A long weekend with testing Friday and racing on Saturday and Sunday with the track layout changing between days.
Friday Testing went well showing good pace in most of the sessions.
Race day format would be the same for both days: 3 lap practice 6 Minute Timed Quali 8 Minute + 1 Lap Heat 9 Minute + 1 Lap Pre-Final 12 Minute +1 Lap Final
Each day would feature trophies and points from each outing going towards the overall East Anglian Trophy results....
Saturday Race day on the alternative circuit layout which Lucas likes so hoping for a strong day....
TQ
Looked very good for the 1st 3 minutes with Lucas buzzing at the sharp end of the timing table but he got separated from the driver he was working with when going through traffic and fell down the order to 11th at one point but managing to stick a lap in at the end which resulted in a P8 start for the heat.....not the best but he was happy that he could race his way through and looking at the times he was only 0.14 of a second behind pole.....so it was looking like everyone was on the money at the sharp end.
Heat 1
Dude got a good start and by lap 3 he'd made his way up to 4th and kept the momentum going to move into P2 only to be relegated to P5 by lap 5....head down and pushed forward again to P2 which he held to the flag! Great drive and pulled it back from TQ to give him a good starting point in the Pre-Final.
Pre-Final
Absolutely nailed the start to pull into the lead. Wesley Mason jumped on his bumper and the pair pushed to try to break away from the chasing pack....which they did and on lap 8 Wesley had enough and went for the lead which he held until lap 10 when Lucas went in to lead again......holding this until the 1st corner of the last lap where he went slightly too defensive and compromised his exit and the experience of Wes showed as he punished Lucas by going past and taking the win.....another really strong race and more of those points.....P2 start in the Final...
Final The Final was going to be a tough race and when the lights went out Lucas squeezed himself into the inside train of karts into turn 1 in P2. Trying to replicate the pre-final he pushed Wesley but they couldn't break the pack this time and it turned out to be a 5 kart train at the front. Positions swapping throughout the race ended up with Lucas coming across the line in 5th. So, not the anticipated end to the day but a very solid performance and impressive considering upon subsequent stripping of the chassis it was found to be damaged and cracked.
Sunday (back to the normal circuit layout)
Timed Quali
Lucas was hoping for better and hooked up with the Virtus Racing drivers who worked together to try and put some fast laps in......it was working with Lucas posting at P1 & P2 until the hit traffic again and the train got split up dropping down the order until they got back together for the last 2 laps where Lucas and an old teammate nailed a lap which put him in P5... So not the front row we had hoped for but at the right end and only 700th of a second off of Pole.
Heat 1
Not much to ask, just do the same as yesterday but let's have one place higher this time please....lol Off and Dude makes it to 3rd on lap 1, 2nd lap 2 and leading on lap 3 but Wesley goes in on lap 4 to take the lead and lap 5 it swings back to Lucas and on that lap Wes clips a kerb which drops him off the back of Lucas.....so we are out in the lead on our own and Oliver Bearman, 2016 O Plate Champion is coming.....too fast unfortunately and he catches Lucas with 2 laps to go and goes straight in. Lucas uses his head and signals to Oliver that he will push to maintain the gap to the chasing pack but on the last lap Oliver goes defensive and slows the pair down, edging them towards the chasing drivers, Lucas signals that he will push but trust needs to be built up and Oliver maintains his defence which resulted in a close call over the line as the gap to 3rd reduced from 2.1 seconds to 1 10th of a second over the line! Another P2 though and happy....
Heat 2
yep, starting P2 (again..😵..surely a pole start could happen..maybe?) The weather was constantly changing with drizzle coming and going but not enough to warrant a change to wets....... Anyway, P2...race starts and Lucas gets a good start posting fastest lap early on until....yep, that weather decided it was time to rain...with most of the drivers out on slick it was going to be very tricky conditions to drive in. Lucas, for some reason did not switch on to the wet conditions like he normally would and was relegated to 7th but starts to make progress as the race continues and grabs a couple of places towards the end making his way up to P5 when he took the flag....on the debrief he agreed he should have driven differently and assured us it was under control..
Final
All to do from P5 start.....on the bright side at least we were on the inside of the track into T1... The weather was still guesswork and some of the front end drivers had opted to go with intermediate tyres, anticipating the heavens opening again.... We'd gone slicks again as although it was threatening we hoped we'd get a 15 minute window to get the race done.....lights went out and off they go.... 1st couple of laps and some drivers looked as though they may have called it right but the rain just didn't come and soon Lucas caught them and was working with an old teammate to catch the front pair.
The gap was not closing quick enough but the pair kept working together knowing that towards the end of the race it would 'kick off' at the front and then they'd hopeful have their shot.....Lap 15 of 16 it started and they pulled back the deficit from 1.8 seconds to 0.7 but this was going on to the last lap and Lucas decided that he couldn't afford to not defend so it was a race for 3rd which up until the last corner was his.......a move by Ben at the last turn meant Lucas came over the line in 4th and was 100th of a second off the fastest lap which went to Ben.
So all this resulted in Saturday........5th Sunday...........4th
East Anglian Trophy Final Positions........3rd 😄🎉🎊 Great driving and consistency from Dude all weekend.