A Tale of Two Battles.
If it hadn’t been for the presence of Julian, Molesey’s undisputed king of Group 5 who’s not been beaten in the class since Josh took a win in November 2021, this week’s race would have been a thriller, but, with Julian again dominating at the front, the drivers in the two battles that raged had to content themselves with fighting over scraps.
Battle number one was between David, Simon and Terry for second place. It was one of the best seen at Molesey for ages, each of the drivers heading the trio at sometime during the evening, their fastest laps just 0.006 apart. For the first four heats racing was intense, the cars often side by side, each driver doing his best to pressure the others into a mistake. Heading into Heat 5, Terry held second place 0.31 ahead of David, with Simon 0.43 further back. If close Group 5 racing is what you’re after, Molesey’s where it’s at.
Heat 5 was Terry’s downfall. Normally pretty bullet-proof when it comes to absorbing pressure, Terry uncharacteristically let it get to him, a crash costing him three seconds. He fought back in the final heat, gaining a second on David and Simon, but it was too little, too late, and his podium hopes were over. David took second spot, a mere 0.75 ahead of Simon.
Battle number two was between Neil, Graham and Ed for sixth. For the first four heats Ed had the measure of Graham and Neil, slowly building a small lead which at its biggest was eight seconds, but Heat 5, just like it was for Terry, was to be very costly. Ed crashed and saw his lead evaporate, leaving him to start the final heat just 0.6 seconds ahead of Graham, with Neil another second behind. Give Neil a sniff of victory, even if it’s only for sixth place, and you’d be a fool to underestimate him, and so it was this time. Risking all from the off, he drove his best heat of the night to overtake both Graham and Ed and walk away with sixth place.
Sideways Group 5 at Molesey. Invariably close, invariably exciting, invariably enlivened by crashes. All it needs now is for someone to work out how to beat Julian!
