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Part Two - Pioneer Legends pairs race

After their win last time, Mike and Jeremy went into the final Legends race with a healthy lead to defend in the championship. Sadly, Mike was unable to race - leaving Jeremy searching for a partner to grab the sixth place or better he needed for the Legends title. Alex kindly obliged - their car being one of nine on the grid. Jean headed home, but left his car in the hands of regular partner Oli, who was joined by Bobby, for only his second Legends race. Stephen would double-duty - sharing one car with his dad and another with his twin brother. Otherwise, Andy shared with Ash, Simon with Duncan, Oliver with Ryan and Terry with Matthew. Isaac and Kevin borrowed Terry's spare car for their first taste of Legends action.



All the races lasted six minutes this evening - two qualifying heats, a semi-final and feature race. There were reliability issues in the qualifiers for Oliver and Ryan, who had work to do to be ready for the semi. Terry and Matthew also had troubles, but were hopeful of a second chance. Simon and Duncan were less confident. The top three qualified directly for the feature race - Oli and Bobby putting on a faultless performance to grab pole with 26 laps, Andy and Ash were second and Daniel and Stephen third, both pairs with 24 laps. Everyone else would race in the semi-final and the top three would step up. Jeremy needed that step-up to be sure of the title.



The semi-final was an exciting race. Two of the ailing cars from qualifying were going nicely, but Simon's car retired on the first lap. At the driver change, the five remaining cars were covered by just over a lap - Oliver and Ryan leading. Alex and Jeremy were second, but Terry and Matthew ran an impressive fuel-saving strategy, grabbing second as their rivals pitted. Mike and Stephen could have put Jeremy and Alex under pressure for that third step-up... but an extra stop and too much time in the pits scuppered their chances. Jeremy was a relieved man.



The last race of the evening was our final Legends of the year... unless we sneak them into a Digital Saturday somewhere. We had six pairs all gunning for the win - and we know by now that the Legends race are always very open. Like last time, a weather change was thrown into the mix - a dry track to start, growing damp as the race went on...



The race was a blur - excitingly close racing from start to finish. Ryan delivered the lead to Oliver at the driver change, but a few too many offs allowed Alex and then Terry back into the mix - especially with Terry's one-stop strategy. Daniel had driven an excellent first stint, but tragically their car broke down before Stephen could take over. Bobby and Andy were slightly off the pace. The gaps between the leading trio ebbed and flowed, Alex getting a drive-through, but his pursuers not able to take advantage. Alex crossed the line the winner, followed by Oliver and then Terry - all on the same lap. Bobby was a lap behind and Andy another lap further back.



And here are all the stats...



It was a second Legends win for both Jeremy and Alex, but Jeremy's more consistent scoring with Mike gave him a well-deserved trophy as our inaugural WHO Pioneer Legends champion!



Here's the full table...



And that was the end of the racing for the  evening. Huge congratulations to the winners and champions - and a big thank you to everyone who came along. Special thanks goes to the set-up crew for their awesome work, to Ash's brilliant assistance on race control and to all those who helped pack away at the end. We were done by 10pm. Our next action at the Barn is an HO F1 race on Wednesday 7 September (three weeks time) and our Goodwood Revival Digital Saturday is on 24 September, the day before the Havant Scalextric Swapmeet. That's next month sorted!