The Bedworth Winter Series this year has been one of the most eagerly awaited ever.  Having dropped the 12 turn class from club racing this year, the club has decided to run 27 turn Stock and the increasingly popular 19 turn Super Stock. 

Drivers briefing:  Bob preaches to the 55 drivers who attended Round 1 of the series.

A new rule introduced over the Summer, meant that the top 3 27 turn Stock drivers had to move up to the faster 19 turn class, to make way for others in the 27t class.  This year, this rule affected Stock champ Nick Bruty, Adi Wright and Tim Hastie, all of whom would be making their debut in the 19 turn Super Stock class. 

After some wet weather in the days running up to the meeting, everyone breathed a sigh of relief when conditions for round 1 of the Winter Series turned out to be dry and mild.  The temperature wasn’t too bad either, with many racers opting not to pit indoors! 

There was a good attendance for the first round of the series with 55 drivers booked in.  (36 in 27t, 18 in 19t and 1 driver testing a brushless motor system).

27 turn Stock Qualifying

Round 1 of qualifying saw up and coming driver Shane Dye stamp his authority by setting the early pace with a 17/304s, closely followed by TORC driver Mark Fletcher and Mark Palmer.  Mark Palmer swapped to a TC3 during the summer and has gone well ever since. 

Round 2 of qualifying saw the tables turned.  Stock regular Adam Barker set FTD with 17/301s with Mark Fletcher also improving to maintain 2^nd overall.  Shane Dye pulled out during the run, but his time from the first round put him 3^rd overall after round 2.  Stew Noble with his TC3 got his act together by putting in a 17/304s to take 4^th with Tamiya driver Tarnjit Bharaj taking 5^th. 

With 3 rounds of qualifying, the 3rd qualifying run is make or break time for many drivers.  With track temperature and grip improved, there was potential for drivers to improve times significantly. 

Shane Dye got the magnets on for round 3 of qualifying, by setting a super quick FTD time of 18/310s, 4 seconds ahead of the charging Adam Barker.  Mark Fletcher failed to break into 18 laps but still managed to secure 3^rd on the grid for the finals.  A special mention to Luke Hobson who was 35^th after round 1, 16^th after round 2, but got it together when it mattered in the last qualifying run to take 4^th overall.  Well done Luke!  Kris Kennedy completed the top 5 in the Stock class. 

19 turn Super Stock Qualifying

There was a healthy number of 19 turn runners, with 18 booked in to run this new class at Bedworth RCCC.  This class will hopefully see numbers grow in time and many see this class as a good alternative to running 12 turn modified. 

The first qualifying run saw long-term Bedworth member Mark Traversoni set a respectable FTD with a 19/314s.  Up from the 27 turn classes, debutants Adi Wright and Nick Bruty went 2^nd and 3^rd fastest respectively.  Chris Kerswell, who was in the Midlands for a wedding the day before, was 4^th fastest with Jason ‘The Fly’ Brinkley in 5^th.  

Round 2 of qualifying saw a change at the top.  Visiting driver Chris Kerswell got the thumbs planted to take FTD from Traversoni, by 3 seconds.  Mark Traversoni went no quicker but held onto 2^nd with Bob Burr knuckling down to take 3^rd place.  These top three drivers all were on 19 laps.  Adi Wright was moved down to 4^th with Ben Emery in 5^th. 

Round 3 of qualifying saw no change to the top 5.  However, Ben Smith had a good improvement jumping from 11^th to 7^th to secure an ‘A’ final place. 

Brushless

Ian Whittingham used the meeting to try out his new brushless motor setup.  For many, this was the first time they had seen a brushless motor in use, and many were impressed with the straight line speed Ian’s TC3 had.  Brushless motors are no doubt the future, and with classes for them in both the TORC and BRCA in 2004, they will become increasingly more popular.

 27 turn A finals

Leg 1  
On a deserved pole was Shane Dye.  This time last year, Shane wasn’t even racing and to take pole in his first full Winter Series is a big achievement, well done Shane.  Shane had made a good start to his 2003/04 Winter Series campaign, but the job wasn’t over yet, with two finals to go. 

The Stock A final leg 1 didn’t start well for pole-man Shane who got hit on the first lap at the hairpin leaving him at the back of the field.  Adam Barker was the early leader until lap 2 when Mark Fletcher made the pass to take the lead.  Shane recovered well from being at the back and by lap 7 he was up to 3^rd chasing Mark and Adam; Shane also set the fastest lap of the race with a 16.96s.  Mark Fletcher managed to pull out a small gap between him and 2^nd place runner Adam Barker and that's how they finished.  Despite driving a blinder, Shane Dye could only manage 3^rd after his unfortunate incident on the opening lap. Breathing down Shane’s boot lid to the finish line was TC3 driver Stew Noble who did well to finish 4^th after starting from 6^th on the grid.  First blood then to Mark Fletcher. 

Leg 2
In the second leg of the Stock A final, there was excitement on the very first lap with Shane, Adam and Mark all sharing the lead at some point.  An error by Adam caused him slip down to 4^th opening the door for Tamiya driver Tarnjit ‘Suritarn’ Bharaj to assume 3^rd place.  So it was Mark Fletcher leading the early laps closely followed by Shane.  Tarnjit drove his own race maintaining 3^rd place.  Lap 8 and there was a scare for Shane.  On entering the Bus Stop Chicane, a back marker caused Shane to end up in the perimeter wall losing him valuable seconds allowing Mark to extend his lead.  Adam and Tarnjit were having their own wheel to wheel battle for third place with good car control shown by both drivers.  At the 5 minute marker, it was Mark Fletcher who finished 1^st with Shane in 2^nd.  Tarnjit held his nerve to take a respectable 3^rd place, less than ½ second ahead of Adam in 4^th.  Another consistent run by Stew Noble saw him finish in 5^th place. 

Unfortunately, the race reporter was racing in the 19 turn Super Stock A finals so there are no reports for those finals! 

The top lads in 27 turn Stock: from left, Phil Chambers, Marcus Gorvin, Mark Fletcher, Adam Barker and Shane Dye.  Well done lads.


Top 3 in 19 turn Super Stock:  from left, Bob Burr, Chris Kerswell and Mark Traversoni.

See you at the next round of the Winter Series on 21st December!  

Tech Charts

27 turn Stock

 19 turn Super Stock