2005
Kelly Rogers Racing
Bank Holiday Monday morning and the weathermen had got it all wrong again predicting showers! But no, nothing but brilliant sunshine. Mid morning qualifying was a good test for the car, slow moving traffic kept Kelly off pole position but he was happy with 2nd spot on the grid. With a 3 by 2 grid, the top 3 runners over the last couple of years would all be focusing on the empty track ahead of them, waiting for the lights to go out.
Kelly's car unfortunately bogged down off the line putting him in 3rd place as they all rushed up to Quarry. With Kelly behind Sollis and Baldwin, he had to work hard to stop them pulling away from him out of Quarry and into the Esses. Lap 2, Kelly had the measure of Sollis and seeing Baldwin begin to put a gap between, he knew he had to find a way round Sollis and quickly.
Coming into Bobbies on Lap 5 Kelly clipped the rear end of Sollis' car as his rear right tyre punctured causing him to oversteer. Kelly now in 2nd place with 5 car lengths behind Baldwin, the pressure was on for Kelly to reel him in. By Lap 8 Kelly was tagged onto Baldwin's rear bumper making him drive defensively to stop Kelly overtaking. Laps 9 and 10, Kelly and Baldwin swapped 1st position on more than one occasion. During their lead changes, Max Hunter had by this time pulled himself up to Kelly's rear end. Max managed to pass Kelly a couple of times with some late lunges but with Kelly's experience, they didn't pay off.
The last 5 laps saw Kelly and Baldwin entertaining the crowd with some excellent driving for the lead but on Lap 16 Baldwin crossed the line 0.3 seconds in front of Kelly!
After the race Kelly expressed
his delight in a spectacular duel and commented,
" 2nd today but i am learning Peters tactics, weaknesses and strengths and
am looking forward to the next race".
Next round 19th June at Snetterton, a special event for the Mini7 Club as filming starts for a action packed DVD of one of the UK's most exciting race series.
Round 1
Silverstone
Round 2
Castle Combe
Non
Championship
Silverstone -
19-03-2005
Silverstone
-
23 / 24-07-2005
