BAS 1 at South Wales brought sun, wind, rain, and sea fret! Sat on the line for my 3rd heat, the sea fret came in like a thick fog and within 10 minutes we couldn't see the track! We had to hang around for about an hour before racing could re-commence. Although I came away from this round with the results i needed, it wasn't a particularly good round for me. I wouldn't say i'm a perfectionist but i have high expectations of myself. If i make mistakes it's not the end of the world, but i do get mad with myself! I want to be the best driver i can be, and that means mistakes need to be kept to a minimum!Anyway, i had 2 heat wins and a 3rd and went on to win the final but only just. My car pushed on (tried to go straight on rather than turning) in the first bend of the first race and that was a huge mental set-back for me. I didn't drive the way i should, i was being far to cautious, all because i was subconsciously nervous about the pushing-on problem. I came away leading my class and the overall BAS but certainly wasn't satisfied with my driving.
At our next club meeting at York i did as i always do at club meetings, use the track time to practice and improve my driving. Club racing for ladies is generally fairly quiet, there's only usually 5 or 6 people in my races and there's nothing at stake. I use this time to test myself and the car, to see what we can both do and when we've gone too far. At this club meeting imparticular i was throwing the car about so hard, as if to shake out that mental issue i had over the pushing on in Wales. It did the trick and i had a good days racing.
The North of England Championships came at the end of May Bank Holiday weekend and it was an excellent weekend. The weather was good to us, there was a good number of cars to make plenty of racing, but not too much hanging around and waiting. Complaints and re-runs were few and far between so all in all an enjoyable weekend, even though i was working hard as a committee member and doing my usual bit in Pits Control (Where we control the cars to come up for races). In the end there was only me and Julie Dean in our final but it was an awesome race. Julie got passed me on about the first lap and i fought and fought to eventually pass her back on the last lap. She almost got under me again in the last corner but i grit my teeth even harder to just hold onto it. It was a great challenge from Julie and i thoroughly enjoyed it. Even if i hadn't won i would have felt exactly the same. We were both well and truly buzzin after the race.
I took a comfortable win in the Champ of Champs to be crowned North of England Champion. (Pic above is of me collecting my trophy from Marcia Jackson of Jackson Coaches http://www.jacksonscoaches.com/ ).
BAS 2 came in mid June at the Cwmdu track near Hereford. The weather was a bit hit and miss; sunny and windy on Thursday and Friday, a good amount of rain on Friday night and Saturday to make for some muddy racing on day 1, and then sun and wind again on Sunday to dry it all out and bring up a great track for the finals. My first race went disasterously wrong. I don't know what happened but i thought the bungy was lifting (this is what starts us off) and so i went, only the bungee hadn't gone and consequently i'd jumped the start. I was disqualified and so nil points for me on that one - fine start! To be honest, i still haven't got over it now! I might be winning my class still but it's well and truly ruined my challenge for the overall BAS. But the show must go on!
A win in my 2nd heat and a 2nd in the last heat secured me a place in the final where i had a great race. I had a rubbish grid on the start line and so my start was poor. I was 3rd into the corner and it took me a couple of laps to get passed Julie Dean. By this time Sandra was well ahead and i didn't fancy my chances of catching her. Somehow, somewhere, i seemed to find another level to my driving. I was going faster than i can ever remember driving before and i caught Sandra with about a lap to go. I managed to sneak under her on the last lap to take a well earned win. It felt good from inside the car and the comments i've had from other people since have been great. People genuinely seemed to have been impressed by my drive which is very encouraging. Bring on BAS 3....!
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