Bedworth Winter Series 2004/05 Round 2 – 19 December 2004

A dry but cold track greeted racers for round 2 of the series.

Race Report

After a week of cold and wet weather, most racers were expecting the track to be damp and slippery for the second round of the series. Instead, Sunday morning found the racing surface to be virtually bone dry, with only the occasional damp patch remaining as practise got underway. Turnout was good, especially considering the cold temperatures which came as a result of the clear skies overhead.

Welcome back Trevor...  It was good to see ex 27 turn lap record holder Trevor Stokes making a welcome return to racing after a 4 year break for University.  Expect to see Trevor competing at the top soon.

In The Paddock

The same variety of machinery which contested the first round was on display, however a few drivers had changed cars simply due to having drier conditions to work with. Despite the lack of rain for this particular meeting, a few drivers were trying out different speed controllers which offered weather protection, with good results, although only a truly wet meeting will give proof as to their effectiveness.

The Yokomo SD car seems to be gaining in popularity in its various forms, whichever type of chassis is used it seems a very user-friendly, biddable and quick machine.

Qualifying – Round 1

Stock Touring

The 26 drivers entered in this class were up first for qualifying, and therefore first to find that the track was dry and offered consistent grip all round the lap, but also very cold meaning that a smooth driving style was required Even at this early hour 16-lappers were up for grabs, and series leader James Parker took 1st for the round with 16/316.86, just under 2 seconds ahead of Adam Barker, with Sam Smith’s Xray coming in 3rd a fraction behind Adam, excellent given that Sam had only arrived at the meeting in a rush with minutes to spare until the start of qualifying! Michael Polson took 4th and only just missed out on 16 laps, while Dean Coupland continued his good form with 5th for the round.

19 Turn

The 14-car field was more able to use the extra power available from these faster motors than they had been last month, and these drivers were knocking on the door of 18 laps from the very start, Anthony Potter taking the round win with 17/303.52, 3 seconds ahead of Shane Dye. Ben Emery just scraped 17 laps with his 3rd place, with Stewart Noble and Dave Bailey being the quickest of the 16-lap runners in 4th and 5th.

Round 2

Stock Touring

Times were falling fast in this class, round 1’s FTQ would have only placed 5th this time around. Sam Smith took the round win with a very impressive 16/303.49, by 3 seconds from Craig Daffron who was at last able to overcome the reliability worries that have dogged him over the past few meetings to record an excellent run. Round 1 FTQ man James Parker took 3rd, just ahead of Michael Polson who took his second consecutive 4th place, Nigel Shaw and Dean Coupland both just missed 16 laps by fractions of a second to take 5th and 6th for the round.

19 Turn

Anthony Potter showed that he meant business here by taking the first 18-lapper of the day with room to spare, gong round in 18/310.64. No-one else could do 18, but Ben Emery and Shane Dye scored highly with 17 laps, followed by a triumvirate of experienced drivers with tons of experience of this track, Nick Bruty, Adi Wright (back with a rebuilt layshaft assembly on his Xray) and Bob Burr, running with the Yokomo SD CGM for the very first time, and able to record high positions despite having not had chance to set the speedo up, meaning no brakes (no fun in 19t).

Round 3

Stock Touring

Seven drivers recorded 16 lappers in this final round, even though a lot of competitors had their A final places sewn up under the ‘2 best rounds to count’ system used for qualifying. Sam Smith secured pole whilst just missing out on 17 laps, piloting his rapid Xray round in 16/301.38. Craig Daffron produced another good run to take 2nd just a fraction of a second behind Sam, while Adam Barker took 3rd a further 6 ½ seconds back. James Parker seemed to struggle in this one, taking 4th, while Rob Cunliffe, Marcus Gorvin and Mark Handford Jnr completed the 16-lap runners. Unfortunately for Mark this good run wouldn’t get him in the A, but he would be a strong contender in the B, starting from pole.

Final top 10 for 27t:-

1 Sam Smith
2 James Parker
3 Craig Daffron
4 Adam Barker
5 Michael Polson
6 Dean Coupland
7 Nigel Shaw
8 Marcus Gorvin
9 Robert Cunliffe
10 Kris Kennedy

19 Turn

Anthony Potter made sure of 2 things with his 3rd round run – firstly, finishing qualifying with a perfect score of 3 round wins, and secondly, being the only driver to score 18 laps in qualifying, although his 18/314.35 was slower than his round 2 effort. Stew Noble took 2nd for the round with a 17/303, while Ben Emery proved a model of consistency with a 3rd for the round. Adi, Nick and Bob were again very close in the mid 17 lappers, and the A final in this class would certainly be one to watch.

Qualifying top 10 for 19t:-

1 Anthony Potter
2 Shane Dye
3 Ben Emery
4 Stewart Noble
5 Adi Wright
6 Nick Bruty
7 Bob Burr
8 David Bailey
9 Andrew Gower
10 Steve Dye

Finals

Stock Touring C Final

Leg 1 – All 6 competing cars came to the grid for this race, and a good start saw the top 3 of Norman Britton, Derek Walker and Mark Handford come round in order. Mark then made for 1st with all speed, overhauling the two in front in the following few laps, and once in 1st stayed there to win with 15 laps, two-thirds of a lap ahead of Norman in second, who in turn was battling it out with Derek until the latter developed a problem on the very last lap and finished 3rd. Scott Walker was the only other finisher, with Paul Gorle and Patrick Rafferty having to retire early.

Leg 2 – Norman again headed the field at the end of lap 1, ahead of Paul, Mark and Derek, but once more Mark made his way to the top and stayed there to take the leg and overall wins. Norman stayed in touch to finish second, ahead of Derek who drove conservatively to take a good 3rd. Scott and Patrick completed the finishers, while Paul’s excellent work at the start was undone as he had to retire after 3 laps.

Overall positions for this final were:- 

1 Mark Handford
2 Norman Britton
3 Derek Walker
4 Scott Walker
5 Paul Gorle
6 Patrick Rafferty

Congratulations to Mark for taking the leg win, and to Norman and Derek for some good driving to take 2nd and 3rd.

Stock Touring B Final

Leg 1 – A full grid of 10 cars made it to the start of this final, and the battle between the top two proved that you don’t have to be in the A to provide excellent, close racing. Pole man Mark Handford Jnr led 2nd place Andrew Carter by fractions after lap 1, with the rest of the field hot on their heels, although 3rd place David Petch had dropped to near the back. Mark and Andrew traded lap times for the next few circuits whilst the gap stayed consistent, but a slight off by Mark on lap 8 cost 5 seconds and proved his undoing, despite getting back on the pace immediately, as by then Andrew was gone and won the leg by 2.8 seconds after deciding to play it safe in the last couple of laps and control the lead. Jason Petch took 3rd from Charnwood’s Steve Whitehorn, trying his hand on tarmac rather than carpet and proving quite good at it! Paul Streather came home 5th, followed by a returning Trevor Stokes, racing less than 24 hours after collecting his TC3 and competing for the first time in a few years, then came Steve Baines and Paul Vincent, and Ashley Coupland had to retire after 10 laps and was placed 10th.

Leg 2 – Mark jnr was a model of consistency and led this one from pole to flag, driving away from the field with the kind of driving that, as is so often the case, would have put him in the next final up had it happened in qualifying. Jason and David Petch kept well in touch with Mark to finish 2nd and 3rd, with Andrew a further couple of seconds back, never quite able to recover from dropping back on lap 1. Ashley climbed from 9th on the grid to take 5th, ahead of Steve W, Paul S, Trevor, Steve B and Paul V. Everyone was still running at the end of 5 minutes – always good to see.

Overall positions:-
1 Mark Handford Jnr
2 Andrew Carter
3 Jason Petch
4 David Petch
5 Steve Whitehorn
6 Paul Streather
7 Trevor Stokes
8 Ashley Coupland
9 Steve Baines
10 Paul Vincent
Congratulations to Mark Jnr for a win which puts yet more strain on the Handford family trophy cabinet, and to Andrew and Jason for their hard-fought second and third places.

Stock Touring – A Final

Here’s how the grid formed up:

27 turn Stock A finalists get ready for the second leg of their final.  Can you spot E.T.?

Leg 1 – 8 came to the grid in this race, Kris having transmitter problems and Nigel not starting, and a very close start saw the top few very close together, but as Craig and James squabbled over 2nd place Sam got away slightly. Coming out of turn 5 into turn 6 Craig got past James, then the yellow-and-green Pro 4 of Mr Parker started looking a bit strange in terms of its handling, and was swamped by the field. Braking for the tight ‘S’ James car snapped sideways and unfortunately hit Michael, putting these two to the back. At the end of lap 1 Sam led from Craig, Dean and Adam were in 3rd and 4th after excellent starts, with Adam close behind. Craig was having a real go over the next few laps at trying to reel in Sam, whilst Michael set about climbing the field, quickly getting back into the top half. James, meanwhile, had noticed the HPI making a racket from the front axle after 2 laps, and allied with the handling problems, your amateur race reporter realised it was Game Over and retired, with what turned out to be a sheared delrin outdrive on the front spool (hence 3 wheel drive). Meanwhile, back on the track, Sam and Craig were putting in consistent 18-second laps, and Michael had caught up with Marcus and was having a battle for 3rd, along with Dean who then unfortunately spun on lap 11 and left just two in the battle. In the end though, Sam won by 6 seconds from Craig, who was in turn 5 seconds ahead of the battle for 3rd, won by Michael by 0.31 seconds from Marcus with Dean almost getting back in, only 2 seconds down at the finish. Rob was up next after a bit of a gap, then Adam who had a tricky run. Kris got going 3 minutes in and took 8th place, James was classified 9th and Nigel did not record a lap.

Leg 2 – All 10 cars on the grid this time, but poor Kris Kennedy lost traction on the grid and spun his TC3 while the rest of the field left him behind.  (Check out the video of this start here).  A good clean first lap saw Sam lead by a small gap from James, who had Craig right behind him with Adam, Dean and Michael next up. Craig got by James in the complex on lap 2 and set off after the leader, and after about 1 ½ minutes Michael managed to pull a move on Adam and chase after the top 3, however Adam had other ideas and the battle between the two allowed the leading trio a bit of breathing space. Craig was close to catching Sam when he spun at the Horseshoe and went on the grass, allowing James’ damage limitation exercise to look even better as he retook 2nd place. Within 1 ½ laps, however, Craig was all over James once again and overhauled the other HPI in the twistier sections to retake 2nd. James was later seen subjecting Craig to a setup-related version of ’20 questions’ as they came out to marshal….

Leaders pass a back marker: Pole man Sam Smith leads with his Xray just ahead of Pro 4 racer Craig Daffron.

Sam, by this time, had driven away for the first, and only, Stock 17-lapper of the day and would take the leg, and overall, wins. Craig would claim 2nd for both leg and overall standings, finishing 6 seconds behind the winner. James took 3rd for the leg, limiting the damage caused by his leg 1 DNF by finishing 6th overall, and coming home 2 seconds behind Craig. Michael beat Adam to 4th after the latter spun with a few seconds to go, then Dean finished impressively in 6th by nearly catching Adam, and there was a similar gap back to Marcus in 7th, who in turn just beat Nigel and Kris – 5th to 9th covered by 6¾ seconds. Rob had a trying run and came in 10th, but still did 15 laps!

The familiar Mobil 1 color scheme of Kris Kennedy.

Overall positions:-
1 Sam Smith
2 Craig Daffron
3 Michael Polson
4 Dean Coupland
5 Marcus Gorvin
6 James Parker
7 Adam Barker
8 Robert Cunliffe
9 Kris Kennedy
10 Nigel Shaw

Congratulations to Sam for the win, and to Craig for a very good second which would have been enough to win on many other occasions. Michael drove very well to take an overall 3rd, and Dean’s rapid improvement continues, only just missing out on a trophy.

Xray driver Sam Smith took top honours in 27t with a fine Pole and Final win.  Nice paint job.

19 Turn – B Final

3 cars were entered in this race, but Howard Harrison was unable to make the grid in either leg, meaning that this final became a family affair for the Smiths, Gary taking close wins in both legs from Pole man Ben.

Overall positions:-
1 Gary Smith
2 Ben Smith
3 Howard Harrison

Congratulations Gary on some good driving on the way to the win.


19t B-final was a family affair between father and son, Gary and Ben Smith.


19 Turn – A Final

The grid would line up as follows:-

Leg 1 – Anthony had a good getaway and led the field round, while Stew got up to 2nd from 4th on the grid, and Ben got ahead of Shane into 3rd place. These drivers then proceeded to show great skill in putting in fast times lap after lap, and couldn’t be caught, finishing in that order. Nick took 5th after an equally impressive run, while Adi just took 6th off Bob as the Yoke driver had an incident on the last lap, and finished 7th 2 seconds ahead of Andrew. David and Steve completed the order on 16 laps, once again all cars finished.

Leg 2 – Anthony led after lap 1 from Shane, Stew and Adi, with Ben dropping down to 8th on this lap. On the 2nd lap Shane and Stew got ahead of Anthony, then the Tamiya driver got ahead on lap 3, taking the lead. The field remained fairly static for a few laps, then Anthony spun letting Adi through into 3rd, before fighting and winning a long battle to retake the place. As the 5 minute buzzer sounded, it finished Stew (taking the overall win), from Shane, Anthony just beating Adi, Ben recovering to 5th ahead of Nick, then Bob who passed Andrew when the latter had a slow last lap. 8 Seconds covered 3rd to 8th – some really good action in the midfield in this one, showing the quality evident in this grid. David took 9th, and Steve rounded off the order with a trying run down in 10th.

Overall positions:-
1 Stewart Noble
2 Anthony Potter
3 Shane Dye
4 Ben Emery
5 Adi Wright
6 Nick Bruty
7 Bob Burr
8 Andrew Gower
9 David Bailey
10 Steve Dye

Despite dominating qualifying and leg 1 of the final, Anthony couldn’t quite manage the win which goes to Stew. Shane’s reward for excellent consistency is 3rd place, while Ben dropped a place from his grid position to finish 4th. Adi and Nick had yet another close battle, while Bob returned from a short break from racing with a brand new car to come 7th.

Championship Standings

As we head off into the festive break, this is what the still-early tables look like.

27 Turn
1 James Parker 394 Points
2 Adam Barker 384
3 Michael Polson 381
4 Dean Coupland 379
5 Robert Cunliffe 377
6 Jason Petch 370
= 7 David Petch 367
= 7 Kris Kennedy 367
= 7 Marcus Gorvin 367
10 Nigel Shaw 363

Not shown in this table are drivers who’ve only done one round, such as Sam Smith, Craig Daffron and Jonathan Brook, drivers such as these could well have a say in the final reckoning.

19 Turn
1 Stewart Noble 389 Points
2 Nick Bruty 386
3 David Bailey 376
4 Gary Smith 371
5 Howard Harrison 365

These are the only drivers to have raced in both rounds so far, however with competitors able to drop a score there are still plenty of drivers able to do enough rounds to be in with a shout, so this table could look very different after 5 rounds.

Stew Noble took a surprise overall Final win in 19 turn.

So, another excellent day’s racing, with the dry conditions being a bonus. Let’s hope for equally good weather on 16th January ’05, for Round 3 of the series.

Hoping you all have an excellent time over the Festive Season…

Race Report by James Parker, pics by Adi Wright

And finally....

Dean Coupland's bodyshell was attracting some stares during the meeting...