Join the Layout Racing League Discord and communication channels
https://discord.gg/JNF3GFH
Fern Bay plays host to the seventh round of LRL, where drivers tackle the fast, flowing confines of the Cadet extended course. Last raced in 2011 under the guise of Rony's Tuesday Fun Race, it was a sweet throwback that proved a nail biter to the very end!
Qualifying Results
Qualifying was initially headed by Team SIDUS and their driver, Botsi, who proved a tough nut to crack for championship leader, Trespasser. Trading top laps for the entire session, TRR's Trespasser was constantly out of touch by just a few tenths. Born 2 Race's Spiky was close as well, within touching distance of the top 2, eventually being the first to break into the 1:05 barrier! However, it was Trespasser who nailed a perfect lap to claim another pole position, ahead of Spiky and Botsi, who could not string together his own personal best. 4th was taken up by Air Support's Joz, qualifying well ahead of MRc Michal, who had his work cut out to close the gap to the lead of the championship. TC Racing's Adam made a late entrance, qualifying in 7th whilst Spiky's team-mates Ayoub and Skattle lined up 11th and 12th.
Race Results
The race got underway with an even launch from the front runners. Skattle got a jump on his team mate for 11th at the back, whilst near the front, Joz lost a position to the fast starting Michal down into Turn 1, whilst Adam sat behind watching the chaos. Down into the chicane, Spiky had gotten a run on Botsi and ran side-by-side, which inevitably resulted in contact and the B2r driver going off the road in a cloud of dust, rejoining way down in 7th, behind JJD. Adam had sneaked past Joz as the incident occurred ahead, while further on, Boy ran around the outside of the struggling Spiky, who just managed to stay ahead of Race Green's RG Maciek.
As the field got to terms with their positions, World Class Lion's Soini lost momentum following a pass by Skattle, and fell to the back of both B2r drivers and PitlaneRacer. Meanwhile, up front it was Trespasser who was trying to pull a gap on his closest rival, Botsi, who was not letting him go. 7th placed Boy was running confidently until he had a huge lag moment coming down the hill, which resulted in him spinning off, and earning a chat-penalty.
With Spiky's off-road antics, Michal was elevated into 3rd, with the train of Adam, Joz and JJD in close proximity behind in a train. Adam attempted a pass around the outside into Turn 1, which failed, while behind him, a early-braking Joz and a late-braking JJD proved the worst combination, with the latter slamming into the rear of the Air Support car, turning Joz into a 4-wheeled lawnmower off in the first turn. This let Spiky by into 5th, while JJD rejoined in 8th and Joz 2 places behind him. Up in 3rd, Michal had lost the fight to Adam, with the TC-R driver eventually finding his way past, leaving Michal to deal with the recovering Spiky.
As the race drew on, Ayoub and Maciek had quietly made their way up the field, remaining in 6th and 7th respectively. Up at the top end of the race, Botsi was giving Trespasser a run for his money, with the TRR driver deep in tire management. It was a exciting battle, with both drivers evenly matched. Lap 10 saw Boy retire from the race with a disconnect after a miserable run following his Drive-Through penalty. Just one lap later, Adam, who was down in 5th following tire trouble, made an uncharacteristic error, pushing too much and taking a liberty with the Turn 4 kerb, rolling his RB4 machine over and bringing out the Safety Car!
RG's Maciek playing the alternate strategy
The leaders piled into the pits for their compulsory pit-stop, whilst Maciek gambled on a later incident, staying out for track position, which placed him in a handy 3rd, with one stop to make. Behind him, Michal held 4th ahead of the fast-charging Spiky, and the now recovering Joz - who would later serve a Drive-Through for a pit lane exit breach. JJD was in 8th, with Ayoub in between him and the rival he punted off earlier, Joz. Skattle had now fallen behind Soini in 10th, with PitlaneRacer in last following a mediocre middle stint.
The race restarted with Trespasser once again getting a jump on Botsi, with Maciek running off at Turn 1, effectively negating his strategy plan, falling back behind the tussling duo of Michal and Spiky.
The race continued on with a titanic battle between Trespasser and the ever-increasingly annoyed Botsi, who could not find a way past the TRR driver. The SIDUS car was faster in the middle sector, but with nowhere to go, Trespasser would then run away in the final corner and down into Turn 1. Meanwhile, an equally thrilling battle was evolving for the last place on the podium, with Michal helpless to the prowess of B2r's Spiky, who eventually found his way around the MRc driver. However, Michal kept the pressure on, and slipped past back into the podium with a few laps to go and stayed there to claim another top 3 finish!
Maciek had pitted, dropping back to 8th in a failed strategy following his own excursion down at Turn 1. Soini had put on a late charge to close up on Ayoub to try to take 5th, however, he ran out of laps to make an impact.
Up front however, it was Trespasser who defied the pressure and tire trouble to take a stunning victory at Jamaica, taming his car and Fern Bay track to defend against Botsi, who gave it everything. Spiky finished a welcome 3rd ahead of Michal, with Joz recovering to finish 7th, ahead of Maciek and JJD. Skattle finished 10th, off the pace and unhappy with his performance, looking for a comeback in the next round!
It was an awesome 32 laps of non-stop action - will we see the same in the next round at Woodlands Raceway? Join us on the 22nd of August!
Official Driver Standings
Full race results and Driver's Championship Standings can be found at https://www.lfs.net/forum/post/1955979#post1955979
Join us next time on the 22nd of August for Round 8 at Woodlands Raceway!
corrected