Race Report
The start of another Winter series, and with plenty of new faces to be seen in both classes, as well as some familiar names moving from their normal class, we were sure to see some good action as the newcomers made their mark.
The first round of the series certainly lived up to the ‘winter’ part of its title as the track was covered in ice for early morning practice – even getting the car moving at all was a challenge, let alone in the right direction, and some impressive drift angles were seen, especially round the sweeper at the end of the main straight.
An icy track greeted those who ventured out early for practice.
After a short delay, and no small amount of sweeping, the track was in a fit state to make racing fair for all, without having to resort to mini-pin tyres, as tried in free practice by one driver who will remain nameless (ahem).
In The Paddock
The usual pleasingly wide variety of chassis that is normally seen at Bedworth was in evidence, however the big new sight in the paddock today was the sudden sprouting of tyre warmers. Following the ruling for 2006 made at the BRCA AGM a few weeks ago, it had been decided to allow the warmers at BRCCC meetings from this race onwards, and it would be interesting to see what difference the new equipment would make.
Tyre warmers made their first appearance at this meeting.
Qualifying
The qualifying, as is usual for the Winter Series, would be run to a round-by-round format, meaning every run could count – especially useful at a meeting like this where if FTQ were being used, only the final round would really stand a chance of counting.
Round 1
Stock Touring
19 booked in for this class, but unfortunately Stew Noble had to scratch after trouble in practice, meaning 18 came to the first round. Steve Dye has moved back into 27t after a year racing in the 19 turn class, and he immediately gave his new classmates due notice of his intentions by posting an incredibly rapid (given the conditions) 14/301, which stood as round 1’s FTQ over all the classes! Kris Kennedy, making one of his welcome visits to the Winter Series, would have joined Steve on 14 laps, but timed out on the final lap, however his 13/297 placed him 2nd for the round. Rich Dickinson took a creditable third for the round with 12/315, just ahead of the familiar Stock Touring ‘Battle of the Dads’ – Mark Handford Snr’s 12/318 just pipping Dean Coupland’s 12/320.
19 Turn
19 turn is faster than Stock, right? Not on this evidence – the extra power was just a handicap on this surface, and the fastest time in this class would only have placed 3rd in Stock! The straight was the most treacherous part of the track – a whiff of throttle in the wrong place and the car could end up anywhere. What was needed in these conditions was a cool head, and so it’s perhaps not surprising that the class was headed by some of the more mature members of the 7-car field – Michael Polson took the round with 13/303, 4 seconds ahead of James Parker, and Bob Burr completing the 13-lap runners with 3rd. Steve Mount is a welcome new face at BRCCC and took a good 4th, while this time Coupland beat Handford, Ashley taking 5th to Mark jnr’s 6th. Adam Watson had car trouble and came 7th, but showed that he would be one to watch…..
Round 2
Stock Touring
In general, the times improved this round as the track became a little friendlier, but no-one could beat Steve’s 14/301. Doesn’t matter in R-by-R though, and Kris Kennedy took the round win with 14/306, Norman Britton putting in an impressive 14/321 to take 2nd. Rob Bendell just missed out on 14 laps with 3rd with 13/301, while also on 13 laps were Nigel Wyse and Neil ‘Blackout’ Crutchlow. Steve Dye had gremlins this time which limited him to 4 laps, meaning that it was do-or-Dye (sorry) in the last round for him.
19 Turn
It was a little easier to put the power down this time round, although at least 1 competitor was quoted as having not pushed the throttle stick all the way to the end all race. James Parker took his first 19t round win in his first 19t series meeting with 15/307, and joining him on 15 laps was Adam Watson well and truly putting his Rd1 troubles behind him with 15/310, and Steve Mount continuing an impressive run with 15/313. Bob Burr, Michael Polson and Mark Handford Jnr clocked 14 laps, with Ashley Coupland being the unfortunate one in this round.
Round 3
Stock Touring
15 laps looked on the cards this time for the stock racers, and indeed it was. Indeed Rob Bendell nearly got up to 16, his 15/302 making him the 3rd different round winner in this class. Steve Dye booked pole spot on the grid with 2nd for the round in 15/313. Nigel Wyse, Paul Flude, Neil Crutchlow and Norman Britton all took 14 laps, with Kris Kennedy just missing out (13/300) but taking 2nd on the grid with his earlier performances.
Top 10 for Stock Qualifying:
1 Steve Dye
2 Kris Kennedy
3 Robert Bendell
4 Nigel Wyse
5 Norman Britton
6 Paul Flude
7 Neil Crutchlow
8 Mark Handford
9 Dean Coupland
10 Phil Childs
Steve Dye took 27-turn TQ, would he convert it into a win?
19 Turn
It looked set to be a battle between James and Michael for top spot on the grid, and the two cars circulated almost together for 5 minutes, but in the end it was a victory and TQ for Pole-son (sorry again), taking his 2nd round win with 16/305, just beating Mark Handford Jnr, who had been circulating a few seconds behind Michael & James on the track but used the time stagger to his advantage, with 16/306, then James Parker with 16/307. Adam Watson also joined the 16-lap club, with Bob Burr and Steve Mount getting 15s, and Ashley Coupland only having another half-run. Still, everyone was in the A-final in this class, and with such evenly matched lap times it was sure to be good.
Final order for this class:
1 Michael Polson
2 James Parker
3 Adam Watson
4 Steve Mount
5 Bob Burr
6 Mark Handford Jnr
7 Ashley Coupland
The Finals
Stock Touring B Final
A study in concentration as the 27t B finalists get ready for leg 1.
27t B-Final forms on the grid, Scott Walker on pole. Some grid spots are better than others…….
Leg 1 – Scott Walker led the field off for this one, but alas his race was only to last 3 laps before retirement loomed. Paul Vincent then took the lead from Gavin Tuson, and the race stayed like this until just after 4 minutes when Gavin had to retire, letting Paul take the leg win and Rich Dickinson take 2nd despite a nightmare 1st lap. Gavin held on to 3rd place, with Scott randle taking 4th and Jon King, making a welcome return to racing, completing the race in 5th. Philip Hughes had to retire after 5 laps, then came Scott, and Neil Griffiths could not make the start.
Leg 2 – Scott must have felt like he was in an RC version of ‘Groundhog Day’ as he yet again led from pole spot and again had to retire after a handful of laps. Paul was in the lead by then and drove very consistently to hold on to it from a charging Gavin Tuson, with Rich Dickinson just beating Scott Randle into 3rd place. Philip took 5th, followed by Jon, Neil and Scott.
Results for this final:-
1 Paul Vincent
2 Rich Dickinson
3 Gavin Tuson
4 Scott Randle
5 Philip Hughes
6 Jon King
7 Scott Walker
8 Neil Griffiths
Congratulations to all the drivers for coping well with the conditions, especially Paul, Rich and Gavin.
Stock Touring A Final
Stock A Finalists hard at work during Leg 1. Note the variety in transmitters and headgear.
Steve Dye’s familiar number and colour returned to Stock, and went
immediately to the head of the class.
Leg 1 – Steve and Kris lead the field round after 1 lap, with Rob and Norman in close attendance and the rest in hot pursuit. Rob goy by Kris on lap 3, and on lap 5 Norman had to retire after a promising start. Meanwhile Phil was making his way up from 10th on the grid and wasy halfway up by lap 10, when we unfortunately lost Paul. All the drivers were doing remarkably well in the conditions, but as 5 minutes were up Steve took the win by just under 2 seconds from a hard-charging Rob, with Phil making it all the way up to 3rd. Nigel just beat Kris for 4th, and Dean pipped Mark Snr for 6th. Paul, Norman and the unfortunate Neil completed the field.
Leg 2 – Another flying first lap from Steve, leading Rob, Dean (astonishing from 9th on the grid) and Kris, with Neil and Nigel next up. Kris slowed with car trouble over the next few laps and had to retire after 6, and Rob had an off on lap 2 which put him down the field. Dean set off after Steve, balancing charging with caution, but in the end couldn’t catch the polesitter and Steve won by 7 seconds from Dean, these two the only drivers on 15 laps. Nigel made his way through the field to take 3rd just ahead of Phil, then Rob recovered to 5th ahead of Mark. Paul, Neil and Norman completed the finishers, with Kris sadly classified 10th.
Result for this final:-
1 Steve Dye
2 Robert Bendell
3 Nigel Wyse
4 Phil Childs
5 Dean Coupland
6 Mark Handford
7 Kris Kennedy
8 Paul Flude
9 Norman Britton
10 Neil Crutchlow