A mid-week meet at the Arlington Raceway near Eastbourne on Wednesday 4th July 2018 was the stage for Damian’s latest Oval Track Legends adventure, a track we missed last season and which Damian hasn’t raced at since his mini-stox days, back when he was almost as tall but half the width.
Eastbourne is a strange track, although in a good way. It’s what in Formula 1 would be considered a “street” circuit, kind of like Foxhall, but without the run-off area! At Eastbourne, if you go wide on the bends, you hit the wall, simple as, and as such I can tell you Damian’s mother watched this race from behind her hands, convinced someone was going to have a horrible accident! All I can say is I left Eastbourne with a new found respect and admiration for ALL the drivers who took part.
Eastbourne is also unusual in the Oval Track racing calendar as it has decent facilities, a “proper” cafeteria, toilets you don’t feel you need to seek medical attention after using, and fairly well laid out with the unusual aspect of having the pit area in a wood! I guess drivers don’t usually need to worry about dodging trees at a stock car racing stadium! You do however have to pay to get into the pit area, and you have to pay at the entrance, the opposite side of the stadium. As a first time visitor I was annoyed to have to go back to the entrance I’d just come from to get a ticket for the pits, me and exercise and not closely acquainted!
On to the racing, as a “red” top Damian once again starts the heats from the 2nd from last row on the grid, with the super fast Jon Hoggarth and Dan Holden behind him, and once again the Golden One showed his class and came from the back to take the first heat, Damian’s hopes ending when he was spun and had to recover from dead last, which he did finishing a respectable 6th.
Heat #2 was somewhat more dramatic still, with championship leaders #61 Jon Hoggarth and #161 Dan Holden coming to grips on the home straight, with #61’s car suffering catastrophic, and it transpired un-repairable, damage. #161 was retired by the stewards as he was deemed responsible for the collision. Damian was able to capitalise on their misfortunes to come home 2nd behind the orange rocket of #465 Phil Moore.
In the Final #465 took home the win, with #161, having “straightened” the bits he bent in heat #2, coming in 2nd, followed by #33 “Jockey” Pete Amas in 3rd. Damian finished 4th, having struggled to get through traffic on Eastbourne’s narrow straights and tight bends, and running out of laps to catch the leaders at the end.
All in all however, Damian finished in the points in all 3 races, which can only be considered a successful nights racing.
As my efforts to record the Final went a bit pear-shaped (new camera is my excuse), for a very welcome change we present for your delectation the videos from Damian’s on-board camera, in case you were wondering just how scary driving these things really is!
