Sunday the 11th of July saw Rnd 4 of the UK SRS series, the venue was Herts which over these last few years has grown into one of the best dirt tracks in the UK. The hot dry weather over this last month has baked the surface rock hard so it does not wear or deteriorate, but leaves a flat surface that is very predictable & great to race on although gives a high tyre wear but is a small price to pay for the pleasure. Some 90 odd drivers attended this meeting meaning the competition would be fierce even with some of the pro's away at the Euro's. Team XRAY was pretty depleted for this event & Bren was left flying the flag for our corner but was happy & confident with the car.
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Rnd 1 & typically at these events an extra 4 minutes is given before the start on the first run as a warm up to learn the track as time is to short & does not allow for a true practice or re seed . The out laps where fast & a good run but for two errors cost Bren dear so he went 6th in round. I knew I was up against it as I found out that most of the top runners had been running on the track most evenings that week so knew it like the back of there hands.
The balance of my car felt good so only a tyre change on the cards & hopefully a mistake free run. Rnd 2 the tyres worked a dream & the mistake free part was spot on, the slower car in front I had not planned for & this lost time at the beginning with a slower car holding me up till I passed so had to settle for 2nd in round ? a second of tq, if only but we can all say but if. Rnd 3 with a main place guaranteed tried a different setup to normal & this just released the car further making it feel on rails taking TQ in that round by 5 seconds.
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For the main knew I just had to be patient & bide my time & get around the first few turns clean, this I did & got away clean braking away from the field with local wizard to the track Mark Tatman. The battle with Mark was great where he led just up to the half way point & only fuel stop at 10 minutes, just prior to the stop I took the lead & with a quick re fill gained a few seconds & a small buffer. The gap stayed at 5 seconds until 2 minutes to go where Mark closed the gap & was just on my tail, from here I just shut up shop knowing he would have to work hard & go around the outside to make any pass. As hard as he tried there was no way through which eventually forced him into an error 3 turns from home allowing me to relax & cruise the last few turns & take the Win.
Final results
1. Brennan Ralls XRAY XB808
2. Mark Tatman
3. Mark Stiles 4. Oli O'Connor XRAY XB808
5. Mark Tarrier
6. Nick Hill
7. Darren Hayden-ball
8. Pete Stevens
9. Karl Jackson
10. Steve Johnson
