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Race Report Part 1 - Nascar Qualifying Heats

Eighteen racers ventured out on a very stormy night for an evening of nail-biting championship-deciding Nascar action - plus a brief Annual General Meeting before the start of the heats. Our final Nascar race of the season took place on a true track of champions - our AFX replica of the Riverside International Raceway...

   

The near 90-foot layout proved very fast, but severely punished any errors - high-speed crashes often saw body and chassis part company. In other words, the potential lots of typical WHO Nascar mayhem, just not on an oval. A 26-foot main straight allowed the Nascars to stretch their legs, but the braking points for the corners required precise recalibration as drivers adjusted from one lane to the next...

   

The battle between the two championship contenders - Jerome and Andy - would prove as dramatic in the qualifying heats as the finals themselves. Separated by 50 points, if Andy won and Jerome came third, the pair would share the championship, level on two wins and two thirds apiece. Any other result, and Andy would need a 60 point advantage on the night. It didn't start well for the championship leader, Jerome's car crashing heavily in red lane and needing most of the two minutes to be repaired - he now needed three strong heats and drop his red lane score. Andy began poorly - confused by the clockwise track and watching the car in the wrong gutter lane off the start! He recovered with a pretty average 18.05 laps in yellow.

The two would meet in Heat 6. Many of the early races were crash-fests as racers were guilty of over-driving the circuit and having big smashes. This one was no exception, with Terry, Ollie, Andy and Jerome keeping the marshals busy. Terry's super-quick Super-G+ was the main casualty, but everyone had at least one big, body-popping crash. Jerome managed 18.55 in white, but Andy was left disappointed on 16.4 in blue - probably the best lane. These scores compared with the 21.55 and 20.4 of front-runner Oliver, who led the way at half-time - three laps ahead of Mike D and Pete, then came Duncan's rapid Life Like and Keith's Super-G+. Andy was eighth, but Jerome was second from last - there was huge pressure on him for two more big performances.

   

The vote for our new club charity was counted in time to be announced at the halfway break. Mission Motorsport and Race Against Dementia were almost neck-and-neck on first preference votes. When the votes from the third-placed High Salvington Windmill were re-distributed, Mission Motorsport was the clear winner. We look forward to raising money over the next five years for this national charity which helps rehabilitate injured service personnel through participation in motorsport. Their website is: www.missionmotorsport.org

Then it was on with the racing... Many drivers dialled back their attack a few percent - and as a result we saw fewer crashes and better scores. In the Gen6 Cup race, Ash was the master of consistency, with Ryan and Isaac locked together less than a lap overall behind. Ollie had a great second-half performance with two 17s - which looked more than enough to put him in the Gen6 Shootout at the end of the evening. Rob was also very consistent over all four lanes on his HO racing debut - only a lap per heat off the pace of the Gen6 front-runners.

The battle for the top spots heated up. Oliver was is a class of his own - his Super-G+ really suiting this track. Mike was best of the rest, closing down the gap to just two laps by the end. The third automatic spot in the A final surprisingly went to Andy - a huge 21.55 in white and then a 19.3 in red making up for a mediocre start and leaving him a lap and a half ahead of Pete in fourth. Keith was next, followed by Duncan - the sole Life Like runner. Matthew would top the C finalists, but Jerome had only managed to recover to eleventh - and found himself second seed in the D final. The Nascar championship wasn't decided in the heats, but Jerome had some serious work to do in the finals - to finish eleventh would mean just 40 points - and Andy could clinch the championship with 110 for third.

   

Don't forget, you can make the results tables bigger by clicking on the image.