In the first heat Ash was starting in the middle of the grid in 14th, so a top 5 place was the aim. Ash quickly moved through the pack to 9th by the end of the first lap, but dropped back to 12h following some contact. The graph shows that Ash was black flagged after lap 4, but Mike believes that he was excluded, pending an appeal.
In the second heat Ash was on the second row with the obvious intention to stay there. He lost a couple of places at the start, then took a place back only to losse a couple more as the race progressed. 6th wasn't the worst result, but for the last heat Ash needed a good result in order to make the 'A' final.
Mike gave Ash some straight talking before the third heat, as he had to make 10 places or be in the 'B' final! Ash was 18th on the grid, and steadily picked off a driver per lap to make 11th by the finish with a sensible approach. Some quick calculations showed that Ash might just scrape into the final, but it would be close. As Ash had never been in the 'B' final he didn't want that experience this weekend.
Ash was driving quickly enough, and was now the 9th fastest driver at the meeting, so a top 10 position was still possible.
Ash was starting from 22nd place so he would have to pass a couple each lap if he was to gain valuable championship points. Unfortunately his first lap was spent going backwards, so he was back in almpst last place before he could start his climb up the field. The next few laps saw Ash get back to his starting position and then in lap 6 Ash jumped another couple of places and ultimately finished 16th. Not the best result, but some points.
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