Brands Hatch, England (October 17, 2009) – Today was the day that Connor and I had to step up our game. It was time for qualifying and the heat races. The weather was fairly nice in the morning, so we were looking to have some pretty decent times in the qualifying session.
My setup came in a little slow in qualifying, and I was P7 for quite a while. Sure enough though, the setup came in, and I dropped a half-second to put it on the pole. I held that lap for about 3-4 laps or so, and then Scott Malvern took the top spot from me by .030s.
I was happy with that, and was ready for the heat race. I got a very good start but got held on the outside of Turn One, so I came out of Turn One in third place. I was having some massive trouble getting around Josh Fisher, as he was taking a defensive line in every corner. I was much quicker than he was, but couldn’t find a way around.
I finally thought I had a shot at passing him on the outside of Paddock Hill Bend, but he turned to the left at me just when I was entering the corner. I almost drove off the track but held my position and stayed behind him. Next time we crossed start finish line, Fisher got a black-and-white [warning] flag and he started calming down after that. I got by him the next lap and held second for the rest of the race. There was actually a pretty big wreck behind me. Third and fourth place got together, and one of them flipped!
I am happy with my second-place finish and will be starting my semi final in second place tomorrow morning. Connor De Phillippi, my Team USA teammate, is starting right behind me in third. Hopefully we can team up on Rory Butcher, who won Connor’s race, and take the lead from him in the beginning of the race.
Connor and I are both quicker than the others at the moment but we have been getting held up by traffic. If we work together, I don’t see why we shouldn’t be able to get a bit of a lead in the Semi Final, which should put us in a good position for the Final.
I want to thank the entire Cliff Dempsey Racing team for all of their help and support today. Dave Hart has been doing a fantastic job in keeping my car in check all weekend.
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