2013-12-09 09:17:19.2
"It's better than I ever did at school" was Eddie's comment after competing in his first A final at Lydd. Eddie had a very good day, finishing all three heats well up in the points to take pole position for the B final.
Eddie started 8th for his first heat and had a race long battle with Steve Gray for 5th, before an aborted attempt to overtake on the last lap allowed another rival to overtake demoting Eddie to seventh.
Eddie started his second heat in 15th and last place and, after making at leat 4 places off the start, drove sensibly to finish 6th.
Heat three started with a bit of controversy as Eddie was passed by the second placed driver before the flag was dropped. Boxed in at the first corner, Eddie lost another place further round the lap and then another place to finally finish fourth, some way off the leaders.
All this put Eddie on pole position for the B final. Making a good start (after an agreement with second placed man Michael McAnery), Eddie slowly started to pull a small gap out, but was passed by another, quicker, driver at half distance ("blinding speed" according to Eddie). A solid second was the end result.
So, Eddie qualified on the back of the grid for the A final for the first time in only his 8th lightweight event. Eddie made up a couple of places at the start due to other people's misfortunes and then had a race long battle for the minor placings. Eddie couln't find a way past and on the final lap, made a move into the bottom hairpin. Unfortunately, he locked up and missed the infield section completely. Despite slowing down to let others past, he was classified thirteenth, much higher than he finished, and is expected to be penalised for it.
On the incident, Eddie said "I knew I only had one chance to get past and that was at the hairpin, where I knew I was much quicker. Unfortunately I locked by brakes. I tried to get it round the corner, but I could see the tyre wall looming and just decided to go straight on and avoid a bigger accident. It was totally my fault and I expect (and will fully accept) to have my position over-ruled."
After the race, it was still undecided what will happen.
