3 out of 3 for the Iron man
July 2010 |
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Speaking of Bacon, it was Paul Bacon who stuck it on pole for Lucid Initiatives. This was the team’s second pole position of the season and their third front row start in 4 races. The Speed Muppets lined up alongside them in second with Rum Racing once again looking good in third. Minimum Traction were next up ahead of Gaucho Productions and BIX2. Keen As Mustard were looking perplexed down in 22nd on the grid and would have to pull something spectacular out of the hat to get a good result.
Having confidently predicted before qualifying that he would qualify in the top 10, The Wing Nuts’ Eamon Healy must have been disappointed with his 16th position on the grid. Healy:
“I’ve got no excuses. The kart is okay and I got a few clear laps so I obviously just wasn’t quick enough. I certainly thought I’d be higher than that. We will just have to see how the race goes.”
Paul Bacon gave his views on his qualifying lap.
“I was just trying to make space at the start so I think my third lap was the fastest. From there on in I kept getting held up in traffic so I’m quite happy to be here. We could have been on the podium in every race this year so it’s been a bit of a frustrating season from that point of view. Hopefully we will make up for it today.”
Rum Racing took advantage of being on the inside to jump into second behind Lucid Initiatives. The strategically minded BIX2 made an early race pit stop to get out into clear air. BGID were also in the pits early but their stop would be terminal. They competed only 3 laps before retiring.
Back at the front and the flying Maycock was starting to close on Rum Racing and Lucid Initiatives. After the first wave of pit stops Drive Fast Don’t Crash were leading by a good handful of seconds and pulling out a steady gap. BIX2’s strategy looked to be paying dividends as they found themselves in second. Lucid Initiatives were still in the running but not for long; a black flag for running into a backmarker would drop them down the order.
Things were calmer in the mid field. The usual suspects of Wing Nuts, Farce India and Rapid Hire Racing were quietly getting on with the job and looking to pick up some solid points. Keen As Mustard were looking rather Green and Flustered at this race. Having qualified poorly, AJ was openly critical of his performance
“I qualified down in twenty-second place and then immediately went two tenths quicker in the race. John went out and went even quicker so that was an atrocious performance by myself and a poor decision by me on who should qualify. John did an awesome job before we called him in for an early pit stop so we might get a good result today if we’re lucky.”
As at the previous round, Rum Racing were proving that they have the pace and are nicely maturing into genuine championship contenders. They were moving themselves into contention for the win and were chasing down Drive Fast Don’t Crash. Pat Nicholls gave his views during the action.
“We qualified well and Adam was doing solid laps at that pace. We’re still running up there but not all of the pit stops have shaken out yet so we don’t know exactly where we are in relation to the others. We all seem to be running on the same pace as well so that is good.”
Alistair Weaver from Gaucho Productions was enjoying another solid performance from his team and was looking on course for another good result despite a slight altercation with a rookie team.
“I think he was new to this circuit and possibly new to the championship as well. He actually tripped over himself and I collected him. Although I managed to carry on I thought it was one of those incidents where I was going to get a black flag. Other than that, we really need to sort our starts out because we got shuffled down the pack again and we’ve had to fight our way back to the front. We got blocked in the pits as well so it’s been an interesting one. There has been a lot of action out there but it is very hot.”
In the closing stages, Rum Racing were leading Drive Fast Don’t Crash by 5 seconds having passed them on track. However, a disastrous last pit stop cost them 17 seconds and a potential race win. This handed the lead back to Maycock. BIX2 lost a potential podium later in the race after a rather clumsy accident involving a rookie team and would eventually finish fourth.
“We were second and chasing down first. We came round the first corner and a rookie came out of the pits and turned right instead of staying over to the left. Gudders smacked into him and I smacked into the back of Gudders, which let him carry on going and left me stationary so we lost half a lap.”
Jon Maycock crossed the line to take his third win in a row and extend the lead in the championship. Gaucho Productions and Lucid Initiatives managed to pick up some good points and remain in the hunt. Team Pikey Racing suffered a major blow by being excluded for being underweight.
Despite doing the majority of the driving, Jon Maycock was still very quick to thank his team for their efforts.
“Nick has done a really good job today. It is really hot and he is suffering a bit with Asthma and Dave couldn’t make it today so I did a lot of driving again. It’s only now that I’ve stopped it has hit me. Still, I’m chuffed because this is our third win this year and we had a nice cushion coming into this race. We haven’t had any dropped scores yet so it’s looking good at the moment. Now I need a drink!”
