Tenths and Unts.
After last week’s crash-strewn NSR Formula 86/89 race, this week’s was unlikely to be more chaotic, but nobody would have predicted such a brilliant race. What we got was one of the best evening’s racing we’ve seen at Molesey this year, the result in doubt until the last few laps of the final heat.
Your correspondent could drone on with a lap by lap, heat by heat breakdown of the action, but let’s skip that and let a half-distance summary suffice. At the conclusion of three closely fought heats, Alex held first place, two tenths ahead of Terry who was a tenth ahead of Josh, with David seven tenths further back, the four covered by just 1.08 seconds. That’s close. So close that the drivers’ ability to absorb pressure would ultimately play its part.
Dealing with pressure is all part of racing, and those who deal with it best are sometimes described in colourful terms, as Ed dryly illustrated earlier in the evening in his own inimitable way after Alex, normally the most gentlemanly of drivers, had joined in with the usual Molesey banter directed at fellow competitors. “Don’t start being an unt, Alex. The club’s full of unts already” was Ed’s observation, his description possibly a little harsh. It did, though, make everyone laugh and succinctly explained that it takes a certain mindset to be able to withstand the pressure of being a potential winner in a closely contested race.
Refreshed by a cup of Molesey’s finest half-time tea, and with the racing still as hard-fought as ever, Heat 4 saw Terry, always pretty solid under pressure, overtake Alex to lead by 0.37 seconds. David moved up to second, 0.5 ahead of Alex, while Josh buckled slightly and dropped to fourth, just 1.63 behind Alex. The pressure was ramping up nicely and the unts were relishing the challenge.
Heat 5 was curtains for Alex. The pressure got to him, he crashed and, barring disastrous drives from David, Terry and Josh, the club’s more experienced unts, that was his podium chance gone. Poor guy. Alex is a true gentleman, but there are times when being an unt is an advantage, and now was one of them. David led Terry by half a second, Josh was third but now just 1.3 seconds off the lead. All three had the pace to win, but who could summon their inner unt the most effectively? Heat 6 would be the decider.
David and Josh in Group 1 went first. David held his nerve with a strong drive, but Josh was even stronger, setting the night’s fastest lap on his way to grabbing the provisional overall win, a mere three tenths ahead of David. Only Terry, still to race his final heat, could stop Josh from winning. He’d have to put in a blistering performance, but it was doable, just. It was Terry’s race to lose.
And lose it he did, but at least he did so in style. Terry started like a man possessed, immediately a tenth per lap quicker than he’d managed in the preceding five heats. Lap after lap he banged out sub-eight-second laps, the overall win now looking tantalisingly close, but it couldn’t last, and didn’t. Terry’s unt wilted under the pressure, he crashed twice, and that was that. Third place was all he could salvage. Still, it was a brilliant race decided by mere tenths. And, of course, the drivers’ inner unts.
