2013-12-09 09:17:19.2
In a race that Eddie said he needed to win to keep his championship defence alive, a sixth place finish was a massive blow. With main rival Andrew Johnson once again winning, Eddie has all but admitted defeat.
After a carburettor failure in practice, Eddie qualified in a kart that was slightly off the pace but still managed to qualify fourth. Making a good start, he maintained position off the line but it soon became apparent that there was a problem as he started slipping back down the order. He then lost several seconds being stuck in traffic. It was largely thanks to a slick pit stop and some clear track in the second stint that allowed him to pick up the pace. However, he could not match the pace of the leaders and came home a despondent sixth.
“It was a frustrating race. The kart didn’t feel particularly great in qualifying but I was matching the pace of Clackett, Johnson and Taylor and I felt fourth place was good enough. As soon as the race started, I knew there was a problem because I just couldn’t hang on to the guys in front and I was getting past left, right and centre by everyone. It just lacked a bit of all-round pace, especially bottom-end and the tyres were pretty well dead as well. I struggled with grip throughout and had one or two really scary moments when I was pushing to make up lost time. The guys did a great job in the pits and that helped a lot but sadly not enough.”
Although not admitting defeat, Eddie did confess his championship hopes are now very slim.
“It was always going to be hard to beat Andy this years because he’s been on another level but it’s been close between us all year. I really needed to beat him here so with him winning and me having another bad result, this puts me in a very difficult position. I think he just needs to finish sixth in the next race to wrap it up. I’ll obviously fight until the end but I think it’s a tall order.”
