TOP 10 BECKONS FOR CATCHPOLE DUO AS WEAVER STEPS DOWNTeam Catchpole were able to celebrate both cars taking the chequered flag, at the end of a gruelling third round of the Days of Thunder Championship at Rockingham. Although Mike Luck suffered brake failure in the second race, both cars were able to return to their Corby base undamaged.
During Saturday's qualifying Mike Luck (Redditch) pipped team leader Phil Weaver (Southampton) by 0.037s to share the seventh row of the grid. "It went well and it's all about getting Turn Four right, the rest falls in to place," he said. "While Mike was dialing in, I found a good race race set up. but it wasn't really suited to qualifying. It means I can stay at a reasonable pace and repeat it lap after lap," said PhilIn the opening race Luck's start gave him 11th place at the end of the opening lap, before slipping back to 14th as the pit stop window opened. With a top ten finish in sight , he shadowed Tony King for the last eight laps, but was unable to prise open his defence and had to settle for 12th. Weaver struggled throughout with differential problems, but the found the consistency to bring his car hope one place down on Luck. "We changed the diff between sessions and now have to work on set up again," added Weaver.
Fortunately both drivers missed the carnage on the opening lap, when leaders Ben Collins and Colin White touched at Turn Four. Luck made another good start to hold an early 10th place, but lost out to World Legends Champion John Higgins when the green flag was shown. Just as in the opening race Tony King loomed on the horizon and by the end of the 24th lap Luck was poised to challenge. He was still in 11th place when most of the field headed for the pits, but suddenly aborted his stop and went across the grass before stopping by the pit wall. "Something went bang as I went for the brakes and the pedal was to the floor. I had three choices, hit Tony King, hit the pit entry barrier, or abort the stop," he explained.
Having held 14th place for most of the race, Weaver capitalised on his team mates retirement, but found he had Tony King to challenge too for 11th place. But King pitted after a couple of laps of pursuit, handing Weaver a clear 11th place. "I was chasing him that hard I glanced the wall on the straight at 170mph. It made be back off a bit," said Weaver.Despite having contested the Days of Thunder Championship from its inception, Weaver is planning to step down from the driving strength. "We need to find a driver with a budget to run for the good of Team Catchpole, " concluded.
