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In a thrilling race day at the Clay Pigeon circuit on 3rd September Seth managed to hold off Championship rival Ryan Presley in the Final of the F6 Royale race by finishing second to first time winner Carla Wellings. After dropped scores are taken in to account Wellings now leads the Intermediate championship.
There was a thick fog covering the track when IMSD Racing arrived at Clay Pigeon. Everyone was cold and rather miserable after the great weather they had enjoyed the day before. However, by the time of drivers’ briefing the fog had disappeared and the sun was shining.
All of Seth’s main competitors had been testing at the circuit the previous day so he was not very confident about the day ahead. In practice he suffered from a huge lack of grip so the IMSD set straight to work as soon as the session had ended. They changed the set-up to one that Seth had been comfortable with at Lydd, and a sprocket change was also necessary. All of these changes made him a lot more confident about the first heat.
Seth started fourth but managed to take the lead at the first corner. He led for a lap, but then Jamie Haines eased him wide at the end of the back-straight and both Jamie and Carla got past him. Seth still managed to stick to the back of them until a Biland that had spun earlier in the race barged his way passed him resulting in Seth losing at least 2 seconds. He was fuming and raced as hard as he could to catch up with the leading pair. He just managed to catch them up with just three laps to go. On the penultimate lap there was a lot of rather aggressive driving but Seth survived to sneak through and take second position.
For the next heat Seth started in pole position. He made a good start but going through the esses Ryan pulled along-side him, reminding Seth of the major accident they had had at this point at the last round. Luckily they got through safely this time, and Seth then managed to stretch out a good lead. He was just beginning to back off when he noticed Carla Wellings closing behind him. He started pushing again and took a clear win from Wellings and Presley.
For the final heat he started at the back of the grid in P7. Seth’s kart was very slow to pick up speed at the start, so as a result he found himself a fair way behind the pack. First he passed Conor Reynolds and Dylan Ip Ting Wah, but then found himself stuck behind Jamie Haines. He sat behind him for a few laps until he made a move going in to the corner “Billy’s Blind.” Jamie swerved to the right, nearly taking him off the road, but Seth managed to steady the kart and successfully pulled off the move to take fourth position. He then tried to pull away but got stuck behind Michael Gibbons and Ryan Presley. Seth thought he was safe from Jamie Haines, but suddenly he appeared out of nowhere and at the hairpin at the end of the back-straight and hit Seth clean off the circuit and on to the grass. This allowed Dylan to come back past and lost Seth about 10 seconds. Seth managed to keep in front of Conor Reynolds to take sixth place.
Seth lined up alongside polesitter Carla Wellings for the final. He was hoping to beat her into the first corner but was slow off the line and she led into the esses with Ryan following through behind her. Two laps later Seth re-passed Ryan to take second but noticed that his engine seemed down on power and was unable to pull away from Ryan or catch Carla. “ I was very relieved to see the chequered flag and to secure my fourth second place of the season. Carla drove a great race and Ryan was very fair even though I may have held him up a bit”. Later IMSD Racing discovered that Seth’s throttle cable had stretched and was preventing him from reaching his usual maximum speed. “That might have cost me the win, but at least I’ve scored some valuable championship points. I can’t wait to go for some more at Sandown Park in two weeks time”.
Seth’s driver of the day: Carla Wellings
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