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2004 © Kelly Rogers |
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Round 6 |
Spa Francorchamps
(RACB) Belgium |
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Date |
6 - 8th June |
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1st qualifying on the Friday saw Kelly placed 4th on the grid although
the time allocated to Kelly was some 2.3 seconds slower than that
recorded by the team and on Kelly's in car lap timer.
Bob Humphrey's was acclimatizing well to the notoriously technical
circuit at Spa but he did get caught out at the fast 4th gear
lefthander. Bob hit the Armco barrier which ended his qualifying session
but this did mean that Peter Vickers had plenty to do before the early
2nd qualifying session on Saturday morning. After Peter and the rest of
the team had finished thanking Robert for giving them all something to
do, (but a repeat performance would mean going home less some vital
dangly bits) the car was repaired and ready to roll.
Saturday's qualifying was spoilt by oil being dropped at one of the
fastest parts of the circuit. Kelly felt he could improve on his 4th
place qualifying slot and decided to have one last try. This resulted in
Kelly spinning the car at some 120mph. The car narrowly missed the
barrier and Kelly returned to the pits needing a new clean race suit. In
the race Kelly was hampered by a slow starting 2nd place man Bill Sollis
and started the first lap in 5th place. By this time the leader had
edged out a gap and Kelly eventually got into 2nd place with 3 laps
remaining. He set about catching the leader and set a new lap record in
the process but in the end victory eluded him by 3 seconds.
This leaves Kelly 2nd in the Championship 4 points behind the leader.
Robert's race ended in the pit lane when the officials has shown Robert
a stop go penalty board by mistake. The legal battle is on going so we
are unable to comment any further at this time. Off to Oulton Park Next
where favourite for the win has to be Kelly due to his form at the
Cheshire circuit in other formula's. |
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