That was about as hard a race as I have had ... in a good long while if not ever ...
First up ... apologies to some people ... not sure exactly who but please read below and hopefully you will understand if or why I came past under a blue flag from the guys in front. :disapointed:
I was up near the front early, but had an off and broke things, so pitted VERY early and fixed 'em, added my fuel threw on new tyres as my first set seemed to be handling rubbish.
I leapt back on track just behind Karl and one of the Lemon boys (David I think it was?). Problem was they had just lapped me but after the pit my tires were feeling much better than the first set (is that possible?) and I was running quicker than those guys, but I did not have enough to get past and make a break for it.
So I got stuck there. As we caught people I was probably behind on track, they were moving aside, and often slowing and losing lots of time ... and leaving the door wide open for me too.
Big old conundrum ... should I keep going at same pace and follow the guys in front through or ermmm yeah ... what is the options or ruling here - I really do not know??
My pace was still faster than the people we were catching, and still I felt held up by the guys in front of me, but couldn't get through cleanly without messing up their race - so I stayed out of their battle as much as possible and remained patient.
My hope was that after other guys had pitted, I would be up near em again and ready to challenge the higher rankings once more ... there was still a long time to go in the race too ... so nothing was decided, as people were crashing or dropping out here and there.
Richard who was nearly one lap up but actually behind me, was catching us fast, I let him though under blue flag, but he then got caught up in a battle with Karl and X Lemon ... again, I tried to stay out of it whist waiting for a chance to get through myself and go off on my own in pursuit of my closest rivals in front.
Unfortunately Richard got squirrely right in front of me in one of the slow hairpins, I couldn't stop and tapped him ... but you know how fragile these minis are, so I got suspension damage ... my handling changed and was all snatchy through all the fast rights from there on in, but I decided to keep going and see what I could do with it ... I re-learnt how to drive it, so pushed on.
From there on in things went even more chaotic, blue flags for people coming though, I was still up with Karl and co, we then had Matt and Stuart in the mix (who I actually was racing) plus Patrick who was one lap up on us ... problem was we were all doing similar times and tripping each other up ... there were blue flags all over the place ... I think I let Paulo through unwittingly thinking the blue flag was for him when it wasn't ... oooohh my head was beginning to hurt, and my back and shoulders were killing me.
I finally spun at the slow left hander half way round the circuit (was expecting way more than one spin there tonight TBH) ... so temporarily lost the guys in front with about 20 mins to go.
Got back on track and headed after the boys in front again ... and finally caught up with them ... then something (an off from someone) dispersed the pack just as I got close, so Matt and I took our chances and dove through the guys who were 1 lap up ... I chased the bugger, but would he make a big enough mistake to let me though ... nah ... he drove a blinding last 7 minutes or so and held me to the flag.
Congrats to anyone who finished and of course the boys on the podium ... that was a mental one for me ... and again, apologies if you think I came past unfairly under someone else's blue flag - half the time I basically had no clue who was in front or behind or lapping me and I really have no clue what should be done in such a situation :confused2:
Thanks again Andrew, you are a twisted and evil sadist, but i guess we must be as daft as you cos we sign up for em!! :wink2:
