Junior Grand Prix at Rogue Racing - 2008
3rd May:
Fresh from the success last month, Geri was hoping for more of the same this month. This month's entry comprised 14 drivers, and Luke Doig was back after missing the last round. But no Tom Robilliard who was sitting 4th overall.
Again, a decent draw for Geri with one race starting from pole, one from 3rd and one from 6th, but some other drivers gained an advantage when there were only 5 drivers in their heats. And in Geri's final heat when he would be starting 3rd, Jack Macaulay was on pole with Guy Grigsby (very difficult to overtake) 2nd and Luke Doig 4th. That would be a decisive heat.
Heat one saw Matthew Hayes win from pole but only just as Jack Macaulay came back from 6 seconds down after 4 laps when he moved up into 2nd place to lose by just a second. Jack recorded the fastest time of the race (and first FTD) at 27.28 to Matt's best lap of 27.84. Ryan Hubball held on for 3rd place having started 2nd, with David Woodford, David Humpston and Adam Payne taking 4th, 5th and 6th.
Heat two saw Geri's first race, lining up 6th on the grid with Tom Holland, David Woodford, Harry Macaulay, Guy Grigsby and William Barker lining up in front of him. A first lap incident saw Guy move up to 3rd, but Geri was some 10 seconds behind in 4th at the end of that lap. But Geri was gaining 1.5-2 seconds a lap and kept his foot in. Guy moved up to win the heat with a best lap of 27.76. With one lap to go, Geri had caught Tom Holland and came round the last hairpin using his trademark overtaking move - he swings wide round the corner and then cuts inside - but Tom squezzed Geri into the wall to repass and held Geri off for the last lap to take 2nd with Geri 3rd from David, William and Harry. Geri set the new FTD mark at 27.08.
Heat three saw only 5 drivers, so Luke Doig and Brandon Wilson gained a place on the grid lining up behind Carl Donnellan, William Barker and Matthew Hayes. Luke was struggling on the first lap by which time he was already 10 seconds behind the leaders. William Barker went on to win the race and set best race lap (27.36) with Brandon Wilson moving up to 2nd from last on the grid. Luke lost a lot of time struggling to get past Carl and finished down in 4th, his worst result of the year so far.
Luke was out again in heat four, starting in 2nd behind Adam Payne, with Tom Holland, Ryan Hubball and Jack Macaulay behind. Luke got past Adam on the first lap and simply drove away to win by 11 seconds with a race best lap of 27.20. Jack tangled with Ryan on lap 6 putting Jack back into 5th but he got past Ryan again to take 4th with one lap to go.
Geri was on pole for heat five, so obviously Geri won the heat - by 11 seconds. The drivers had lined up: Geri, Carl Donnellan, David Woodford, David Humpston and Harry Macaulay. Geri was 4 seconds clear after the first lap as Carl span and held everyone up. Geri took full advantage to pull away with every lap, but strangely not going that quickly, his best lap of the race being only 27.12 (still a second faster than anyone else managed). And also strangely, Geri was regularly brushing the wall quite hard coming out of the last corner towards the start-finish line. Despite this, Geri lapped Carl on lap 7. David Humpston moved up from 4th on the grid to take 2nd with David Woodford 3rd, Harry 4th and Carl 5th. The chequered flag was late - it should have been shown at the end of lap 10 - and on the start of the 11th lap Carl ended up hitting the wall hard while being lapped by David H, and the race was red flagged for 5 minutes, but the positions were unchanged.
Heat six saw Brandon Wilson win from pole by 6 seconds from Guy Grigsby who moved up from 5th. David Humpston fell back from 2nd to 5th finishing behind Adam Payne and William Barker with Harry Macaulay back in 6th.
Heat seven - the big one! Jack Macaulay on pole from Guy Grigsby, Geri and Luke Doig with Tom Holland starting 5th. Jack edged away slowly from Guy with Geri and Luke tucked up right behind Guy. Every time Geri tried to make a move on Guy, he was having to defend from Luke and a lot of "rubbing" was going on. Geri and Luke tangled on lap 6 without changing their positions but they were immediately half a second faster as they chased back after Guy, the three of them finishing nose to tail, Geri cutting inside Guy out of the final corner and missing 2nd place by 20cm. Luke dropped the FTD to 27.04, Geri could only manage 27.08 in the same race, but neither had more than a lap of clear track.
After seven heats, Guy was 22 points with Geri and Jack on 20, Luke on 18. But was someone else racking up points off the radar? With only 4 drivers in the final heat and Brandon Wilson having racked up a second and a first, the minimum he could score was 20 which would demote Geri to 2nd place in a semi-final. The drivers started off in the order Harry Macaulay, Brandon Wilson, Ryan Hubball and Carl Donnellan. Harry was doing an excellent job of holding Brandon as they pulled clear of 3rd place Ryan, but in the later stages of the race, Harry had a half spin coming out of the last corner allowing Brandon through to win the race and lad with 23 points.
So, semi-final one saw Brandon on pole from Geri, with Luke 3rd, Matthew Hayes 4th, Tom Holland 5th and David Woodford 6th. The front three pulled clear and once again Geri was having to defend from Luke while trying to pass Brandon. But at the end of the third lap, Geri pulled off his cut-inside overtaking manouevre. Brandon tried to squeeze Geri into the wall, but was too late. Geri's momentum carried him through into a lead he was never going to relinquish and left Brandon pointing the wrong way and dropped him back to 5th. Mindful of the need to set a fast lap to get pole in the final, and with Luke keeping him honest, Geri put the hammer down setting a new FTD of 26.80 and finishing safely clear of Luke (2nd) with Matthew 3rd, Tom 4th, William 5th and David Woodford in 6th. Showing his position at the top of the points board to not be a fluke, Brandon managed 27.04 in the chase after the front 4 - equally the second fastest driver of the day.
Semi-final two, the drivers lined up with Guy on pole from Jack, William Barker, Ryan Hubball, Adam Payne and David Humpston. This bade well for Geri as Guy is very difficult to pass and Jack is still not his old overtaking self. In a slow race, fastest lap was 27.7 by Guy and Jack, Guy held off Jack to win the race and take the second front row slot in the final. William Barker stayed with the front two to take the last slot in the final from Ryan, David and Adam.
So Geri on pole for the final from Guy, Luke, Jack, William and Matthew. Which made Geri the favourite - and so it proved. Geri pulled away first while Guy tucked in behind him keeping Luke back in 3rd. William got by Jack on the first corner, a move Jack could not recover from. Guy, Luke and William were in nose to tail formation, Guy holding them up as Geri eased away at 0.3-0.5 seconds per lap. Later in the race, Geri upped the pace into the 26s and started taking bigger chunks from Guy and the others, finally equalling his FTD at 26.80. Luke pulled out a last corner move on Guy to take 2nd place and that valuable extra point while William held off Jack for 4th. Matthew had an out of sorts final to finish further back in 6th than his lap times suggested.
The day ended with Geri on 36 points, Guy 36, Luke 33 and Jack 31 - so Geri is gaining on Jack at the front of the championship. But its far from over with two dropped scores to count at the end. Luke is still looking strong, Geri will need to continue to take a number of points each round from Luke to overhaul him.
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