Very much enjoyed getting back in a Caterham,even more so the magical drift-crazy Academy class,a bog stock setup and some previous track knowledge helped my cause,a good enough launch from pole to not lose anything through the first turns,had to soak up some pressure from Nige early on until he got "involved" with Chris allowing me breathing space,from then on no looking back and just pounding out laps to the finish,loved it!
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Reverso grid for race two and away ok'ish from 6th place,all a bit nip&tuck through those first turns but fair dues to everyone there,absolutely no nudges or barging at all (impressive),young Robert made good it of all from what i saw so my early attentions were racing him down and trying to pass,it took a lap or 3 of timing the run down the home straight properly to get a good clean dive down the inside at T1 move done,Rob gave plenty room so no drama at all there,sadly he took a rotten knock from behind straight after at T2L
,that was harsh.....now my main big job of the race is having a go at Stu in what is now 2nd place,but as ive seen before in these Academy Cats is Stu always seems to have the ability to exit those most crucial turns just as good as me,or in some cases better.....this makes those nice straight forward draft and pass down the best straights almost impossible! >;/.
My chance eventually comes to me when Stu gets a bit deep in to T1 and has a poor line and exit for T2 letting me slip right up alongside his right giving me inside for the following T3
,but Stu still keeps a run going and we arrive at T3 more or less side by side,i make full efforts to get turning nice and early and try and keep as tight right as possible,i looke back and see Stu getting on the grass but thankfully he holds it together,not really knowing what had happened i lined myself up offline and slowed up showing Stu an open door to take the place back but as before in some similar situations hes having none of it and falls in behind and continues along with me for a while in my futile attempts to close down Chris in 1st place.........futile until Chris has a proper wobbler offski moment at T3 dropping what was a 6secs gap down to 1.5,Race is truly On!
,i close it down to under a 1sec and again at T3 Chris gets lary and wide and i take the opportunity to nip through to the lead,i was happy enough with 2nd after a nice monster battle with Stu so the win was lucky bonus
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Thanks to everyone i raced close with,all very nice and proper stuff.
Thank You Stu &
RD
