Round 3 saw us return to the Clanfield track in the South of England. Clanfield is in my opinion the best track to race on in the UK and is where I managed to clinch the 2007 National title.
We dusted off our truck from last year and felt confident that our set-up would still be good. Straight into Round 1 and I was happy with the performance but needed a little more consistency. We decided to put on the 2.8 front roll bar and try again. This did the trick and I managed to TQ the round with a 8L in 5.08. Round 3 and for the first half I had a awesome run, looking set for a 8L in 5.03. Unfortunately I made a mistake and blew the round. Willets took the TQ but I was confident
for the final.
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3 corners into the final and my confidence evaporated as I got wiped out and sent to the back. This was going to be hard. Lots can happen in 30 minutes so I set about finding my rhythm and moving through the field. This was going well until a back marker decided my truck would look better upside down! Once again I set off pushing as hard as possible to close on the leaders. I managed to get some clear track and was closing. For the second time this year the awesome fuel economy of my OS Speed really came into its own as I could be 10 minute fuel stops where as the leaders could not. This made the last difference I needed and I finally got into the lead with a couple of minutes to go.
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Willets and I raced hard and had a couple of crashes with each other. On each occasion we both waited for the other to be marshalled. As we went into the final jump section together Willets truck bobbled which gave me some breathing room and I managed to get over the line first. It was a great race.
Final results:
1. Jon Hazlewood XRAY XT8
2. Simon Willetts
3. Jamie Booth
4. Mike Cradock
5. Sam Taylor 6. Kevin Brunsden XRAY XT8
7. Tommy Chung
8. Jamie Armstrong
9. Barrie Davis 10. Jonathan Simblet XRAY XT8
11. Martin Hughes
12. Joe Joyce
