Race Reports Archive
Cadwell Park
Saturday, April 05, 2008 - Sunday, April 06, 2008
Championship Round: 2
First time at Cadwell Park
Having never driven the car around Cadwell Park, Simon was very much looking forward to the opportunity of competing on this fine race track. The Ginetta Festival giving the drivers the opportunity to compete at this little used facility.
The Ginetta Festival gave Simon and Optimum Motor Sport the opportunity to test on the Saturday before the event. With the assitance of Joe, Shaun, Ron and the rest of the boys they were soon able to get reasonably up to speed. However, inclement weather conditions did not help with intermittent rainfall and snowfall!
Qualifying on the Sunday morning did not go as well as expected with Simon lining up for the first race in 11th place and for the second race in 10th place. However, this was a vast improvement on Brands Hatch, clearly showing that the team and driver are going in the right direction. During qualifying he had felt a slight misfire, but the team were unable to pinpoint the problem. However it soon masifested itself in the first race when a severe misfire set in after the first lap. There was very little he could do but decided to carry out until the end in order to gain some points. He eventually finished in 16th place and the misfire was found to be due to a partially disconnected starter motor lead. With the problem resolved he was fired up for the final race of the day.
As the cars formed on the grid the snow started to form on the track! However, Simon was able to master the tricky conditions and soon found himself in 8th place after achieving a good start and driving around the outside of Ashley Craig into the first corner. He was now on the hunt for an even better finish and eventually climbed upto 7th place and continued to chase hard and close down Daniel Lloyd in the hope of a top 6 finish. However, as the track dried he was unable to find the ultimate pace required and soon settled on 7th place and a bag full of points.
Simon's next race will be at Donington Park on May the 3rd/4th 2008.
