Winter Series Round 2 – 18/12/05
Race Report
Round 2 of the series, as predicted, saw much more favourable conditions than the series opener in November. A good field of drivers shunned the temptations of Christmas shopping and decided to go racing, and they were greeted by a cold, but more importantly, dry, track and a bright sky overhead. Right from the start of free practice, it was obvious that some good times would be posted today.
As usual in the Winter Series, Round-by-Round qualifying would be used, and again everyone would be looking for two good runs in the heats to put towards a good final position.
In The Paddock
An interesting newcomer in the paddock – Well, not the driver, more the car. Bob Burr was trying out the new Schumacher-distributed Atech touring car, as a trial to assess it’s suitability as a starter touring car, with even a possibility of a class for these cars if demand was sufficient. This car, with a very impressive specification for the price, comes complete with all electronics, and it was in its out-of-the-box state that it was being raced, with only a change of tyres for the conditions.
Qualifying – Round 1
Stock Touring
Gareth Walker decided to leave the warmth of indoor racing behind for a while and come racing under open skies, and immediately made his mark on the class with a 16/315, the only driver to score 16 laps in this class this round. Taking a very impressive second for the round was Mark Handford the Elder, just a sniff ahead of Rd 1 A final winner, Steve Dye. Michael Lee, Robert Bendell and Norman Britton followed, all scoring 15 laps.
19 Turn
Luke Hobson joined the series for the first time in this round, and went immediately to the head of the class with 17/308, the only person with 17. Michael Polson took 2nd and just missed out on 17, while James Parker took 3rd with 16/303 ahead of Mark Handford the Younger, with Steve Mount, Phill Sheepy and Luke Lee completing the field.
Round 2
Stock Touring
Gareth Walker took another round win and with it pole for the A final, and also remained the only driver in this class on 16 laps, with 16/311. Mark Handford Snr continued his excellent form with another second place for the round, and only just missed out on 16 (15/300). Rob Bendell took 3rd, from Norman Britton, Nigel Wyse, Bob Burr and Scott Walker, all on 15 laps.
19 Turn
Much tighter this time round, even though Luke Hobson tied up Pole for the A final with another round win (17/312). However the chasing pack were much more in touch this time round, with James Parker and Michael Polson in 2nd and 3rd places, within 4 seconds of Luke. Mark Handford jnr took 4th with a quick 16, ahead of Steve Mount, Phill Sheepy and Luke Lee.
Round 3
Stock Touring
Gareth Walker made it a clean sweep with 16/309, but this time he had some company up there, with Steve Dye bouncing back from a 2nd lap DNF with 16/312 to give him 3rd spot on the final grid. There then followed a madding crowd of drivers on 15 laps, in order Rob Bendell, Norman Britton, Mark Handford Snr, Nigel Wyse, Paul Flude and Phil Childs. Unfortunately for Phil this good run wouldn’t get him in the top 10, which was as follows:-
1 Gareth Walker
2 Mark Handford
3 Steve Dye
4 Robert Bendell
5 Norman Britton
6 Nigel Wyse
7 Michael Lee
8 Bob Burr
9 Paul Flude
10 Scott Walker
Notable performances here include Mark Handford with his best-ever series qualifying performance, Scott Walker making the A in the face of considerable competition, and Bob Burr with the Atech, surely the best value competitor in this top 10 by considerable distance.
19 Turn
Luke Hobson took another round win for a clean sweep, with 17/308, four seconds ahead of a very tight fight for 2nd spot in the round and on the grid, Michael Polson very unlucky to end up 3rd behind James Parker after being held up by lapped traffic in the closing stages of the heat. Mark Handford jnr took another 4th place, similarly with Steve Mount in 5th. Luke Lee took 6th for the round, ahead of an unlucky Phill Sheepy, who suffered car trouble that would end his meeting.
Overall qualifying in this class:-
1 Luke Hobson
2 James Parker
3 Michael Polson
4 Mark Handford Jnr
5 Steve Mount
6 Phil Sheepy
7 Luke Lee
The Finals
Stock Touring ‘C’ Final
With 22 cars in this class, we had a 2-car C final. Becky Wilson was unlucky to end up in the ‘C’ and used the occasion to prove that fact, producing times that would have placed her mid-field in the ‘B’. New driver Rob ‘Moxey’ Tolley had a trying debut with recalcitrant electronics, hopefully both these drivers will have better luck in future rounds.
Overall result for this final:
1 Becky Wilson
2 Rob Tolley
Stock Touring ‘B’ Final
Leg 1 – It’s often the case that the ‘B’ turns out to be the hardest-fought of all the finals, and that was certainly the case in the early stages of this one, with some drivers going all-out to win it on the first lap, and losing ground in the process. Pole man Phil Childs kept out of it by disappearing into the distance, and had a huge lead of about 8 seconds after just one lap, going on to win by nearly a whole lap from a tight group – Matt Holmes, Rich Dickinson and Richard Wilson covered by under 4 seconds in 2nd to 4th. Paul Vincent took 5th followed by Gavin Tuson and Derek Walker, then came Jon King and Heil Griffiths, with Neil Crutchlow retiring with radio troubles.
Leg 2 – Another tight and in some cases fraught start, but Gavin Tuson avoided the early melee, leading after the first lap and putting in good times to get a gap, but after a few laps was overhauled by pole sitter Phil Childs, who went on to win by 8 seconds from Gavin. Jon King came all the way from the back of the grid to continue his excellent recent form, taking 3rd only 5 seconds behind Gavin, and Richard Wilson held on to his grid spot with 4th, completing the 14-lap runners. Derek Walker came 5th and just missed out on 14, then came Paul Vincent, Neil Griffiths, Matt Holmes and Rich Dickinson, with Neil Crutchlow unfortunately not able to start.
Overall results for this final:-
1 Phil Childs
2 Gavin Tuson
3 Richard Wilson
4 Matt Holmes
5 Paul Vincent
6 Jon King
7 Derek Walker
8 Rich Dickinson
9 Neil Griffiths
10 Neil Crutchlow
Congratulations to all the drivers, particularly the top 3.
Stock Touring ‘A’ Final
Leg 1 - The cream of the stock crop were next out, and Norman Britton led from Gareth Walker after 1 lap, but Rob Bendell came shooting up from 4th to closely follow the pole man. Norman fell to 3rd after 3 laps, and that’s the way it stayed until the end, Gareth just winning 3.5s ahead of Rob, with N orman completing the 15-lappers in 3rd. Nigel Wyse came 4th, then Scott Walker came up from the back of the grid to take a well-fought 5th from Michael Lee, Bob Burr and Paul Flude and a troubled Steve Dye. Mark Handford took a battering at the start, and despite a good run couldn’t catch the rest of the field.
Leg 2 – Gareth Walker didn’t mess about this time, with a healthy lead after the first lap, and he remained in front to the end, posting the only Stock 16/lapper of the day (16/318). Behind him was a scrap for 2nd which was eventually won by Norman Britton, who beat Rob Bendell and Paul Flude by less than a second, and Michael Lee in 5th only 3s behind them. Bob Burr completed an impressive showing for the ready-to-run Atech car in 6th, beating Nigel Wyse. Steve Dye could only do 4 laps before being forced into retirement, with Mark Handford and Scott Walker the victims of first lap incidents.
Overall results for this final:-
1 Gareth Walker
2 Robert Bendell
3 Norman Britton
4 Nigel Wyse
5 Michael Lee
6 Paul Flude
7 Bob Burr
8 Scott Walker
9 Steve Dye
10 Mark Handford
Well done to Gareth for taking a perfect 5 out of 5 in Stock, and Rob and Norman drove well to take top 3 places.
19 Turn ‘A’ Final.
Again, just the one final in this class, with 6 starters as Phill Sheepy was unable to make either grid.
Leg 1 – The top 3 off the grid made a quick start to pull away from the others, and circulated in close company for the first few laps until Michael Polson had to retire from the 2nd place he had taken from James Parker on lap 2. Luke Hobson by now had the leg win wrapped up, but even so James closed up marginally to be 5 seconds behind at the close. Mark Handford jnr took 3rd, with Steve Mount in 4th, Luke Lee 5th, and Michael ending up unluckily down in 6th.
Leg 2 – Another good start from the leaders, and Mark also joined the party by being in close attendance in 4th. Michael made his way past James for 2nd, and set off after Luke Hobson. James dropped further behind when an excursion off-track put him behind Mark, after which he decided to cruise home in 4th, having worked out the points from leg 1 and knowing he would still be 2nd. Meanwhile, back at the front, Michael was putting Luke under some serious pressure, and got past on lap 16, staying in front to take a deserved leg win, 0.4s ahead of Luke. Mark took a good 3rd from James, with Steve in 5th, and Luke Lee taking 6th.
Overall result for this final:-
1 Luke Hobson
2 James Parker
3 Mark Handford Jnr
4 Michael Polson
5 Steve Mount
6 Luke Lee
7 Phil Sheepy
Well done to Luke on the win, and to Mark and Michael in particular for some excellent driving.
League Standings
After 2 rounds, the leagues are starting to take a little more shape, although there are some drivers with only 1 round to their name that will not yet appear at the top of the tree.
Stock Touring
1 Robert Bendell 393 Points
2 Steve Dye 390
3 Nigel Wyse 387
4 Norman Britton 382
5 Mark Handford 378
6 Paul Flude 375
7 Phil Childs 368
8 Scott Walker 358
9 Gavin Tuson 352
10 Neil Crutchlow 350
19 Turn
1 James Parker 397 Points
2 Michael Polson 393
3 Mark Handford Jnr 386
4 Steve Mount 386
5 Luke Hobson 200
6 Adam Watson 197
7 Bob Burr 191
=8 Phil Sheepy 189
=8 Luke Lee 189
10 Ashley Coupland 188
The third round of the series is on the 15th January where we should see the order take some definitive form, but all the drivers will be looking for a good result to cement a good position or start a late charge.
Hope you all have a good Christmas and New Year!
Race Report by James Parker