So we were back to Buckmore Park for the final one off round before the Season kicks off officially in March, could it be a second podium for me at my second race here?
Well conditions were very difficult and at times monsoon like, it certainly was the wettest conditions I have raced in for a while. The worst storm to hit the UK in 30 years was sweeping through the UK and considering I had never driven Buckmore before in the wet I really had no clue what I was doing, this could either end very well or very badly.
In my first heat I started 12th on the grid and ended up climbing my way up to 4th. It was a bit tricky trying to work out the best places to keep the kart on track as it was so slippy out there but tried just to follow Dziugas & Nathan as best as I could.
In the 2nd heat I started 3rd, got a really good start and pretty much straight away got into 2nd and me and Nathan (who was in 1st) started to pull a gap from the pack. As Nathan has lots of experience I just tried to stick to his lines and not push the kart too much. Unfortunately, the weather really started to take a turn and in places on the track it was running a river down the track, I hit a patch of standing water and it was game over, I spun and had to wait for everyone to pass before I could safely return to the track. I rejoin in P16, with the time ticking by the best result I could manage was P11 and had to be thankful that I could pull it back to 11th.
By the time the final heat come around the rain had started to ease and the track was drying out a little, so I was hopeful that I could make a good finishing position as I was starting 14th. I had a storming heat and made good progress throughout the pack and ended up finishing 2nd. I still don't know how all of the points work at Buckmore, so was just a bit of a wait and see what happened with the grid for the Final.
The final come around and I was starting P4, so was really pleased with that. I knew it would be a tough battle but just had to keep my head down, driving clean & push as hard as possible. I had another good start and went up to 3rd but pushed a little too much which ended with me going wide and losing positions, dropping back to P5. In the end it was a fight that I just couldn't win, no matter what I tried I just couldn't get those places back and ended up finishing P5. For my first wet race I was really pleased with the outcome and couldn't be happier that my good pal Mikey made his first podium at Buckmore, P3 - well done mate!
Really looking forward to the Championship starting next month.
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