2006
Kelly Rogers Racing
Round 1 of the Mini Miglia
Championship was now upon us, over the winter months the car had been
re-vamped, new colour scheme, more development on the engine and suspension
and the team were very up-beat. This two day meeting was hopefully going to
set the scene for the rest of the season.
Saturday saw a new free practice session introduced in the Great & British race series which gave the drivers a chance to blow out the cobwebs and set up there cars for the qualifying session later in the day. The weather was sunshine, showers and a gusty wind so the conditions were not perfect but still a good bench mark to see how the car & driver coped with these conditions. Kelly did 9 laps posting a time of 1:24.564, which made him quickest in the session but 2 seconds off the times he is capable of around this circuit.
4.30 pm saw the start of qualifying, the showers had past but the wind was still blowing hard. With new tyres on the front of the car Kelly set off to scrub these in and then concentrate on posting a fast time. With 2 slow laps Kelly started to wind things up to push hard, lap 3 and Kelly had nearly knocked 2 seconds off his free practice time from this morning. As he was half way through lap 4 he down shifted into sears and the gear shift had broke at the universal joint, Kelly coasted into pit lane. With no time to fix the problem quickly Kelly just sat and watched as people tried to beat his time. The 1:22.885 time posted on lap 3 was good enough to clinch Kelly his first pole position for 2006.
Sunday morning, the race was scheduled for 12.35 pm so the car was double checked and now just wait to be called up to the assembly area. There had been a few accidents in earlier race so the race start was running 20 minutes late.
All the cars lined up on the grid, the atmosphere was very intense as the red lights went on and then off. Kelly got a good start powering his way up to turn 1, the wind down revett straight was making the slip streaming affect very useful for the people behind. Lap 1 completed and a gaggle of 4 cars had got away at the front, Kelly, Jim Hall, Bill Sollis and a fast approaching Tim Sims. Lap 2 and Kelly had pulled a slight gap from Jim Hall but had not yet broke the tow. Lap after lap Kelly and Jim Hall swapped places for the lead as Bill Sollis fended off the overtaking effects of Tim Sims. With a 12 lap race Kelly knew where he had to be on the last lap to secure a victory and which parts of the circuit he would be under attack from the chasing group. Lap 12 and Kelly was leading the pack approaching the esses, on the 2nd part of the esses Kelly broke deep and late, Jim Hall was too late on the brakes and collected Kelly's car on the off side rear. Kelly went sideways onto the grass fighting to control the car, as the 3 chasers went off in the distance. Getting back onto the track and collecting his thoughts Kelly accelerated to full speed trying to cross the finish line collecting as many Championship points as possible. Kelly crossed the line finishing in 6th position wondering what the hell had just happened, leading the race, in total control, then to be pushed off 3 corners from the chequered flag.
Tim Sims was the eventual winner of the race,
his first Mini Miglia win, so congratulations to him from Kelly Rogers
Racing.
Round 1
Snetterton
Round 12
Donington Park
