Podiums at Cadwell for Lochlan Bearman

Last weekend 15 year old school boy Lochlan Bearman competed in Rounds 3 & 4 of the Ford Fiesta Junior Championship at Cadwell Park in Lincolnshire…

Cadwell Park, known as the mini Nurburgring, is fast, twisty, narrow in parts and if you come off you are potentially going to have a pretty sizeable shunt, but this Louth track is loved by many and rarely to you come across a racer who does not like driving this legendary hoop of tarmac – exhilarating to drive and through the section called the ‘Mountain’, if your going fast enough the car gets airborne.

Having been disappointed with his results of 9^th and 5^th at Brands last time out, Bearman was looking for a good result to get his Championship bid back on target. Barman said ” Practise went very well, I was constantly running in the top 4, and in the final practise we learnt that new tyres were worth about 2 seconds a lap and as I was closer than that on old rubber I felt confident going into qualifying’.

Lochlan goes on to say ‘in qualifying my plan was to get some space and put in 3 fast laps. Unfortunately as I started my first hot lap there was an accident which brought out the red flag stopping the session. When it was restarted I then encountered traffic which cost me time and ultimately the chance to go quicker on the new tyres. The end result was 5^th on the grid 3 tenths off pole….’

In Race 1 Bearman made good start going around the outside of the long sweeping uphill Coppice corner and onto the back straight. He held his position and began to slowly pull up to second place man when the Code 60 flag was deployed. At the restart the field had closed up and as Bearman worked to close the gap to second place he came under pressure from 4^th. Now having to defend Bearman finally crossed the line in 3^rd just 3/1000 ahead of 4^th. “I thought I’d catch second place but had to start taking more defensive lines which slowed me up and that’s as close a finish as I’ve ever been in…”

In Race 2 it was a 3^rd place start on the grid, off the line the 4^th placed man made an incredible start and was leading by the time the cars turned into the left hand Coppice corner demoting Bearman to 4^th. Bearman then gradually caught 3^rd place but on the thin Cadwell Park track found 3^rd position was being firmly defended. Eventually Bearman got through having planned his move and setting it up 3 corners in advance. I had to be close through the first 2 turns and onto the straight. I knew he would defend but as he moved back across to take the racing line I out braked him down the inside. Bearman was now looking safe in 3^rd but as the race continued he suffered understeer as the best had been wrung out of the tyres “I knew those around me were on good rubber” said Bearman. “i was under pressure from 4^th and he caught me on the last lap…” using all his karting experience to keep him behind Bearman managed to keep him at bay however at the Hairpin the 4^th placed driver dived up the inside but Bearman was ready, “I knew he was coming very fast, so as he passed I undercut him and retook 3^rd before the line – another close finish!”.

Bearman went onto say, “after a tough weekend at Brands last time out it was a it was good to come away with a solid performance and 2 podiums. We’ve a few areas of the car to improve on and if I can find some money hopefully (sponsors – get in touch with us here at Paddock42.com or contact Lochlan direct via www.lochlanbearman.com) we can have those changes on the car for Silverstone at the end of May”.

Next round takes place at Silverstone at the end of May.