The team arrived in a sunny Knockhill with plenty of time to get set up and walk the track in the evening. Standing at the bottom of “the hill” looking up I really thought I may struggle quite a lot with having the correct line and confidence!
Even so we went back to the pits for a chilled evening and a couple beers whilst we talked over how to approach the weekend! Because of my 2nd place finish at round 1 I was invited to practice and try and qualify with the Pro class at Knockhill!
Saturday to start, was a perfect day. Sun was shining car was working perfectly and I was just getting to grips with the track! Semi-pro practice was nearly over when I noticed the car didn’t feel right, I had no boost and the turbo was smoking quite heavily….disaster!!
I went out for Pro practice straight from finding the problem and managed to make the car work a bit better and just used more speed to compensate for the lack of power I had! Next was straight back to the Semi-pro Qualifying, and I could only just make the car work, even with the torrential downpour the car just wouldn’t break free!
I battled on, and somehow managed a qualification place of 16th in semi-pro.I then had 12 hours to find someone to rebuild the turbo ready for the Sunday.After a 9 hour round trip I returned to the track at 5am on the Sunday, got my head down for 2 hours then in for briefing!
Then out for my semi-pro top 16 battle, having only just fitted the turbo I was a little anxious and not being 100% with the car resulted in my being knocked out by the No1 qualifier Gary Mills.
Straight into Pro battles. Car was running perfect again and I decided it was “do or die” time! I pushed through Top16 battles then my Top 8 battles and found myself in the Top4 battles! I was amazed that not only myself but the car were able to come this far! I battled with the current leader in the Pro class Olly Silcock and after 2 close runs I took the win and moved on to the final!!
The 2014 Round2 Pro Final was myself and Martin Battye.
Martin was on form all weekend and took the deserved win! But I came away with 2nd place and was very happy with that! Due to my success I now move up to Pro class automatically and because I finished in the top 4 I’m now also eligible to try and qualify with the Super-Pro class at round 3 (Teesside).
Huge thanks to the team and all the sponsors who have helped me get this far! See you at Teesside!
