Round 1 - Rockingham, Sunday 20th March
Do you ever get that feeling when driving somewhere, that you’ve forgotten to bring something really important?
Despite baking a beautiful lemon drizzle cake for his upcoming birthday, Jes forgot to put it in his car. Despite studying Youtube relentlessly (or maybe because of it), most had forgotten to take their bravery pills. Having attended a wedding reception the night before, James forgot to bring his brain along. But rookie “Supercharged” Richard had done something that most of us haven’t done for years; he’d read the final instructions meticulously and had everything (and more) that he needed to compete at this, his first ever event! Mr Blacklee arrived early in his normally aspirated Chim (“Normal” Richard) and offered to walk the track with James, to help wake him up. I’m not entirely sure what they discussed on their perambulation, but after first practice, James attributed his woeful time to forgetting where to go on the straight! |
Unsurprisingly, Jes hadn’t forgotten how to drive and put in a blinder on his first practice, despite claiming the track had no grip. Supercharged Richard had forgotten his aim to “come last at every event” and was next fastest on scratch. Rob was close behind, and the rest of us were within a few seconds.
Second practice saw Jes spin on the short straight between Yentwood and Chapman, (maybe because he’d forgotten how to fit his brake pads properly the night before) but was still quickest. Everyone else improved, with Rob 2nd, Jo 3rd and Normal Richard 4th. James was still trailing behind. |
While the weather stayed fine all day, it was chilly sitting around, particularly when the sun spent some time hiding. But we made the most of our allocated paddock slot next to the burger van, enjoying a healthy lunch of chips and burgers, but no cake (Jes!).
First timed runs saw most improve, with Jes still out front, Rob consolidating his 2nd place, and Shunter duking it out with Jo just 6 hundredths ahead. With everyone securing a “banker”, we could all forget about needing bravery pills for the second run.
Jes went a smidge faster, but not quite as quick as first practice, unusually forgetting to turn the screw despite having the win in the bag. Congratulations Jes, and thanks for not robbing too many points off the rest of us this early in the season.
First timed runs saw most improve, with Jes still out front, Rob consolidating his 2nd place, and Shunter duking it out with Jo just 6 hundredths ahead. With everyone securing a “banker”, we could all forget about needing bravery pills for the second run.
Jes went a smidge faster, but not quite as quick as first practice, unusually forgetting to turn the screw despite having the win in the bag. Congratulations Jes, and thanks for not robbing too many points off the rest of us this early in the season.
Those who received times at the end of the run were pleased with the progress, but the organisers had forgotten to reset the timing gear following an earlier spinner, so Supercharged Richard, Jo and James didn’t yet know where they were ranked. After an inordinate amount of time, the paddock officials remembered that the timing guys on track would have the actual times, and everything was plugged into the spreadsheet.
Being the gentleman he is, James took last place, meaning Supercharged Richard didn’t finish last at his first event. Normal Richard couldn’t improve on practice 2, but still took home useful points. Shunter got a PB, but was half a second adrift of Rob and Jo, who were separated by the proverbial gnats whisker. At final count back, Jo pipped it by 3 hundredths, sneaking second in class, and grabbing fastest lady of the whole event in the process. As we know, Rob’s not a bitter man (Stella I think), but he won’t be forgetting this one in a hurry. Shunter (Images: Gary Duthie) Go on, put some numbers on it. Back... |