2013-12-09 09:17:19.2
It was a promising end to what Eddie described as a character building year. The 2009 Premier endurance and sprint championships came to a close at the weekend with Target Racing securing 6th in the championship on the Saturday and Eddie recovering well to finish high up in the sprint race on Sunday.
Saturday
Former champion Trevor Randall joined Eddie Hall and Marc Laukam for the last race of the championship and duly qualified 6th on the grid. Making a good start, he jumped up to second before being shuffled down the order by Tanked Up Racing. Recovering well he moved back up to third during his double stint before handing over to Marc Laukam.
Laukam was double stinted during the middle phase of the race as the track started to dry and kept pace with the leaders before a spin at the first hairpin dropped him to fifth and out of contention for the podium.
By the time Eddie took over for the final double stint the circuit was dry. He set a good pace and was chasing down Wolfie in front who spun in the latter stages, promoting Target Racing to fourth, which was enough to secure 6th in the championship.
Eddie was delighted with the result and gave praise to his team mates.
“It is a fantastic result. At the start of the season my goals were regular top six finishes, at least one podium and a top six championship position. We’ve achieved all of those goals so I’m pretty happy.
“It’s a pity we couldn’t get another podium today but fourth is still a good result. We all did a good job and it was just unfortunate that Marc had a spin. He’s been a great team mate this year and I’ll be sad to see him leave. It was great to be teamed with Trev today and we’ve got to give a lot of credit to both him and Kieran for where we ended up in the standings. I hope they both decide to do more races with us next year.”
Sunday
Early blue skies gave way to dark clouds and heavy rain just as the lightweight qualifying got under way and the whole day was held in treacherous conditions. Eddie’s hope for a strong end to the season seemed to come to nought after being punted off in his first two heats and finishing near the back. He finished fourth in his final heat but was given a penalty for contact with Ross Brittan.
Lining up 19th on the grid in the A final, Eddie made a brilliant start in the wet conditions and was 4th before the end of the first lap. He followed the wayward Andrew Green for a handful of laps before the latter spun off and promoted Eddie to third. Eddie settled for a top 3 and automatic qualification to the A final. Eddie gave his views on the B final.
“It was good fun. I knew I had nothing to lose so I just went for it off the line and fortunately managed to avoid any accidents. Once I was at the front I felt a lot safer. I was a bit nervous when I was following Green because he’s got a reputation for being a bit unpredictable and he fired me off in one of the heats and didn’t apologise, which I thought was a bit ironic given how vocal he was after the last race when he had the same treatment. I admit I had a bit of a smile on my face when he spun at the hairpin.”
Eddie started on the back row of the grid for the A final in 25th place. Once again he made a great start and rounded the first lap in 8th. He then got held up in the train of karts fighting for the lead and, despite his second 360 degree spin at turn 1, never lost a place. He fought his way up to 6th at the flag but was given a 2 place penalty for overtaking Simon Young under yellows.
“I reckon that has to be one of my best performances. Basically coming from forty-first to sixth in sixteen laps. It was great fun but it was a pity I got fired off in my heats because I could have won that today. Still, it was a good end to what has been a pretty difficult season and it’s been quite character building. I have to take stock of what’s happened this year and come back stronger next year.”
He also gave his views on his two spins at Stadium.
“I was quite impressed with myself. It’s very hard to spin these things and keep going because the engine stalls. I’ve never managed to do it before but I did it twice today and hardly even lost any places. I just wish they had been filming the DVD’s today because I would have liked to have seen that.”
