Carpet Masters Round 4

I'm going to start this post by confessing I had a really enjoyable race meeting at Carpet Masters yesterday. Hopefully I can make it down there again sometime soon. Unfortunately I didn't do quite as well as I would have liked (I seem to be saying that a lot, perhaps I should up my game or lower my sights!) but I do feel confident my car was quick enough to get into the A final this time. It was only my little mistakes which cost us the glory!




Qualifying went well on the whole, I improved with each round, even if round 3 wasn't a big improvement on round 2. There was considerable umming an erring prior to going whether or not Sorex 28 JBs or Sorex 32s would be the order of the day. I ended up sticking with the trusty 28s in practice and they felt really good with absolutely no signs if griproll (which had been my primary concern) that I decided I'd be a fool to then put something else on for the rest of the day.

If I thought the car had felt good in practice, when the grip had come up and the dust been cleared in time for qualifying 1, the car felt fantastic. It was a joy to drive and as I said - if it wasn't for driver errors A final times were easily do-able. After three rounds of qualifying I had made 5th on the grid in the B final for 10.5 turn 'Super Touring'.




I got a good start off the line in the first final but had to get on the brakes by the first turn in order to avoid ploughing into the cars in front. Unfortunately the car behind me didn't share my courteous sentiment and politely went through us all. The usual 'finals madness' ensued and I honestly have no idea where I was when all was said and done. Nevertheless I settled back into a rhythm and started putting in some good times and managed to pass a couple of cars. Then on about the 25th lap the tape/carpet began to come up on the sweeper at the end of the straight. I was an unlucky casualty - sent tumbling through the air into the brick wall at the side of the hall. My driveshaft was damaged in the accident and I was forced to retire before the end of the race. I also managed to damage the edge of my chassis in the crash! Sad times. Finished last in this round of finals.

2nd round of finals rolled around and I'd fixed the car so was back out for more punishment. Surprise, surprise the typical first corner destruction derby ensued and I think I ended up near enough dead last after all was said and done here. It seems everyone just goes for it in finals with very little consideration for those around them... mind you, your opinion is always skewed isn't it? You're always the innocent victim in it all! Anyway, I ignored the fact I was out of the running and just got my head down to try and put in some decent laps. I made a conscious effort not to push excessively and concentrated on putting in consistent times like I'd been trying for all through qualifying. It must have worked, although I'm not quite sure how as I finished 3rd in this race! J



I think I ended up where I started, 5th in the B final. But I can't confirm for certain as the results aren't up online yet and my final results weren't pegged up with the rest of them when I checked. What I do know is that I was the only one in our little group (Andy Cottom, Andy Murray, Adam Whittam, Stefan Chodzynski and Jonny Robinson) who didn't get a trophy of some description... L