Al gets a mention in Motorsport News!

Cadwell Long 12th July 2009 - 2nd place!

Big Al bags a 3rd in class in the first race, then a second in class, 2nd overall and a fastest lap - all in the second race, Kermit’s best results to date. Read all about it below!

Des and I snuck up to Cadwell on the Friday beforehand for a cheeky test, which allowed us plenty of time for de-bugging and fine tuning the car. By the end of the day, we had smashed my previous lap time and set some times that would put me into real contention for Class C.

So, soon enough we were lined up ready to go for practice. We had made a beeline to get out for practice first and were successful, which allowed me to get some really clear laps, and post some great times, not quite as good as testing, but good enough it would seem – we qualified 2nd place for both, behind only Gary Goodyear who is in Class B. Great! Time for a rest – prior to Race 1.

So Race 1, I lined up on the front row of the grid but on the outside. Red lights on, then out. Got a fantastic start and straight into pole position! Great, all to plan so far!! Flying round, I could see that the other guys were all packed up tightly and clearing fighting each other hard. I hoped that they would all slow each other down enough that I could make a break, not to be – Gary was soon looming in my rear view mirror and then charged past on the way into Park, so down to 2nd – Bum. Very soon Hileymeister was on my tail and made a late braking manoeuvre into the mountain and snuck through too. Andy soon got past Gary and was now leading the race, but with both Gary and myself hot on his heels. Couple of laps past in this formation, then Andy outbraked himself into Mansfield and went sliding off onto the grass. Gary and I dived through, now 1st and 2nd respectively. All was going great until I was going down the start-finish straight overtaking a backmarker and the RHS rear of the car came round, very very odd feeling and I was convinced something major on the car’s suspension had just broken and was about to completely fail, given this I backed off and tried to assess what the hell was wrong with the car – in the process letting through both MAW, Andy and Guy. I was about to pull into the pits – convinced that the axle was hanging off. Instead (and in true racing spirit) thought it best to carry on and take the risk. I was able to catch up with Guy, but could not quite get past. So, finished the race 3rd in class and 5thoverall. Great result, but could have been better if I hadn’t worried about the car’s handling for a lap. So, what caused the dodgey handling? Well only by chatting with the guys afterwards did I discover that one of the Ward cars had expired on the start-finish line and dumped all of it’s oil in the process – all that had happened was I had hit the oil at full beans and it had quite unsettled it.

Race 2
Again on P2 on the grid, got a great start in 1st, then missed my change to 2nd and lost ground to Gary and Andy and I so instantly got relegated to P3. I had an immediate threat from Mathew (MNR V8) and Mark (Toyota 1600) into Coppice but was able to hold the position. Mark had a look up the outside into Park, but again I held the position – Mark lost time out of Park allowing me to create a gap and re-chase Andy & Gary. Initially Gary pulled a gap from Andy, and I fully expected that was the finish line-up – Gary, Andy then me, however not to be……Initially Gary open up a good lead from both of us, after about 4laps we had closed this gap, enough for Andy to try an overtake down the outside of Park straight, he didn’t make it stick though, but was hot on heels of Gary in front. Another few laps, and we met a backmarker at the gooseneck, Andy pounced and got alongside Gary on the inside on the way into Mansfield – he was through. I saw Gary offline and had a look for unable to get the power down enough to get alongside so tucked in behind.



Gary was not at all quick through the mountain section and was actually holding me up, allowing Andy to pull a good gap. Following Gary, I could see that he was faster on the straights, but not in some of the bends, here I hatched my cunning plan. Heading into Coppice (uphill lefthander after start-finish straight), I was right on Gary’s tail, literally bumper-to-bumper. Then on the entrance to Charlie’s 1 Gary lifted and stayed wide, leaving the inside open. I was straight on it, nitro-boosters on max, I charged up the inside and got alongside comfortably for Charlies 2 – now up to 2nd place – Hoooraay!! See photo compilation.



In fact I had a brief look up the inside of Andy too – not on though! I got a great pull-away from Gary and opened up a good gap. Now, there were only a few laps left – I needed to hold my position and keep this place! I defended a couple of times into Park, no real issue here. Then Gary started to make a move for the inside line of Druids, I moved over to cover the line and saw Gary run wide and take to the grass. This clearly created a big gap, I started chasing Andy and caught him up, but without a chance to overtake. So, finished 2nd place overall (awesome) behind Andy also in Class C and in front of Gary in Class B. Really excellent results, could’ve only been one place better! Just to finish the day off nicely, I got fastest lap for Class C which is a real achievement for our slightly heavy and not particularly aerodynamic car. A real result all round! Really, very, very chuffed. Top work to the team today, thanks to Des, JB, Mike and Suz – as is nice as driver, they prepped the car and I was left to drive!

Uncle Mike will be out at Silverstone in August – check it!






Report to follow, a few photos above to get you started:-