2001, Round 14, Snetterton

Went out for qualifying, and knew straight away that I had not reset the tracking quite how it was before, but pressed on regardless. I had a go at drafting with Gordon Macmillan, but it was not destined to be. The lap I got a good tow was also the lap we both had to pass a slower car, so it was not my fastest lap. A lap later as I went for a gear change along the revett straight, the gear lever came out of its socket in the floor. I coasted in neutral off the end of the straight, and fumbled around for about a minute, finally getting the thing back in. I set off to do a lap holding it in, but that was not very fast either, and as soon as I let go it jumped out again. So, in the end I managed just 5 proper laps. Luckily one of them was good enough for 5th on the grid.

At the start, I got an average get-away, and tucked in behind the immediately duelling Stokes and Sheehan. As we approached the bombhole after just half a lap, the red flags came out, while we were all still very bunched up. The front of the grid slowed up, but I suspect that not everyone in the pack had line of sight to a flag station (well that's a better excuse than the sun being low which I also heard - the sun was BEHIND us!), anyway, what followed was mayhem. I saw several cars spin off the track, and I know that some cars were not able to restart due to damage.

At the restart I got the same kind of start, and found myself hot on the heels of Sheehan and Stokes again. I got a better run than both of them onto the Revett straight, but decided against making it a 3 abreast battle, and decided Glenn would be quicker, so I tucked in behind him, hoping to follow him past Sheehan - Glenn you let me down! Sheehan braked later and made it into 3rd, Stokes in 4th, and myself in 5th. I hung on close to this battle but was also under a lot of pressure from Scarlett in 6th. He had made it past me once too often this year, so each time he looked like making a move, I made my intentions quite clear. He got alongside me on the Revett straight, and it was neck and neck until we both went for 5th at the same time. Seems my 5th gear has more grunt than his - what a shame we only use 5th on one circuit!

Since I seemed to be quick at all the same places as Stokes, it would be hard to pass him, particularly with Sheehan still very much in the way. Eventually Stokes got past Sheehan at Riches, and I turned in late hoping to get a good run out of the corner and pass Sheehan as well, but I mucked it right up by hitting a slippery bit off the racing line, and went into the corner very sideways - giving Scarlett behind me a scary moment of his own!

This put Scarlett into the clutches of Blumson, who was making an impressive surge up the field. I caught back up with Sheehan in no time as the pressure from behind was off, and started thinking about how to get past him when Blumson and Scarlett had an argument about who was going to get through Riches the quickest, and the result was Blumson vaulting over a lump in the grass and landing back on the track with enough force to break open some part of his engine, dumping oil onto the track. The race was stopped, and I was still 5th on the track, but promoted to 4th following an exclusion for a weight infringement.

The race was therefore won by Burgess from Stokes and Sheehan. The B race was somewhat less eventful. The race was moved to last on the timetable mid afternoon and then the suprise setting of the sun caused lack of visibility, and the race was not run. This was nothing short of a disgrace, but enough said on that for now.

So the championship is over. Scarlett won it, Burgess second, Morgan third. My fourth place is better than I had last year, and not a bad result for a car that I was still building as the season started, but not as good as I wanted. I have decided to keep the car, and try to scrape together enough funds to have another go - but only time will tell if I succeed.