Junior Grand Prix at Rogue Racing - 2008
6th December:
The final race of the 2008 season and a large turnout of 17 drivers in attendance. Only one of the new drivers from last month (Patrick Harper) had returned, but again the series had attracted new drivers in the form of Katy O'Connor (our first girl), Tommy Leary, Michael Langran and Frankie Champion. Good to see a seemingly endless supply of new competitors, it can only bode well for next season.
Again it was very cold and although Geri went out for practice in the second session, the lack of grip caught him out as he uncharacteristically spun right round coming into the final corner on his first lap. At least it would give him practice chasing down the other drivers - he said afterwards he was gauging how much (little) grip there was and said it wouldn't happen during a race!
Geri looking very pensive at the start of the day
Heat 1 saw Geri starting in 5th place as the grid lined up Matt Hayes (always on pole for the first heat as he always arrives first), Michael Langran, Tom Holland, Patrick Harper, Geri and Tommy Leary. With a couple of unknown quantities, Geri knew he needed to be careful not to get trapped in the wall or behind a crash, at the same time Matt would be making hay out front and Geri couldn't afford to let him get too far away. Matt is more than capable of fast enough times.
Geri got the right sort of start, cautious through the first corner but up into 3rd place by the end of the upper straight on lap 1, and he moved up into second going round the inside of Michael on lap 2. But already Matt had a three second lead, In a 10 lap heat, Geri would have to go some if he wanted to start the day with a win. It looked like things would go Matt's way, Geri caught up with Matt just as they were about to lap Tommy, Matt got past just as the yellow light came on and Geri was stuck behind allowing Matt to pull out another lead. The yellow light went out on lap 5 and Geri shot straight past Tommy but now was even further behind Matt than before. Geri was gaining at a little over a second a lap, but the laps were running out. Geri caught up with Matt on lap 9 but the yellow lights came on again, by the time they were out and the race back on, Geri had half a lap to find a way past Matt. His opportunity came on the very last corner, Matt caught up with Patrick at the back and went wide trying to pass Patrick before the line - Geri didn't need an invitation to cut inside preventing Matt from turning in as tightly as he might, and although they both lapped Patrick before the line, it was Geri that started the day with a win. Michael was some way back in 3rd just holding off Tom in 4th while Patrick finished 2 laps down and Tommy three laps down. Fastest laps were Geri (27.40), Matt (28.46), Michael (28.88), Tom (28.82), Patrick (31.80) and Tommy (33.98).
Heat two saw Jordan Donegan on pole from Will Barker, Carl Donnellan, Luke Doig, Frankie Champion and Jack Macaulay. This was going to be interesting, although Geri had already been confirmed as 2008 champion, Luke led Jack by a single point in the race for second place. Jack moved up into 5th from the start but was finding Carl a more difficult proposition. Jordan was holding off Will and Luke while a gap was opening up to Carl in 4th place with Jack climbing all over him. By the time Jack got by on lap 4 (and was shown the "bump" board) he was 3 seconds down on Luke. Jordan tapped Frankie while lapping him on lap 6th which slowed Will and Luke giving Jordan a couple of seconds lead but by lap 9 the front three were nose to tail again with Jack still three seconds down as the front three were now matching his pace. On the final lap, the front three all passed Frankie again as they crossed the line, a win to Jordan from Will and Luke, Jack not quite able to catch up finishing 4th with Carl 5th and Frankie 6th, 2 laps down.
Heat three and Geri was back out on track, starting second from Sam Conn on pole, with Matt, Alfie Stevens and Harry Macaulay lining up behind him. Rather than take a chance on the first corner, Geri waited to the end of the upper straight to pass Sam and although Matt didn't take too long to follow suit, Geri already had a three second lead over Matt with Sam a further nine seconds behind after just 5 laps. Geri lapped Alfie on lap 8, by the time Matt followed him through, the lead was up to 5 seconds, which was extended to 6 seconds by the time Geri crossed the line for his second win of the day, Matt taking his second second place of the day. Harry managed to catch Sam late in the race and narrowly shaded third place from Sam with Alfie finishing a lap down. Fastest laps were Geri (27.24), Matt (28.12), Harry (28.80), Sam (29.04) and Alfie (31.92).
Heat four, Katy O'Connor on pole from Frankie, Jordan, Michael, Guy and Tom Holland. Guy found himself in the wall after the first corner amd was a long way behind by the time he was retrieved. By lap 4 the race order had sorted itself out, Jordan was leading from Michael, Tom, Guy, Frankie and Katy but this was a race of incessant yellow lights. Guy was the fastest driver on the circuit and was making a bid for 2nd, closing in on Michael, but a big accident on the final lap between the backmarkers blocked the track. Jordan arrived first and found a way through to record his second win of the day by two seconds from Michael who just managed to hold off Guy. Frankie and Tom both finished a lap down (they were lapped during the last lap crash) while Katy finished two laps down. Fastest laps were Jordan (28.40), Michael (28.72), Guy (27.88), Tom (28.30), Frankie (33.22) and Katy (34.60).
Heat five saw Tommy Leary on pole from Sam Conn, Will Barker, Patrick Harper and Carl Donnellan. Alfie should have been in second but had pulled out of the event. Will took full advantage of the gap up front and ended the first lap in the lead from Patrick, Carl, Sam and Tommy. Will was pulling away from Patrick by 2 seconds per lap, he was 6 seconds clear after lap 3. Will lapped Tommy on lap 4 and lapped him on the 5th by which time his lead had grown to 11 seconds. Will went on to take an easy win by 12 seconds from Patrick with Sam 3rd, Carl 4th and Tommy 5th. Fastest laps were Will (27.88), Patrick (29.50), Sam (30.12), Carl (28.80) and Tommy (33.12).
Heat six and Geri's third and final heat - could he win all three for the first time ever? With two wins on the board for both Geri and Jordan, the pressure was on Luke and Jack in their second heat to get some good points scored. Jack started on pole making him strong favourite for the win with Guy 2nd, then Geri (Katy should have been third but pulled out), Luke and Matt. This was the strongest heat of the day with the 5 top drivers by championship position all out together.
From the start Geri tucked in behind Guy while Jack made the most of the clear track. Geri often finds Guy the hardest to get past, and today was no different. By the time Geri found a way past and up into second, Jack was four seconds ahead with four laps to go. With a clear track ahead of him. we expected Geri to at least cut the gap and put pressure on Jack but they alternately were faster than each other and Jack prevented Geri was winning all three heats winning by 3 seconds. Luke got just as stuck behind Guy as Geri so Guy took 3rd from Luke with Matt back in 5th. Fastest laps were Jack (27.34), Geri (27.20), Guy (27.54), Luke (27.48) and Matt (27.96) in the closest and fastest heat of the day.
Heat seven saw Harry Macaulay on pole from Patrick, a gap where Tommy should have been, then Frankie and Jordan - could Jordan make it 3 wins from 3 where Geri had failed? Harry got a flying start and was already 5 seconds clear at the end of lap one but Jordan had got up to second. Harry extended his lead over Jordan to seven seconds by lap 4 but then Jordan really started flying pulling back 2 seconds over the next three laps. On the final lap Jordan was 3 seconds down from Harry but Harry got stuck behind Frankie and just made it over the line in first from Jordan right on his bumper. So Jordan joined Geri on 23 points, only Will could match them so Geri was already guaranteed a pole position in the semi-finals, the other would either be Jordan or Will.
Heat eight, Tom on pole from Luke, Jack, Michael and Sam. Michael spun at the end of the upper straight on the first lap and lost most of a lap. The front three were running nose to tail b ut finally on lap 7 Luke found a way past Tom, Jack followed him straight through. With no-oen to hold them up, Luke was slowly pulling away from Jack by 1-2/10ths per lap and went on to record his first win of the day from Jack, then Tom, Sam and Michael who was unable to make up for the first lap spin. Fastest laps were Luke (27.34), Jack (27.56), Tom (27.86), Sam (29.88) and Michael (28.30).
Final heat, Will needed to win to match Geri and Jordan on 23 points, but would have to do it from 4th (of 4) on the grid behind Carl, Harry and Guy. Will found Guy as hard to pass as the other drivers earlier, but Guy moved up to take the win, Will settling for second place and 22 points, with Harry third and Carl 4th. Points after the heats were Geri 23, Jordan 23, Will 22, Jack 22, Guy 22, Harry 20, Luke 19, Matt 18.
Semi final one, Geri on pole from Will, Guy, Luke, Michael and Sam. Luke knew he needed to make the final if he was to finish in 2nd overall while Geri knew he couldn't be complacent if he wanted pole for the final. And there was no danger of that, Geri took a 1.1 second lead from a standing start first lap, set a new fastest time of the day (27.16) on lap 3, dropped that to 26.90 on lap 4 but after clipping the wall on lap 5 we signalled to him that he had done a "26" and could afford to back off - we didn't expect any "26s" from the second semi-final regardless of who won. Luke managed to get up to third on lap 6 putting him back into the final, he was chasing down Will hard while Geri was 5 seconds out front by lap 8. Geri caught up and lapped Sam on lap 10, Will and Luke lapped Sam on lap 11 but Geri won comfortably from Will who just held off Luke, with Guy close by in 4th, then Michael and Sam. Fastest laps were Geri (26.90), Will (27.60), Luke (27.38), Guy (27.60), Michael (28.34) and Sam (29.88).
Semi final two, Jordan on pole from Jack, Harry, Matt, Patrick and Tom. Patrick spun on the first lap and fell back to last place while up front Jordan seemed to be struggling to stay in front of Jack, getting very ragged and sliding around a lot. On lap 5 Jordan and Jack had caught up with Patrick and were running nose to tail as the two leaders tried to find a way past. Suddenly Jack was parked up in the wall and resumed the race back in 5th. Jordan now had a comfortable lead over Harry and Matt (now up to 2nd and 3rd). Jack chased back hard and soon was up to 4th, just two seconds down by lap 10 - 2 laps to go. But Jack ran out of time, Jordan won the semi final by seven seconds from Harry and Matt with Jack finishing 4th ahead of Tom and Patrick. This result would leave Jack unable to catch Luke for 2nd overall and deprived the crowd of a battle between the pair in the final.
So to the final, the last one of 2008. Geri was on pole from Jordan, Will, Harry, Luke and Matt - the first semi-final drivers all faster than their grid partners from the second semi final. The simple story is Geri just drove off from pole to record his easiest win of the 9 in a row that this became. By lap 12 he was 14 seconds ahead of Will in 2nd place, Will had managed to get past Jordan on the third lap but was too busy defending his second place to give chase to Geri. Geri caught up with Matt at the end of lap 12 but rather than take any risks to lap him, Geri just followed him round for the last two laps to win by 6.9 seconds. Will just made second place 1.5 seconds ahead of Jordan who took his first podium in only his third event. Luke's 4th place, 1 second behind Jordan, was enough to give him 30 points on the day to Jack's 25 and ensure his 2nd place overall. Harry finished 5th, 13 seconds behind Luke with Matt 4 seconds further back in 6th. Fastest laps were Geri (26.82), Will (27.44), Jordan (27.46), Luke (27.44), Harry (28.18) and Matt (27.90). Geri cemented his championship with a 39 point haul and although Will beat Jordan to second place, Jordan outscored Will 37 to 36.
At the end of the final there were two presentations, first for the event today where Geri was joined on the podium by Will and Jordan.
There then followed the championship podium, once again Geri was on top and joined this time by Luke and Jack for the presentation of large trophies by Rogue Racing.
A new season starts straight away on January 3rd. We are not sure whether Geri will attend this one yet, it is not in Geri's plans to compete for the whole season as most rounds clash with the championship at Rye House, but Geri will compete in any rounds he is able. Hopefully this will give encouragement to some of the up and coming drivers as the 2009 championship is up for grabs.
