|
|
|
Bayford Meadows was only visited once by Club 100 this year and the track had dried for the occasion. Seth had unfortunately been unable to compete in the Premier Endurance on Saturday so had only driven the circuit in a C100 kart once, in 2006. A very aggressive A final left Deuchar in a solid 13th position by the end but he was very disappointed not to have achieved a better result.
When the drivers arrived at the track on Sunday morning it was still damp from light rain overnight, but the sun was shining and the track soon dried. Seth looked promising in practice and lined up 7th on the grid for heat 1. It was a good race but after making up a few places early on he started to struggle and slip back. His kart was oversteering quite badly and under braking he seemed to be struggling. ‘My kart didn’t have a huge amount of rear end grip, which meant it turned in well but locked up a lot under braking and scrubbed off a lot of speed in the hairpins.’ An 8th position finish was still encouraging and Seth was looking forward to the next race.
Deuchar’s performance in his next heat was fantastic, starting on grid 14. ‘As soon as I drove out on to the track I could feel that the kart was a lot more manageable so I had more confidence in the faster corners.’ He got a great start and by the end of the second lap he was in p7. ‘It was really great early on. Everything seemed to fall into place and I kept seeing gaps and going for them. As the pace sped up I stopped making progress, but still made another place to finish 6th.’
Seth’s final heat saw him line up in p3. He took 2nd at the first corner and tried hard to pass Jon Pethik for the lead on the first lap to no avail. Seth was quick around most of the lap but the kart looked on edge through the second and third corners. ‘I was battling with Vincent Bond and Karl Suter and through most of the lap I was quicker, but at turn two by kart had no grip. They got closer every lap so I decided to try and go through a bit quicker. I braked a fraction of a second later and this resulted to me locking up and only just avoiding a spin. I then dropped down to fourth and remained there until the end.
These grid positions meant that Seth had qualified at the back of the A Final in p17. He once again looked racy at the start and this paid off leaving him 10th by the end of lap 1. He then progressed up to 9th where he remained for a few laps. ‘I had a small tussle with Andrew Smyth and in the end I simply wasn’t fast enough so he pulled away. I was still slow through turn two as I had lost all of my confidence after my near miss in the final heat. A few people passed me there but four laps from the end someone tried to make a crazy move up the inside. He understeered into me pushing us both on to the grass and then hit someone else as he pulled back on to the track. I then dropped back to 13th where I stayed until the flag. I was encouraged by my good overtaking, but frustrated at my simple lack of speed. I hope that more seat time will have a big effect on my lap times.’ Seth now has only one round left at Rye House in four weeks time. We wish him the best of luck.
|
| |
|
