After the success of Silverstone, Jo Polley was eager to head to Rockingham in mid-April for the next rounds of the Super Mighty Mini championship.
Rockingham had seen Jo have a good weekend in the Cooper class of the Mini challenge a few years ago and so she was hopeful of a good weekend this time.
She was right on the pace once again for qualifying taking third on the grid and she was hopeful for two more great races.
The first of the two races was on Saturday with the second on Sunday Morning.
As the lights went out for race one, Jo unfortunately made one of her worst starts for several years and was swallowed up by the pack. She ended up in eighth place on the first lap. But she immediately started fighting back, knowing that the cars ahead of her were not as quick. She made up three places over the next few laps to run fifth. As the flag fell she was rapidly closing on fourth but crossed the line still in fifth. It was still a good result but after the win at Silverstone, it felt disappointing. Although this shows how far Jo has progressed this season, a fifth last year would have been something to celebrate!
She wasn’t going to make the same mistake at the start of race two on Sunday and got away like a rocket, flying around the banking to take the lead at the end of the first lap. Over the next few laps she had a bit of a battle for the position before making a slight break. Over the next few laps she led comfortably while never being able to quite pull away. Neven Kirkpatrick made the most of the traffic in the pack behind her as they lapped the slower Mighty Mini class cars and on the final lap he was right behind Jo. She made a very slight mistake as she went to pass another back marker and it was just enough to let Kirkpatrick slip through. She had to settle for second, another strong result but disappointing when you’ve led the whole race!
Jo was still happy with her race experience;
“Wow a mega race today, nearly had it, led for most of the race to be pipped on the last lap and finished Second! Great job by the team, the car was mint and it was fantastic racing”
The next races are at Castle Combe on the May Bank Holiday Monday. Jo will be aiming to go for a win once again. By Marc Waller
