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Mike runs out of Luck as top finish beckons.

The Beta Tools backed car of Redditch’s Mike Luck was a top ten qualifier for round five of the SCSA Championship at Rockingham. Mike was particularly pleased with the progress made through qualifying, which rewarded him with ninth on the grid. “It was a good day and we are still taking advice from Ron the driver coach. We didn’t change anything major, but altered corner weights for distribution, which helps the balance of the car particularly through the corners. The aim being to distribute it evenly over the four wheels. It’s fine tuning really, no real drama,” he explained.

But the start of race one didn’t go well. “I hit the rev limiter, then second gear and spun the wheels. I had to then back off and lost lots of places, so had to get on and play catch up,” he said. Progress was swift over the first few laps, from 13th on the opener to taking Phil Weaver and John Steward by the end of lap four.

After chasing regular rival Tony King, they both worked hard to catch 10th placed Gavin Seager. But the efforts to advance allowed Steward to close and repass, before he clashed with Seager and gave Luck 10th. “I had to go on the grass to avoid John, as his car came back down after hitting the wall,” he said.

Following the round of pitstops he fell to 12th, but chased Shane Brereton before taking 11th into Turn Three on lap 47. Over the closing laps he caught King again, but was unable to secure the elusive 10th place. “I just ran after time to try and get by after catching Tony,” he concluded.

Hopes were high for race two and he held 11th from the start. Chasing Mark Proctor, both caught King and went by on lap seven. The momentum continued as Proctor fell a lap later leaving Colin White as the next target.

Suddenly it all turned sour as the black flag was displayed. Heading to the pits for the first of a number of calls, the diagnosis wasn’t good. “It was going like a train from the start then we got some tyre smoke. The linkage had parted from the rear axle and it caused the diff case to leak oil, so my race was over,” he declared.
Despite his non finish, Luck still holds a strong seventh in the SCSA Championship standings. The next round is at Rockingham August 7th.