TOP TEN FINISH BEFORE THE BEER GOES FLAT!The opening two rounds of the SCSA Championship at Rockingham had a mixed fortues for the Team Catchpole squad. Fielding two cars as team leader Phil Weaver (Southampton) now runs the ex Ben Collins under 77, Duncan Gray (Worksop) has the original Catchpole car from last year.
"The cars are still relatively untested, mine is just difficult to drive at the moment," said Phil. With the grid for the opening race set by last years championship order, Weaver lined up 12th, with Gray 18th as he tackles the Rookie Cup. "It's nice to be re-united with the old car I debuted in last year, but I wouldn't have got here without the help of Phil and the team," said Duncan.
In race one Weaver ran in 10th place for the first seven laps before slowing and slipping back down the order. After a tentative start Gray started to move up the order and later in the race both cars ran side by side for a while. "I thought he's the boss I can't pass him, but my spotter said go so I did," said Duncan. After a couple of unscheduled pitstops, Weaver was finally classified12th. "It just felt wrong from the start, there's no front grip when you turn in and no rear grip when you put the power down," he explained. But a "delighted" Gray finished strongly and claimed third place in the Rookie Cup from his 10th place overall.
There were problems from the start in race two, when Gray was forced to pit with a leaking diff. Weaver was running in 11th place when he pitted on lap 13, the diagnosis was diff failure too. Gray managed to get out for three laps before retiring, but both cars were back in the garage before the race reached one third distance. "I would have been in trouble if it had gone in the race. Luckily Phil and Oli Playle saw the oil leaking and radioed in," said Gray. "I had to pit as it got too dangerous to drive, the rear end was continuously losing grip," concluded Weaver.
Even the Catchpole girls were under strength too, with Sarah flying solo. With a month to the next round, the team hope to back to full strength on all counts on June 5th.
