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The Bridgestone Production Car Championship
is winding down and the penultimate round, held at Killarney this past
weekend (26 September 2009) determined the final championship
contenders. Knowing what was at stake, Michael Stephen pulled out all
the stops, ensuring that his 2009 Championship aspirations are still
alive and well.
Although Friday’s practice sessions didn’t run
very smoothly for Michael, this seems to be a good omen for the Engen
Xtreme Team driver. His Audi A4 3.2 litre quattro was well sorted by
Saturday’s qualifying session and Michael set the third quickest time,
just 0.283 of a second behind pole sitter and teammate Shaun
Watson-Smith who was running a full 45Kgs lighter than Michael.
Michael
had a good start to the race, attacking second placed Johan Fourie at
every opportunity. It is however a very tall order to pass Johan on his
home circuit and by the eighth and final lap, Michael had to be content
with a third place finish.
“My car is handling well and the
power is good. Unfortunately, I just couldn’t find a way around Johan.
Knowing that a DNF would end my championship hopes, I decided to take
the six points rather than try a reckless move,” explained Michael.
The
second race was always going to be more difficult with the reversed
grid coming into play. Michael started in seventh place, but was up to
fifth by the end of the first lap. By the second lap, it had started to
rain and Michael was able to use his Audi’s quattro system to full
advantage and took two more positions during the lap. Michael found
himself in the middle of an accident on lap three, when he was bumped
from behind and pushed into the back of Marco da Cunha (Nissan) causing
Marco to spin. Luckily, Michael was able to avoid the spinning Nissan
and was moved into second place. The safety car was deployed when
fellow Audi driver smashed into the Nissan and this worked to Michael’s
advantage, eliminating the lead that Leeroy Poulter (Nissan) had opened
up.
On the restart, Michael dashed past Leeroy and took the race
lead. Working hard in the wet conditions, Michael had to contend with
Fourie who was on the attack in second place. Taking his eyes off the
ball for a split second, Michael ran a bit deep into the corner and
Fourie capitalised on the small error to take the lead. Watson-Smith
was able to follow Fourie through the gap and Michael was left to take
another third place finish.
“I am frustrated with myself for
losing two places on the last lap, but am happy about the weekend’s
results and am feeling confident for Kyalami,” concluded Michael.
Michael
lies third in the championship, 12 points behind Fourie. The final
round of the championship will take place at Kyalami on 17 October 2009.
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