Glan-Y-Gors Round 6, Dragon Masters, July 2008
Qualifying > I started from the middle of the grid this time, in front of the novices but behind my main rivals. I had a good start and soon topped the timesheets, by a reasonable 2 tenths to start off with, but then the gap soon closed and eventually by the end of the session I was still first, although only by 4 hundredths of a second to Joe Charlton (no.51) and Declan Jones (no.16) who both had exactly the same laptime.
Heat 1 > I started on pole for this heat, and had a great start, leading all the way up to the hairpin, where I got a little bit out of shape and slid into the corner, where Joe had done the same behind me and accidentaly slid into my rear bumper, spinning me round, which put us both in the lowest 2 places. We worked together though to get through the pack and I passed someone on the last lap to finish in 6th place, Joe not having enough room on the track to pass and he finished in 9th. My fastest lap was a 43.89.
Heat 2 > I was 6th on the grid for this one, and had a good start although a battling Tony Davies (no.20) and Lincoln Newby (no.67) saw me onto the grass and go over a huge mound, which nearly flipped me. I got back on the track and worked my way up to 2nd place, catching Declan who had started on pole to take the win. My fastest lap was a 44.02.
Final > For the final I started in 3rd place. I had a good start, but got stuck behind Stevie Hargreaves (no.46) who was struggling for grip on the opening lap. I passed him coming into the Carousel, and focused on catching Declan who was leading. By lap 3 I had closed the half a second gap and was on his bumper by the end of the straight as I had a lot of straight line speed, and had to lift off to avoid knocking him. I made my move cleanly coming into the spoon and lost no time. Coming down the straight I was hit from behind by Declan and I spun, being narrowly avoided by the rest of the field. Once everyone had passed I rejoined the race in 8th place. I now had to make up as many places as I could, but the pack had gone and it was a case of catch-me-up to gain any places. On lap 5 I passed Tony and novice Richard Johnson (no.21) which moved me up into 6th place. I now had to close a gap of 4.6 seconds to 5th placed Matt Helps (no.43). I managed it by the last lap and passed him up the straight, although Matt was having none of it and re-passed me into the Carousel corner. At the end of the race I was taken into the Clerk of the Course's office with Declan regarding the incident but the results stood and Declan won the race.