Post Winton

Decided about 6:30 as wife had the day off to Try and have a full run last night at winton. Had about 45 min practice pre Qual and was quite happy with my pace At the end of practice was second on the Time sheets

Qual
Up until now had only run race setup so tried to make some quick adjustments and head out. Wasn't as good as practice and managed to hold on to 5th.

Race 1 in both races struggled first two laps. Had managed to get the car setup really nice but It turned out to be a pig first lap In both races. Coming onto the main front straight had a huge slide an dropped me right back. Worked hard and caught a spinning racer69 about lap 4 and I continued to follow him up to the Shayn and shano in front of us. Once we caught up I hung back giving racer a chance to make a move and try an follow him through which I was able to on Shayn. Couldn't on shano through and we were having a great battle. I went for over under move an got great drive was looking good for the pass on the exit shano had a big slide and I got into his door as he came around in front of me. I was 99% I did't tag him original to cause this spin but did the right thing and slowed down letting shayn and webber past while waiting for shano. We got stuck back into it for half a lap before I slide off the track on the start of the last lap. Was fantastic race had so much fun.

Race 2
I had the big old falcon really looking after the tyres and had decided to try and give no tyres stop a crack. Off the line Fried the tyres badly which would have left I think david behind me no where to go and bugger up his start sorry mate. Then when I got it going Ran straight into the side of dano lost it off line ( was funny big GT parked across the front of my car though). Had to push harder than I wanted to and threw my no tyres out the window to try and get back up to the leaders. Shayn and I were having a great battle pretty much 2.5 seconds gap for most of the race one way or the other. The car was still going strong and at the 13 mins to go had just set my fastest lap and a PB, but knew I had worked the tyres hard early and didn't think the full distance was do able for me any more so in I came. Not sure what happened in the pits By gained atleast 10 seconds on the cars in front and popped out behind Wally and in front of Webber and GroupC. Even though I had track position fresher tyres thought it best to move over and let Webber and Group C through they had pace on me I hadn't run the rest of the championship and didn't want to effect anyones results for it. I came passed a spinning wally and could see that racer69 was 50 plus seconds ahead of us and realised that he mustn't have changed tyres just a spash of fuel and was spewing I hadn't been able to try it as well. That was till a lap later when I went past a falcon running on two back rims.

Was really happy with not only third in second race but being competive when I had done no practice and hadn't had the race experience in these cars.

Well Done To GroupC on your championship win

Benny

damn. forgot to do my summary last nite. lol.

i cant seem to remember in any detail what happens in these races lol, just concentrating so hard on keeping the car on the road.

I qualified third i think, which was surprising, seeing as though the best i could manage in practice after 30 laps, was a 1:11.300, then two or so laps into qual. i did a 1:10.xxx. awesome.


the first race is a blur. but managed to keep up with some people and finished 4th.

the second race was pretty epic, i didnt spin out once, which i am very happy with. i was traveling in 4th or 5th for a while then lost some pace and fell down to 7th. due to misfortune of others spinning, i got a couple places back and kept a hold of them till half way through the race.

After pitting for more fuel, i think i came out behind Benny who was going very fast, i chased him for the last half of the race, 2.4 seconds was the gap most of the time, i got him down to .800 in the last couple laps, but messed up a couple times and fell back.

On the way to the finish line i passed some joker with no rear tyres HEHE, and went on to finish 4th again.

Happy to be consistent and be there waiting for when people make errors and take up spots. I think its a good way to do well in these races. If you arent as fast as the front guys, just make sure you run consistently and keep your head, eventually you will make up positions, due to stuff happening during the race.

I guess the people that finished 10th will be saying, well 4th is a front guy though, but i wasnt near the speed of the top 2.

You guys race really well, so organised and for lack of a better word, polite, on the track. Its good to see.

Well done.

Last night was some of the most fun i've had in ages, the cars were great fun around a little bullring like the 'proper' Winton track.

I had a good qualifying, just getting into the 1.09s with a 1:09.999. It took me a few laps to get it together though.

Race 1 - From pole GroupC got a better start and he lead me into turn 1, with Wally giving me a hard time around the outside. I managed to settle into second and was behind Group C, and we managed to pull abit of a gap on the rest. We were setting a similiar pace, and it would have been very hard to overhaul Group C.... but i spun coming onto the main straight which dropped me to 5th behind Shano, Shayn and with Benny right behind me.

What followed was some of the closest, cleanest racing i've had in a while. Shayn defended really well for a few laps while also trying to find a way round Shano... in the end they were battling through the back section and I managed to sneak by both. It was a close few corners though, with the four of use side-by-side. I couldn't run down the two leaders though, and finished third.


Race 2 - I got a great start from third, and settled in behind Wally. Group C was right behind me, and Webber was in there too. We all ran round very close for the first 8 or so laps, nose to tail and very clean. I couldn't find a way around Wally who was driving very well in first. Eventually everyone made their pitstop and i was left alone out infront. I found the laptimes didn't really drop away, so I just ran the fuel down to zero, which was lap 20, and when i pitted i only added a few laps of fuel to make the end, as the tyres seemed to be hanging in, and emerged from the pits with a 50sec lead.

I backed right off to make the end... but i didn't back off enough. Half way round the last lap a blew a rear tyre.... and while trying to struggle back i popped the other rear tyre.... a gamble that came so close to working...but really was not to be.

Great to see another good turnout, and as Shayn said, as usual some very fair and exciting racing. Looking forward to next week