[woodcote]

Micro Scalextric Street Stock Eliminators - Round 1

Twenty-three cars meant a bye for top qualifier Jane in the first round. She decided to run and banged in a no-pressure 0.617 to intimidate the rest of the field.

   

The second tie was an all-American race between Al in the Veyron and Dave in the stocker - twelfth vs thirteenth qualifiers. It was a close one - and a minor upset - Dave winning by 0.014 with an ET of 0.719. Fellow Nitro Slots regular Hank defeated Pete by 0.071 and Gareth beat David 0.065 in the battle of the Aston Martins.

It was all going comfortably to form so far, third qualifier Alan beating 22nd qualifier Dylan P by 0.144 seconds - Alan's 0.619 ET quick enough for Jane to take notice.

   

Doug nearly surprised Rebecca, but the Porsche prevailed by 0.029 seconds, having made up plenty of ground in the final stages. Clive had an easy run to beat Andy Player by 0.100 seconds. Next up were Jerome and Andy Phillips...

   

Jerome had qualified ninth and Andy sixteenth, but it was probably no surprise to anyone to see Andy's hatchback cross the line 0.029 ahead of the Veyron. A 0.675 second ET was a big improvement on qualifying yet again. Clive ought to be worried for Round Two.

The second half of the ladder started with second qualifier Bill, who would get a bye if he reached the semis. He dispatched Jeremy in Round One by 0.110 seconds, although his ET of 0.646 was nothing to write home about.

   

Noah vs Leo looked like a close race on paper, but the winning margin of 0.046 went the youngster's way. Noah would be the Chesterfield representative in the second round. Laura had a fairly comfortable 0.047 second win against Iain, although the Porsche improved from qualifying - clocking a 0.710 run.

   

Finally, Sue squeaked past Dylan W - she needed a quick 0.671 to beat the former finalist by 0.028. As I predicted, Sue beat Jerome and Pete with her hand-me-down Audi TT

Here are all the stats from Round One...

   

   

[woodcote]

Round Two

Jane took no chances and set a blistering 0.609 to beat Dave by 0.109 seconds - not a bad second round winning margin!

   

Hank and Gareth gave us a predictably close race - the blue stocker winning by 0.030, Hank clocking 0.646 and Gareth 0.678. The pace of Alan's Audi R8 was holding up - a 0.625 pass giving Rebecca no chance, despite a quick 0.684 from the Porsche.

The question on everyone's lips was whether Andy Phillips could record yet another giant killing...

   

It looked very possible in the first half of the strip, but Clive's Audi eked out a 0.28 gap by the end. His sigh of relief was audible all the way down the eighth mile.

In the bottom half of the draw, Noah pushed Bill closer than expected, but the green stocker came across the line 0.40 seconds ahead. Laura won Street Stock on debut back in August. Her Aston Martin was favourite, especially after getting away from the line first...

   

However, Sue's Audi gained ground all the way down the strip and won by 0.016 seconds to set-up a showdown with Bill for an automatic place in the final.

Here are all the stats from Round Two...

   

[woodcote]

Rounds Three & Four

   

Jane had more than enough for Hank in their third round tie - the winning margin 0.035 seconds, Jane's ET slipping a bit to 0.618.

   

Fighting to meet Jane in the semi final were the Audi R8s of Alan and Clive - the third and fourth qualifiers. Clive had the better start and looked to be cruising to the win, with Alan desperately trying to catch up. The gap was nothing on the line - the crowd looking to the screen... Alan had snatched it by 0.009 seconds! And quick times too - 0.625 to 0.636.

   

The third race was effectively a semi, with the winner of Bill and Sue going to the final via a bye round. Bill was quickest away and had pulled a gap on the Audi. Yet Sue hadn't given up - just like the last round, the TT found some extra speed in the closing stages and crossed the line first - 0.015 seconds ahead. Sue was going to the final!

Immediately back to business and her bye round, Sue put in a 0.647 second pass - her fastest yet - to get focused on the next competitive race. But who would she face?

   

Jane and Alan had been the quickest two cars in the elimination rounds, but Jane still had the edge on ETs. Alan needed to find just maybe a hundredth of a second, maybe less if Jane had a less-than-perfect run. It was close - Jane was out front, but Alan was catching up... could he do it again? Not this time. Jane crossed the finish line sensors 0.013 ahead  - her 0.616 ET enough against Alan's 0.628.

Which gives us a final between Jane and Sue...

[woodcote]

Street Stock Final

I'm just wondering what Jerome and Pete are thinking now... I'm sure they'll get a sympathetic ear from Jeremy and Alan

   

Sue had got through to the final, but could she match Laura's achievement of winning on debut?

   

Of course, she was up against a two-time winner in Jane - who was now sure of being crowned the inaugural Micro Scalextric Street Stock champion. Would that knowledge dull Jane's winning edge?

   

No chance. Jane's Nissan powered down the strip - and any hope of Sue catching her was gone by half way...




Jane closed out the race by 0.044 seconds...

       

Huge congratulations to Jane on her third Street Stock victory...

   

Here are all the stats from the final three rounds (including Sue's bye run)...

   

And here's the full Street Stock ladder - you might want to click on the image to make it bigger...


   

That's it for tonight - the last Micro Scalextric action of the Summer Series. We still have the Pancake classes and match-racing to look forward to tomorrow evening

[Pondiless]

Great night again Andy. Congratulations to Jane on the championship win.

Looking forward to another exciting evening tomorrow. 

Alan

[woodcote]

Thanks Alan. My back-of-an-envelope calculations suggest that you're runner-up in Street Stock and Dylan W pipped Noah by just a handful of points to win the top junior trophy. If Clive had won your quarter final, it would be his hands on the runner-up trophy - it was that close! However, all that needs to be confirmed...

[alpink]

Jane, congrats on your win.
really great competition and I like the videos.
looking forward to more races tomorrow.

[BAracer]

Wow! Many thanks for all your efforts this evening Woodcote. Really enjoyed the commentary.

I would love to take some credit for Jane's car's performance, but you only need to look at where my car qualified to see that it was all outside my control. Whilst emotions are high in our house this evening, I think we will be giving the car a well deserved rest and be putting it out to stud and into retirement.

[Mazda]

Congratulations to Al and Jane on their wins. We are looking forward to more close racing tomorrow.
Thanks to Andy for the terrific commentary, this makes the racing so much more fun.

[BAracer]

Just managed to catch Jane between interviews...

"Flabbergasted, but quite delighted. I never knew I had it in me!"