Round 4 of the 2008/2009 National Series

Round 4 of the 2008/2009 National Series has been and gone with some great results. With fuel blockages, brake lock ups and fuel settings all wrong we managed some great finishes with two 4th placings and a 3rd. But we did up sorting the problems and the car went well. This is always a big bonus. A happy weekend.

Race One
Race One was full of action and excitement with the passing and driving becoming very aggressive. I started on grid 8 and had managed to pass a car every lap and worked my way up to 4th. I diced for 3rd position many times only to have it taken off me again. It was the last lap and this was the only chance I had left to make a move for 3rd place. The lap was all going to plan until my front brakes locked up on turn 5. Two cars passed me and I dropped back to 5th. I had a real race on my hands now. I passed one car in the top sweeper then the other down the long 1km straight. I missed out on 3rd place by 0.3 of a second coming home in 4th place. A good finish.

Race Two
Race two I started on pole as I had set the fastest lap in race one. I had a terrible start as we had a fuel blockage which made the car slow off the line until it got high in the revs. I dropped back to 4th. Not a good start to the race. I managed to catch up to the top bunch and passed them all on the straight leading to turn 5. But again the brakes locked up and I went wide onto the grass. This put me back to 7th. But there were only 2 laps to go. I worked my way up to 5th. I diced hard for the position only to be beaten at the chequered by 0.4 second.
An incident at the chase resulted in a car having 10secs added to his time meaning I moved up the 4th. I was happy considering I dropped back to 7th with only 2 laps to go.

Race Three
Race three I started on pole and got a superb start with the rest of the bunch hot on my heels. Three cars got in my draft and passed me down the back straight. I had a race on my hands and the lead just like normal changed just about every lap. I was in the wrong place on the last lap but couldn’t do anything about it. It came down to the famous ‘chase’ again. All the top 4 cars locked up their brakes and cars were going everywhere on the track. I knew it would be down to the ‘chase’ so I braked early and changed to 2nd gear. This gave me more torque and was able to get by to finish 3rd. Very happy.

From a weekend with some very niggling issues I was happy with the placings we received and we now know what fuel settings we need to use. We have moved up another place in the Championship to 4th. We are still moving up which is great to see. Next round Pukekohe 14th and 15th February