Well, Sunday’s race was interesting.
Carlton started on the pole, like on Saturday. I was second on the grid, beside Carlton.
Chris Cobetto got his usual good start and "helped" me along a little as we got past Carlton, due to his having a trouble finding second gear. David Herrington got a good start and came up beside me. We drove the first 5 turns side-by-side. We both gave a little room at each turn and never touched. After turn five, I had a slight advantage and pulled ahead.
After several laps of leading, and seeing Chris go off at the turn-in for 7 due to his foot slipping of the brake pedal and onto the accelerator, I had a semi good lead. Up to that point, David and Chis had been battling hard which gave me a little breathing room.
After a few more laps, and seeing David and Carlton staying about the same distance back, and knowing they were probably going through the last turn (fast, forth gear, down hill, double apex, right hander) quicker than I, I got a little greedy and went off…with two laps to go. It wasn’t an out-of-control carzy-spin but I could see that I was going off and drove it off to the left and into the open grass area.
After keeping it straight and under control, and seeing David and Carlton go by, I got back onto the track in a controlled way and followed them to the checker.
That’s the first time I’ve lost the lead due to a driving error and it was tough to keep my cool for the remaining two laps. However, I knew the car was fine and I wanted to keep it on the track. Plus, Carlton and David drove very well and they had stayed with me for the entire race. It certainly wasn’t "in the bag" and I had to keep driving hard. But it’s definitely a lesson learned.
And overall, it was a fun weekend hanging out at the track and racing with my fellow Spec E30 racers.
Carter
