2013-12-09 09:17:19.2
Glan-Y-Gors welcomed the sprint drivers with some rather gloomy weather on Saturday. Although the rain held off, it was cold and overcast all day.
Eddie came to Wales in desparate need of a good result after a disappointing start to the 2005 season. With only 57 entrants for this race, this gave him a good chance to move up a few places in the championship standings.
The qualifying heats got off to a good start for Eddie. With everyone in the same position in having to learn (or re-learn) the circuit, this meant that the drivers who could learn the quickest would have the advantage.
Starting 7th in heat 1, Eddie moved steadily up as high as third before losing out in some fierce battles, eventually finishing 6th.
Heat 2 was a complete disaster. Starting at the back of the grid, Eddie again made steady progress and gained a couple of places. Unfortunately, an incident in front left Chris davis nowhere to go and he clipped Eddie into a spin. Eddie finished dead last!
Heat 3 was a stonker! Starting from pole, Eddie lead the entire heat, under imense pressure from Tim Hill and Kieren McCullough. Starting the last lap however, Eddie stayed slightly too wide going up the long hill, trying to get a tow from a slow kart coming out of the pits. This allowed Tim Hill to pull alongside Eddie at the top of the hill. It was a very risky move, which also allowed McCullough through to pass them both around the outside.
His sixth and third places put Eddie fourth on the grid in the B final. Eddie made a cracking start, blocking current championship leader Rob Hart into turn 1. This became third at the top of the hill, and the next two laps, Eddie picked off the next two drivers to take the lead.
Again, Eddie lead for most of the race with Rob Hart right behind him. Hart made a daring manouvre going down the hill into the chicane, which prompted three karts behind to barge through, one nearly tipping Eddie into a spin.
This left Eddie in fifth place going into the last lap (and out of the A final). Eddie was having none of it and barged through to claim fourth at the top of the hill, barely managing to hold it across the line.
"It was close." remarked Eddie. "Rob made a very fair but obviously desparate move, which prompted the usual crazy arses to try to follow where there really wasn't any room. I had to let them through otherwise I would have been on the grass.
"Before I knew it I was in fifth! I thought 'bollox to this - I refuse to miss out on yet another A final', so I just went for it going up the hill. We did slightly bang wheels but no harm was done and I just managed to hold it going across the line."
This meant that Eddie qualified for the A final for the first time this season. The race was fairly uneventful.
"It became obvious to me during the practice laps that the kart had a bit of understeer, but I didn't see the point in changing it as I wasn't anticipating making much progress up the order."
The race was stopped early due to a nasty incident involving Tim Hill and Liam Hegarty, with Hegarty being flipped over the barrier at turn 1, obliterating his kart.
At the restart, Eddie made a good start and held tight to the pack, making up a few places whilst getting used to the handling of the kart, eventually finishing inside the top 20.
