Thanks, I watched the replay and have to comment on the performances of
@ADZA_85 and
@CaptainRisky21, the way they carved through the field over the last half dozen laps is awe inspiring and humbling.
Your comment about trying too hard rings true with me. Thursday night I went online with
@Apex_64 and ADZA after watching the replays from earlier in the week and looking to see where I could gain time. I pushed hard where I knew they were quicker and the results were terrible. I sulked off and contemplated my navel for a while and realized the cutting, Forest Elbow and McPhillamy Park were my touch points. I couldn't match the quick guys through there and all attempts resulted in horrific understeer at the two tight corners and probable crash at the fast bit. I decided to settle for my occasional high 3s and consistent mid 4s and hope that I could be up front somewhere at the end if I kept it on track.
The key I think to my win was never actually getting caught up in a train of traffic,
@Ozglenn spun just as I was getting close and then I somehow came out ahead of
@Easyprey007 and
@boneslightning at the first round of stops.
@Thefat111 let me through by backing off and giving me a clear run into turn 1 instead of contesting it (thanks) and then there was only
@Savage_Duck_75 ahead during the remainder of the second stint and the first half of the third stint. All the while the faster guys were yoyoing behind me with different guys behind me gaining a little and then dropping back so I was never really threatened from behind. Early in the second stint I could see a train of cars behind easyprey and was very glad not to be in there.
I managed to get by Savage without time loss as I got a good tow down Conrod to set my best time to that point and to get within striking distance and then a good exit from turn one and another tow up Mountain Straight to take the lead into turn two. From there I scratched out a small lead and I could see a pack closing in on him so knew the job wasn't done yet.
My first three stints were 5, 9, and 9. On each stop I only put in 89% where others filled up so that gave me a couple of 10ths but I knew at the last stop they wouldn't need as much so I was wary. It was a pressure stop for me and when I pressed the stop fueling button I thought I had underfilled and panicked, that led to me cocking up pit exit and getting a 3 second penalty. I thought Fark, I've blown it. There were cars ahead that still had to stop and risky coming up quick behind me, I started short shifting but realized as I came onto Conrod that the 84% I put in was actually an overfill as the last stint was only 8 laps. The penalty on Conrod allowed risky through and that worried me even though he was due for a stop.
Once those ahead had stopped I was in 2nd behind duck again as he came out of the pits and worried there wasn't enough laps left to catch him again. I closed quickly over the mountain and when we got on Conrod I could see he also had a pit penalty and that put me back in the lead with a few seconds gap to Duck.
With about 5 to go
@Stew Wilson got up into 2nd behind me, recovering from some early set backs. I knew he was faster and started to worry, I concentrated and started to do mid 3s so that he only gained marginally for a couple of laps and things were looking good. On lap 29 I did a 3.6 and was pleased until I realized he had gained a full second and at that rate would be all over me on Conrod for the last lap. I concentrated really hard on braking points and turn in points and did my best lap of 3.3 on the next lap, Stew had a ragged lap of 4.2 to be back where he had been two laps before and that left me a comfortable last lap.
Thanks
@Apex_64 for the hard work and I think your handicaps were pretty good, My clean run was the key where as others suffered various setbacks or were held up. I lost a second in my only on track error, touching the wall on the right out of the dipper but it was only a glance and the damage didn't really slow me much.
Click to expand...
