Three Sisters Round 4 - Platinum Cup
MBKC’s TKM Platinum cup was held at round 4 of the Three Sisters championship, and Phil was looking on good form for a good result, so hopes were high for the weekend.
Testing Friday and Saturday looked good, with Phil, Martyn Lyell and Paul Monks along with a few other drivers all putting down quick lap times. Heat one saw Phil take the flag, with Scottish driver Wayne Macualey, who is always fast, take 2nd with Paul Monks and number 3 driver Matt Bell inside the top ten. Heat two was taken by Ross Davie, with Lyell finishing 2nd. Phil finished a respectable 5th from a low down grid position and Monks one behind him. Phil posted the quickest lap time in the heat by less than a tenth, with Lyell looking quick in the 42.2’s with Phil. Heat 3 was won by Monks 0.885 seconds ahead of Phil, and although Phil was quick enough to win, he only caught Monks in the closing stages, so couldn’t pass. Lyell was quickest in this heat, a tenth quicker than Phil and two tenths quicker than Monks. It was shaping up to be a pretty hard final!
Phil managed to take pole for the final, which was a good omen for the race, with Paul next to him on the front row and Lyell took up 3rd place with fellow Scottish driver Steven Napier on grid 4. Phil lead away for the first couple of laps, even pulling out a small advantage on Monks and Lyell who had left the rest of the field. After that though, Monks flew past Phil far too easily down the straight, and we knew something was wrong. Phil kept up with the front two for a while after dropping back behind Martyn into 3rd, but then had a complete loss of power coming out of Lunar bend onto the main straight and lost them. Phil tried altering the carb to fix the power problem, with a little success he managed to hold onto a podium spot. Slightly disappointing finish to a good weekend, but Phil was still please to come away with a Platinum cup trophy.