Back at Brentwood for Round 5 of the Cadet Race League and as I've said before so far this has been a really good season for me and I was just waiting for a bad round and this one was it! I knew it would happen at one point. So what happened?
I qualified 2nd which isn't too bad for Heat 1 but recently I've just not got off to the best of starts on the outside of the track and this heat was no different. I managed to hold 2nd for the race but had to defend with my life all the way round while Ethan just went off into the distance, so I was quite disappointed with my performance as I knew that I needed strong heat results to make up for my Grid Penalty that would be served for making the podium again last week.
Heat 2 I started P9 on the grid and was hoping for the win but was also in a kart that the fastest time it had put in that day was a 36.1 second lap, not the best. After what could only be described as a shambolic rolling start, which included a spinner on a formation lap and 2 false starts we finally got underway. I started making up places quickly and found myself in 2nd which I then received an ABC for (meaning I had to give back the place), in doing so I ended up right down the back of the pack as the person I was giving the place back to fell down the order. Completely frustrated and with time ticking by the best I could manage was a P4 finish, totally ruined weekend or so I thought!
In the other Groups heats similar misfortunes were going on which for me was very lucky as they finished further down the grid than I did and had harsher penalties for their previous weeks win which meant that I scraped into the A Final by the skin of my teeth, starting P9.
The A Final kart draw was certainly in my favour and I picked out Kart 34 which was on a flyer so all was not lost. It was a reverse track race and I just kept my head down. There was certainly a lot of chaotic moments in the race and I took full advantage of these and found myself running in 4th. A battle directly in front of me was for 2nd & 3rd and when the move was made for them to go up into 2nd, I went wide to go round the outside of them both and ended up getting spun out. I was fuming. An ABC was given in my favour but that did nothing for my race as I was then running down in 8th with time ticking by. In the end the best I could manage was P6 and I was fuming, after the heats that I had to have battled my way up through the pack to be in another podium position and to have it taken away through no fault of my own was disappointing to say the least.
Hoping for a better week in Round 6 and at least this week I won't have to serve any grid penalties with my closest rival having a 5 place grid penalty. 25 points banked for the round, not a complete disaster.
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