Podium Battles.

Unlike last week’s underwhelming attendance at NSR Classic’s funeral, a full grid of a dozen drivers turned up this week for Sideways Group 5. And unlike last week’s race which ran smoothly, this week’s didn’t, at least not for the first heat, which wasn’t far short of being an utter shambles. Numerous crashes and marshalling errors littered it, David, Terry and Josh all losing time, Josh particularly badly delayed when he was twice reslotted into David’s lane.

Once things calmed down, the race turned into two podium battles; Julian versus Lee for the win, and Alex versus Simon for third. Julian had the most to lose, having not been beaten in a Group 5 race since November 2021 when Josh knocked him down to second spot. Alex, who’d not yet finished on the podium in any class at Molesey, had the most to gain.

In the Julian vs Lee fight, Julian was quickest but Lee more consistent, the gap between the pair never larger than 1.82 seconds. Lee used his consistency to good effect and went into the final heat 0.99 ahead of Julian, but Julian rarely buckles under pressure and didn’t this time either, recording the night’s fastest heat to take the overall win by a mere 0.82 seconds. For now, his unbeaten streak in Group 5 remains intact.

Alex versus Simon was almost as close, Alex’s better consistency seeing him half a second in front after Heat 4. Simon turned the tables in Heat 5 to take a half-second lead into Heat 6. Could Alex claim his first podium, or would the pressure finally break him? No and yes were the answers, two crashes snatching away his chance of glory. After five months of regular racing at Molesey, steadily chipping away and getting faster, Alex is now consistently looking like a podium contender, so it’s surely only a matter of weeks before he gets there. Next race, maybe? We’ll see.