It was all going so well for 360 Racing Radical ace Jerome De Sadeleer at Donington Park; he had dominated the first race and finished the opening day with a two-point lead in the Radical Challenge.
He was dominant again in Sunday’s race until fate turned against him. “It had been a perfect race for me, I was second to first into Redgate and each time we had a safety car I rebuilt my lead and was fastest everywhere, but then everything we had worked for all year slipped way. It had been my best drive ever until that pitstop,” he said after the wheelnuts were stuck and more than doubled his time in the pits.
The weekend had started well with pole position for De Sadeleer. “I worked to build a gap but had to back out of some fast laps due to traffic. I’m happy with my time though,” he said.
Teammate Mark Richards had qualified on the third row too, “I overcooked it at McLeans on the last lap though, going for a last flyer. So frustrating,” he explained.
Martin Verity was happy on row six too, “a bit slippery though,” he reckoned. But Jason Rishover was destined to start from the back, “it just caught me out on the Craner Curves,” he explained.
As the lights went out, De Sadeleer was in command from the word go and left his rivals to dispute second.
Not even a safety car intervention when Richards went off could put the leader off his stride, making his mandatory stop with a huge lead. “I was on the grass at the Old Hairpin and then just threw it off at McLeans,” Richards admitted.
De Sadeleer re-joined behind his rivals but charged passed them again within a couple of laps to resume his dominant lead, taking the flag three seconds clear of Marcus Clutton, with title rival Dominik Jackson third. “I got them on the back straight, stayed on slicks and pushed hard,” he said.
Despite his earlier off, Richards clawed his way back to 16th, “It was awesome, I loved it! No pressure, just charging past people,” he said, after earning a stop-go penalty for speeding in the pitlane.
