2001, Round 4, Cadwell Park

In qualifying, the brakes took about 3 laps to bed in properly before I had enough confidence to really lean on them. The times were coming down EVERY lap, but in the end I was happy with my time, as it was faster than last year's pole time. In fact it was very close at the top, just 1 second covered the top 12 cars, and I found myself lining up 6th.

I got a good start, and passed Pete Morgan round the outside of the first bend, while Andy Herring dropped from 2nd to just in front of me. Ahead, Pete Featherstone had made good use of his pole position, and seemed to be heading off into the sunset, but that all changed suddenly at the second half of the gooseneck, when his car shot off the track, and made heavy contact with the tyre wall. During the confusion I managed to pass Andy Herring exiting the gooseneck, and found myself 3rd after the first lap. Red flags came out half way through the second lap when it became clear that Pete's accident had been quite a nasty one.

For the restart, we lined up in our original grid positions, but without pole man Pete Featherstone. I passed Pete Morgan again in the same way as I did the first time, and Tony Scarlett managed to get the lead from Herring, with Taylor in third. The first couple of laps were very close, Taylor passed Herring at the gooseneck for second, and I came under a lot of pressure from Andy Burgess for a while. Then Paul Taylor seemed to slow slightly allowing myself and Herring through. As things started to settle, I could see that Andy Herring was weakest at the gooseneck, but he was now being very careful not to let me repeat the move I made in the first start. For several laps I chased hard, he was much faster out of the hairpin and that allowed him to break free each lap, only for me to reel him in half a lap later. I could not manage to pass him, and eventually my tyres began to get a little too warm, and I started to lose ground.

By the last lap I was worried about the arrival on the scene of Sean Stanway behind me, I was slowing rapidly as my grip dwindled, but I was confident I could hang on. Right at the last corner, Stanway left his braking late (well later than me with me knackered tyres anyway), and ended up losing control briefly behind me, giving me a bit of a scare, and allowing Pete Morgan back past him for 4th.

My third place is my first trophy, and felt fantastic - loads better than winning the B race in 1999. Further down the grid I hear there was some hard charging going on. Darren Blumson had to be bump started on the grid after we had all started, and yet managed to catch the field and make his way to 14th. Daniel Neil and Matt Lewis also made excellent progress from the back of the grid to finish 10th and 12th. Paul Taylor eventually retired.

I would like to wish Pete Featherstone a speedy recovery, I did not see him hit the tyre barrier, as I was concentrating on passing Andy Herring, but I saw him leave the track, and it looked nasty, and I know I did a very similar thing on friday, so my thoughts are with him.