Caterham: Oschersleben #2

Very eventful race for me. Start from T8 and got totally caught out by an unexpected braking by Miguel before the braking zone (sorry Mike K it's not you, my mistake) and got susupension damage before getting into T1. While fighting with a skewed steering bad luck strike again and got caught by Mike K's loose car on the exit of final turn. From then on really nothing much i could do than trying to keep the damaged car on the road to finishing line and sarvage some points.

Great race upfront! Congrat to Colin for the win and all podium finishers. In fact congrat to all who made it to the finishing line on this demanding track.

I made it to the end on this one. A bit of controversy at the end but hey... its only a game. I watched the replay & I probably caused Ray to go beaching in T1. Sorry Ray - my braking was a little premature there :( I had some nice racing with Dennis though.
Congrats to all who finished.

Grats Colin, Kevin, Jason!

>> unexpected braking by Miguel

Michael, where I can get replays, I wanna see unexpectable L1 T1 early braking ;)))
(link from here doesn't work)

This was a pretty good race for me. I got by some cars early (like before turn 1!) by luck I think. I saw someone go sideways to my right and I think I heard someone hit him, but I squeaked by on the left luckily!

After that, it was trying to catch Kevin and Colin. I could see them racing hard in front of me, but could only keep within reaching distance in case they made a mistake or went off.

I'm going to have to take a screen shot of the standings for the series - it will probably be the last time my name is at the top! LOL Lot's of fun!

By the way, a big congratulations to Colin for your first R2P win! Way to go!

>> unexpected braking by Miguel

It was Mike Campbell. Apparently there were too many Mike's for Vincent to keep track of :)

I had bad luck both races. I was overdriving in qual, trying to get back to the pace I'd managed in practice earlier in the week. Forgetting, of course, that I did it by being smoother on the throttle. So I didn't place well, but resolved to settle down and be calm during the race, which went well until the next to last turn on the first lap, where I slid wide just enough on still-warming tires, got one in the grass and looped it. Figured my best shot was to sit still as everybody swarmed by; most made it outside of me, but Mike C popped out on the inside and had nowhere to go. I lost a wheel, limped to the pits and was promptly retired to the garage.

Race 2 I was having a good battle at the back until I famously overcooked exiting the last corner on lap 3 or so, oversteered into the middle of the track, then tank-slapped trying to recover and shot off to the left, collecting Vincent. It made for a spectacular crash as he got under my front wheel and I did a full roll. Amazingly enough, I survived with suspension damage and was able to continue on at a reduced pace.

These cars sure are a handful. Looking forward to some downforce with the radicals.

I fixed the replay link, thanks Miguel.

Well Race 1 was a bummer. I was pushing too hard and lost it. Then making my way back up. I was in a fight for 3rd, 4th, and 5th. I got inside in T1 and broke too late for T2 and almost slammed Miguel. I turned hard right into the grass and missed him. So 5th it was.

Race 2 I gave Colin all I could and more at times. Made slight contact. Sorry about that. I got by him once but made a mistake and he was by again. I was quicker in some spots, but not the right places to make a pass. Congrats one your 1st win Colin. That was a great race.

so there is Michael K, Mike Campbell, M..... damn I lost count again... =P

Well I was a lot more into this evenings race even though I didn't prepare a great deal. This was a good track for the Cats and the driving was entertaining. I started the evening running 35s and if I remember correctly I had a pb of mid 33s in R2. R1 was slightly better finish wisse but I drove mostly by myself after early action. R2 I was trying to give people room only to put myself off and had to wait for the field to go by. Then I came up on a car for the first time entering T1 and rather than being patient and seeing how he handled braking etc... I got too close, mis-anticipated his brake point and locked up and skidded into the sand. its hard to blame someone else when I look back and add up all of my own driving mistakes that put me in the back of the field. Given the sprint nature I just decided to take it easy the last couple laps and call it a night and focus on the successes rather than the little frustrations.