Another big weekend of racing in the Mazda MX-5 Heritage Cup Race Series. Three practice sessions on Friday, Qualifying and one Race on Saturday, and a further three races on Sunday.
Incredibly through it all I was second while all the action happened around me.
Second at the end of Friday practice. Second in qualifying. Second in race 1 so I started second in race 2 and finished second again. I even drew second in the marble draw to start and finish race 3 in second. Then start and finish race 4 in second. Crazy.
But that’s not to say nothing happened in those races.
Race 1 Dom (aka Fransen Motorsport) had a big off in front of me on the first lap (onto the grass and rejoining down in 8th). Ayven cruised off into the distance and I was left chilling in second.
Race 2 Dom got ahead again but on the second lap I was putting on pressure and he had a big lockup into turn 1 letting me nip up the inside. Ayven again cruised off up the road while Dom got in a fight behind me leaving me chilling.
Race 3 Ayven had drama leaving him at the back. I got ahead of Dom to lead and we bump drafted away from the pack before he used his car speed to sail past near the end and I couldn’t do enough to stop it.
Race 4 again Dom got past but again made the mistake at turn 1 letting me through. It wasn’t long before Ayven came from the back of the pack once again the class of the field getting past me for the win.
So a mistake free weekend that earnt me the overall round win by just 7 points ahead of Ayven 🎉 Finally something to celebrate after the frustration of being stuck in second.
I was quite disheartened after spending most of the first two races by myself in second. The third race was fun battling Dom until it was clear he just had so much more speed down the straight that he could get fully past before T1 while when the roles were reversed I couldn’t even get enough speed in the tow to catch or bump draft him. Race 4 was a good tussle but when Ayven caught me it felt like the overtake was inevitable. He could pull past with his car speed but to his credit he also had an edge over me in the infield corners. Didn’t help when I missed a gear right after he passed me.
I also spent the weekend cursing my cars speed off the line. Reviewing the video I was clearly getting better launches but as we changed and ran through second gear every other car gained and could overtake me before getting to T1. Last season I thought I was just crap at race starts but now with the 360 cam we can see my reactions were on point the issue comes later. Frustrating to line up at the front knowing I’ll be fighting to even keep 3rd by T1.
Felt like I got the most out of the car this weekend. Cruising around in second felt easy but the gap to the front was impossible. Driving around on my own I was questioning why I even bothered. My second season in MX5s and I’ve now proven to myself what I’m capable of. I’ve driven all the south island tracks, I’ve had race wins against the best, two round wins now too. Without the car speed to fight with the top two and with Dom having a comfortable lead in the championship it seems there’s nothing left for me to reach for. It’s been on my mind for a while that this might be my last season in the MX5s.
We shared the grid through the weekend with the Mini 7 category. They started ahead of us while the MX5s lined up from grid position 19 onwards. Hence all the 20s on my steering wheel. 2nd MX5 on the grid in every single race.
All a bit easier when it’s my home track so no travel to organise, just pile everything in the car and off I go. Christchurch put on awesome weather for us throughout with beautiful blue skies and serious heat from the sun that made for a hot slippery track come the afternoons.
Thanks as well to those friends that came to cheer me on. I feel like a rock star having support there waving from the stands and hyping me up in the pits. I even got chatting with a stranger while watching other categories and had them popping by in support for the rest of the weekend. Had me feeling like a real pro thanks team.
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