HSC 2020 Slotworx Porsche Cup Sprint Rnd 4 (8)

[stoo23]

The 4th race in the Covid limited Porsche Cup Sprint series was run this last Saturday evening and what a race it was !!

We have had some great fast and close racing in this class so far this year but this was even more so,.. it was intense !!

Sadly Dale was unable to join us, but was great to see Rodney return to have another run with us and straight up I Must apologise.
I honestly try to and believe I do race as cleanly as possible but as was the case the last time Rodney raced with us, we had a couple of 'coming togethers', as we sadly did this time.

So, once again, my sincerest apologies go out to Rodney,.. I can perhaps only blame the 'pressure' of Fox and especially John for my 'Haste',... sorry.

The Race

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Having usually chosen to Start on Green previously, for some reason I chose Blue this time, which was perhaps not such a great idea, as it allowed Mark to have a great run in the opening bracket, being able to maintain the slender distance to myself and similarly with myself to John,.. the three of us remaining equidistant for the whole bracket,..... Portents of the rest of the race,.. in hindsight

John has been Quick, all season but he was really 'on it' tonight and managed to take the lead by the 2nd bracket, equalling Mark with myself now 1 lap down after Purple.

With John having started on Red, he gained a few laps advantage whilst on Blue over Fox & myself as we ran on Purple and Black, respectively.
Darryl being a few laps down along with Rodney, to be expected, as they had started on Purple and Black but were soon to be making up time on the better lanes.

John managed to maintain his advantage over us,.. slightly, so by the end of the 5th bracket he and I were on 199 laps, with Mark on 198 and Darryl on 196. Rodney was a few further laps down, after a disappointing run on Red and perhaps being a bit 'rusty' around HSC, havong not raced since the first round earlier in the year.

The Race sheets give a good idea of how close the racing between John, Mark, Darryl and myself was, with all four of us running very similar totals on all lanes, with all of us turning 38 on Black !!

I managed to take the lead,.... JUST !! by the end of the 6th bracket with John & myself on the same lap with 240, Mark 2 x laps down on 238 and Darryl on 236.

John and I remained on the same lap, at times merely feet / seconds apart until the final bracket, when John had a de-slot and a further 'bingle',..(I think), allowing me to get a lap and a bit ahead and to eventually catch and pace myself behind him, follow him across the line 1 lap up with 323 after turning a 42 on Green, with John on 322, Mark on 319 and Darryl dropping another lap to Mark on 316, followed by Rodney, slightly 'outpaced' on the night, with 288.

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As previously suggested, this really was an 'intense' race !! with neither Mark and especially John, giving no quarter or opportunity to make even the slightest of errors !! there being very few de-slots all night,.. making for a rather easy evening for our Wing 12 compatriots thankfully helping with the marshalling duties allowing us to have a really great race !!

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Dave (Fitz) even commenting to me how enjoyable it was watching and was amazed how intense the concentration and close the racing was and impressed we could maintain it for the 4 minute brackets !!

It Was tough !! But a Heap of fun,... I don't know about everyone else, but I was sweating by the end,.. Phew !!

Once again, the track was in great condition and our usual thanks to James and all involved to help make for another great evening's racing at HSC !!
Pointscore to date; http://forum.ascra.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=1555