hit the
circuit I knew we had issues with the clutch but that turned out
to be the least of our problems, when I exited Sunny Out corner
I thought the steering wheel felt loose so I gave it a tug to reassure
myself there was nothing to worry about and to my surprise it actually
came off, eeeeek! I can tell ya it went back on pretty fast, Because
I'm a driver that uses his head I pulled in that lap… I didn’t actually
- I went on to do another lap and came in 2nd time round, the boys
sent me back to complete my required laps to be eligible to race
and it was back to the pits for some work. We finished 13th fastest
not bad considering.
Race 1... We started this race from the back of the grid with every
place to gain, after a formation lap and a countdown on the grid
we were good to go, steering wheel and clutch in working order.
We had to take the first few laps with caution making sure we were
not taken out by any spinning cars although having said that everyone
kept it on the black stuff. The first few laps were pretty hectic
and on the 4th lap we were up ino 3rd with 1st and 2nd a long way
ahead. The leading duo of Briggs and Willis were fighting tooth
and nail, this in turn allowing me to gradually pull them both in.
After four laps chasing I had brought the gap down from five seconds
to nothing. A mistake by 65 allowed me though pretty easy and the
following lap we took 1st away from Briggs in number 2. I was sure
we only had 2 laps left but Poodles (crew chief) came on the radio
to tell me we had four more. A quick look in the mirror allowed
me to see Willis was now 2nd with Steve Dance #16 3rd. It stayed
like this untill the chequered and the new Seager team took their
first win. Well done boys!!
Race 2 - It started about the same really, we were at the back
with the reverse grid formation and with 20 cars in front we had
already said it was important to finish the race and gain points.
After the 1st race we were now top of the championship points. We
gained a couple of places still following Dance and Willis through
the traffic car by car. I eventually put a move on 16 which worked
well promoting us up to about 7th on lap 7. With 8 laps to go I
had Willis, Stevens, Wilko, Kelly, Grinrod jnr and Andy Pyke to
go if we were to repeat our first race position. On the start of
lap 9, with Dance on my heels, trucks 21 and 28 came together forcing
them both off the track. On this same lap Willis lost 3rd gear which
was another place gained. We passed Wilko who later had problems
which would put a stop to his chances. Pete Stevens, who is really
coming on good, was going well but he was next on my list with 4
laps left and Dance not giving me an inch I took my chances going
into Sunny In corner and it paid off. Passing Pete there gave me
time to pull a small gap on Dance. I repeated the same move on Pykie
a lap later - same corner, same result. With just over a lap to
go this was in the bag no pulling that wheel just to see if it would
stay there - ha ha. I entered the last corner which I took in an
orderly fashion to make sure there were no problems. The chequered
flag awaited us, number 2 win.
I couldn’t ask for more than what we got it was poetry in motion
and I only worked as hard as the team and this was my way of saying
thanks to hopefully what will be the start of a new era. We all
worked well and acheived what was needed when needed. More of the
same please boys, Thanks gav #54
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