It Ain’t Over…

After Lee’s dominant F1 win last week, the two big questions this week were whether he’d dominate again and whether any driver could line up for a 15-lap heat without first completing a dozen or more warm-up laps. We didn’t have to wait long to find out.

Group 1, Heat 1 (David, Josh, Julian, Lee and Simon) immediately answered the could-we-manage-without-a-dozen-warm-up-laps question: not a chance. Instead, the drivers merrily pounded round and round and round, none seeming keen to be the first to line up. It took a forlorn “come on guys” plea from the depths of the clubroom to eventually get everyone assembled on the grid. Oh how we miss Frank and his jovial “cars to the line” cry. If you’re reading this Frank, we’re missing you. Best wishes from everyone at Molesey.

Heat 1 appeared to answer the second question too: would Lee dominate again? Winning the heat easily almost half a lap ahead of Julian and a lap in front of Josh, who’d crashed and lost time, Lee looked set for another dominant overall victory, but that’s not how it played out.

Lee narrowly won heat 2, Josh fought back to win heats 3 and 4, then Julian found some pace and won heat 5 in one of the closest finishes we’ve seen at Molesey for ages, just 0.29 seconds covering the top three at the line. Overall, Lee was still a comfortable 5.62 seconds ahead of Josh, but he wasn’t paying attention to the timing screen and didn’t realise the extent of his lead, which was to be his fatal mistake.

The final heat saw Lee flat out from the off, battling with Josh and Julian in a fight that he didn’t need to have. It took its toll, Lee crashing not once, but twice, losing almost a lap to Josh and with it the overall win. This time the glory was Josh’s, his reward for not giving up after his Heat 1 crash. As the old adage goes: It ain’t over till it’s over.