We are back to Brentwood again this week for Round 2 of the Super League & something a bit different for quali this week..... Formula 1 Quali!!
So the format was going to be a 15 minute Quali Session, everyone all heads out onto track for 5 minute sessions. The top 7 go through to Quali 2 after 5 minutes to try again and fight to get a faster time. Once that 5 minutes is over the Top 3 head out for a final Quali session to decide grid position..... this was going to be fun!
So off we went and the kart that I was in was a real slow starter and I thought that I was going to be knocked out straight away, however as the session progressed the kart felt quicker. It was the end of Q1 & mum was signalling to me that I was P5, so I was through to Q2.
We headed out and I was getting a tow from Nathan in front of me so I improved my time again and thought that mum said I was P4 so assumed that I had been knocked out. To my surprise I was signalled to head out for Q3 and was actually P3.
Q3 was on and I remained P3 but I was more than happy with this. I knew I had a good kart under me and I was starting on the inside, so was hoping to keep out of trouble, so naturally Dan had to spoil the party and send us out for a reverse track race. I hate this because when you qualify one way, the kart may not be as good the opposite way round the circuit, so I was just hoping to survive the first few corners and keep my head down and out of trouble.
I got a great start and initially made my way up to P2, Beau just flew off in front of me and I was just trying my best to hang on to the back of him. It was all going well until contact was made from behind and a bump & pass move was made, with this I lost 5 positions. An ABC was given in my favour, however in doing so, the crazy train was on my inside and Nathan had spun at the front, so I had to take avoiding action by going round the outside and ended up in a barrier. By the time I was rescued from the barrier I was so far behind it was just game over for me and I finished last.
Next up was Heat 2 and I was starting P8 in the grid, which was going to be a rolling start. It was a very respectful start to the race but then going down into Paddock it was all a bit full on with 6 of us all heading down into the corner, the guy in front of me tried to back out late from his move and then it was just a case of everyone bouncing off of each other. I remained in the right direction but I did lose out on positions.
The remainder of the Heat was spent slowly making my way up and then losing out on positions again, it was a hell of a battle but in the end only managed to remain exactly where I started. What a disappointing round this was turning into again.
Finally we was in the B Final and I was starting P13 on the grid, the way my luck was going at least there wasn't too much worse that could happen from that position! It took several attempts to get underway. Once we was finally underway there was some chaos at Swimming Pool bend which I managed to avoid and got a really good start, so naturally the Race was flagged and restarted, I just couldn't catch a break today.
The restart was nowhere near as good as the first and I remained at the back of the pack, this was going to be a hard slog through the grid. I think I raced really well in this final and managed to finish up P6, making up 7 places and in a Super League Race that's a pretty good result.
This League is so challenging, brutal and demoralising all at the same time that sometimes it really does make you think what on earth am I bothering for. You just have to try and take the positives where you can and some weeks, there really doesn't feel like there is a positive out of the weekend. But we still end up coming back week after week and at some point the tide will turn..... hopefully.
We'll see you back for Round 3.
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