2013-12-09 09:17:19.2
Eddie described his weekend at Whilton Mill as ‘unremarkable’ after finishing fourth in the Endurance race on Saturday and managing no better than seventh in the sprint race on the Sunday. Eddie competed in his 100th event over the weekend and in doing so becoming one of the official old timers of the series.
Saturday
The driver rota of 3Cubed allowed Eddie to make a one-off appearance in the Clubman championship for Ave It racing for the endurance race. Teaming up with Harry Landy, the duo were serious contenders for a top 3 result.
Eddie was the ninth fastest Clubman team and admitted to being disappointed with the position. Harry Landy did the first stint and made a brilliant start to get up to fourth on the opening lap. Unfortunately, he spun on lap 4, dropping to the very back of the 33 strong grid and almost a lap behind.
This was the only mistake of the race and Eddie and Harry made a storming recovery drive to finish fourth at the flag, just shy of a podium finish. Eddie was happy after the race, despite aggravating his rib injury over Whilton Mill’s harsh kerbs.
“It was an enjoyable day and I liked racing in a two man team because it meant more track time, which is good for the sprints. Harry is a great guy and thanks to him for offering me this drive. It is a shame about his spin because we would have easily been on the podium but these things happen and we all had fun.”
Sunday
Eddie entered round 6 of the sprint championship with a slender 3 point lead over Guy Holliday. Having raced the previous day Eddie was in confident mood and looking to extend his points lead.
Sadly the qualifying heats did not go too well. A sixth, eleventh and second in his three heats was the best Eddie could do after a few minor issues:
“My first heat was fairly low key. I felt quick in practice but didn’t seem to make the sort of progress I expected in the race. In my second heat, the kart just didn’t handle well at all and I didn’t make any sort of impression so I knew I had to have a win or at least a second in my last heat. I started third and got the lead at the hairpin but Carl Tebbutt was obviously quicker than me – he had much better drive out of corners – and started doing his usual unnecessary bumper car thing up the hill so I let him go and settled for second.”
These results put Eddie 8th on the grid for the A final, his lowest of the season so far. Initially making a good start, he then had to brake to avoid the spinning Aaron Stapleton at turn 1 and lost several places. Championship rival, Guy Holliday, was not so lucky and got caught up in the carnage. Eddie clawed his way back throughout the short race and finished 7th. His other main championship rival, Parmveer Nijjar, won the race. It took Eddie several minutes to get out of the kart after the race due to his rib injury.
“I opened up the old war wound on Saturday during the endurance race and I was in absolute agony that evening and on Sunday morning. I knew I was going to be in for a hard day and by the time of the final it was really bad. To be honest, the entire race was a bit of a blur and it was a factor in my relatively poor pace all day.”
Despite the relatively poor performance, Eddie still extended his lead over Guy Holliday to 19 points at the top of the standings, although with Parmveer winning and with the 8 best scores to count, Edie’s lead is looking in danger.
“Well the day was pretty unremarkable really. I would have liked to have celebrated my hundredth race with a win obviously or at least with something a bit better than the results I had. Still, I’ve got to count myself quite lucky because Guy had an even worse day than me, qualifying sixteenth and failing to really score and most of the guys that finished ahead of me aren’t really in the fight so it’s only Parm that spoiled things. Honestly, though, he did a fantastic job and was the class of the field today and totally deserved the win.”
