Tough Weekend For Silverline Chevrolet
The Saturday celebrations in the RML Silverline Chevrolet garage at Croft after securing their first pole of the season, turned to frustrations as they endured a tough weekend at the North Yorkshire circuit.
With pole position for Jason Plato, and long time rival Matt Neal alongside him there was an interesting battle brewing as the cars sat on the grid before the start of race one. Sadly for Plato a nudge from the quick starting Rob Collard in the WSR BMW sent him into a half spin which resulted in a trip over the grass and demotion to third place as he rejoined the track. Third place would have been a decent result for Jason in his title hunt, but he was passed very near the end of the race by the hard charging, slick tyre shod, Airwaves Racing Focus of Mat Jackson.
Alex Macdowell was also on the receiving end of contact with other drivers. Twice he found himself involved in other peoples tangles, and twice he found himself out of position as a result leaving him a disappointing 14th place in race one.
Race two was a case of bad to worse for the Chevrolet pairing as both drivers suffered mechanical failures which saw them retire from the race. Whilst contending for third, Plato suffered a broken drive shaft which saw him retire.
Macdowell was on a charge in race two, getting up as high as 7th place before radio communications with the team took a turn for the worst. On returning to the pits, further inspection showed that an oil pressure problem was to bring his race to an early conclusion.
Both Macdowell and Plato finished the final race forcing their way from the back of the grid to 8th and 11th places respectively.
Afterwards Plato commented; “I’m disappointed with the outcome of today, but there are 15 races left and we’ve got a great car, which, along with the team, has a lot of potential especially given the proposed review in the summer break.”
Teammate Macdowell went on to add; “It’s been a mixed weekend for me. I was hopeful of some stronger points finishes given our qualifying performance to be honest, but I was knocked off track a couple of times so I had to fight my way back through which set me back. I enjoyed some great racing in that last one, working my way through the field from 16th on the grid to 8th, which just shows the pace is there. The results aren’t truly reflective of where I think we should have been today but I’m happy with that race three comeback and will be raring to go at Snetterton following this seven week break.”
Photo credit: Pete Mainey (www.psmmotorsportimages.co.uk)
Richard Devine
