2007
Kelly Rogers Racing
Round 2 Snetterton
28/29th
April
Round 2 of the Mini Miglia Championship set at Snetterton, a circuit that has never been kind to Kelly, always piped at the post or get's involved in incidents which are not his fault but always comes off worse.
The weekend started early arriving at the circuit at 8am, with a free test session before lunch the team set about with the few checks that are always done before Kelly goes out on track. This 20 minute session was slightly reduced in time as a red flag moment had happened but Kelly had a smile on his face and the car was good.
Qualifying was a matter of putting in a fast lap and watching to see if anyone could push Kelly off pole position. Kelly kept circulating the track testing the car in different parts of the circuit, the times were coming down fast and very close to Kelly's fastest lap. The session was over and Kelly had kept his pole position for the race tomorrow by a whisper, Colin Peacock was just short by 0.012 of a second.
The scene was set now for tomorrows race with the top six only split by 1 second!
Race day, the weather was dry and sunny with a small tailwind going up the start/finish straight. All the cars were called to the assembly area at 12.25 pm, the mood was relaxed as the drivers talked and took in a little sunshine until the helmets were on and the battle began.
18 Mini Miglia's rolled out onto the grid, all waiting for the red lights to appear on the gantry above. When they did the revs rose and then out goes the lights and a mad dash to the first corner, Kelly got a reasonable start but Peacock was able to out drag Kelly going into sears. Lap 1 completed, Kelly was nicely tucked in behind Peacock waiting for his chance to pull past, lap 2 passed and Kelly had settled down when bang in the drivers side as Lewis had made a mistake and caught the kerb throwing him into Kelly. Kelly now pushed back to 4th, composing himself he sat back and watch as Hack, Peacock and Sollis swapped places lap after lap. Lap 9 and all things being equal between the top 4 so Kelly made his move, demoting Peacock to 4th, Lap 10 and all 4 were bumper to bumper Kelly went to the right and they all blocked him so then dived left into the esses taking the lead and scattering the pack as they all braked hard to avoid any incidents. The "Hare had Bolted" so the chase was on! Kelly head down applied more pressure to himself pushing the car at every corner, he just had to break the tow. Lap 11 and the gap between 1st and 2nd was 1.4 seconds, still not enough. Lap 12,13 & 14 saw Kelly's gap grow ever increasing from the gaggle of cars behind. On lap 14 Kelly produced his fastest lap so the gap was now over 3 seconds from the chasing group. Lap 15 and the final lap Kelly couldn't relax just focus on the job in hand until he crossed the line to take the chequered flag. 1st at last at Snetterton in a Miglia!
Round 2
Snetterton
