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Race Report Part One - Morning Session

Nineteen of us turned up for the morning's club car rotation and BTCC race, with Oli joining us in the afternoon. It was a fabulous day of racing - a nice distraction from everything that was going on outside. We welcomed Ollie B for a first taste of digital racing - and  both Rob and Dexter made their long-awaited WHO debuts.

   

Simon's track was awesome to drive and suggested some very close racing later in the day - a combination of fast straights and some unusually tight corners would mean a slightly different driving style to our usual flowing layouts...

   

The GT club cars came out for the rotation, when we'd all learn the track - and Rob, Ollie and Dexter would be thrown in the deep end! Two-minute runs with each of the six club cars would prove a close and nail-biting hour and a half of racing. The first three through their allotted six heats were Andy, Duncan and Mike - Mike leading the way with a total of 34.00 laps. Good scores were 5s and 6s, depending on the car - but Ryan somehow found a 7 with the green BMW Z4... an absolutely cracking run to give the youngster an unassailable total of 36.00 laps.

   

Our new racers did a spectacular job too, Rob finishing in ninth and although Ollie and Dexter were down the bottom, they were on similar scores to old-timers like Matthew, Jeremy and Isaac - really impressive debuts all round. In fact, the gap from first to last was a mere 8.75 laps...

   

Big congrats to Ryan on a superb rotation win, having been there or there abouts on numerous occasions. Isaac picked up the junior medal and looks ready to start working his way up the table next time...

   

The dust was still settling from the rotation when the cars were lined up for Race Two of our June-October-November BTCC format. The grid over the three step-up finals was set from the Race One result in June. Dexter took over his dad's car and Ollie and Jeremy filled the back of the grid in the C Final, not having been at the June race...

   

Dean took this 16-lap race by the scruff if its neck, not only keeping the chasing pack at bay, but lapping them all - the single step-up was his. The battle for second was exciting - Duncan and Jeremy having a memorable scrap with Jeremy eventually prevailing. Isaac was next, with Ollie fifth and Dexter learning loads in sixth...

   

There was a fine selection of cars in the B Final - two MGs, a VW, two BMW 125s and Dean's Civic. It was a cracking race, Simon leading the way in his Passat, but the others followed close behind. Dean took the lead on lap six and hung on to a small advantage over Simon, Matthew and the others - still all on the same lap at half distance. Simon kept pushing and was back in the lead with five laps left - and he held on to take a hard-won victory and step-up to the A Final. Stephen was the only driver to be lapped in an incredibly tight race...

   

Mike was off and away from second on the grid in the A Final. He was racing with 85% power, with pole-sitter Alex handicapped with only 75% - and that was noticeable on the long straights. Alex battled hard with Simon in the early stages - and they were joined by Andy, who'd been punted off by Oliver on the first lap. Those three swapped places, recovered from offs and served up an enthralling race. With a couple of laps left, Simon and Alex had a coming together, allowing Andy to zip through and claim second place - Mike was long gone, winning the race by half a lap...

   

Congrats to Mike on his BTCC win - the first for a while. Andy was delighted with second - and Alex was pretty chuffed with third, considering having to deal with maximum success ballast. Next month, they'll be starting at the back of the lowest final, when we enjoy the spectacle of a reverse grid!

   

And that was the morning done, ending slightly ahead of schedule too. The afternoon report will follow Sunday evening / Monday morning.