[woodcote]

We welcomed 16 racers to the Barn last night - not a bad turnout for the start of the school year and an absolutely sweltering day on the south coast. The autumn is a perfect time to get a first taste of HO club racing, ready for a full season next year - so we were delighted that Jon made his WHO debut, borrowing a car from Matthew.

   

The set-up crew of Ash, Terry, Pete, Duncan and Andy managed to maximise table capacity to deliver the full-length Zandvoort-inspired layout, which at 104-foot (31.7 metres) is one of the longest HO tracks we've built in a while...

   

That 34-foot main straight was certainly going to favour the Super-G+ cars, unleashed from any minimum height restrictions this season. However, over a lap, some drivers were feeling their trusty Mega-G+ models would have the upper hand. A sole Tyco was driven by Duncan...

   

Qualifying heats came thick and fast, producing some big scores and some great racing. One of the best of the night was heat 7 - Terry, Andy, Ryan and Pete setting a blistering pace and staying on the same lap. Andy finished with the top score of 19.5 laps, the others on 19.2. Most ominous was that Terry was the only driver to crash - twice - and he still finished second. That heat also delivered the fastest lap of the heats - a 5.811 by Andy - showing how being in a group of four fast drivers can (sometimes, but not always) push everyone to perform at their best.

After everyone had completed two heats, Terry's Super-G+ led the way with 39.10 laps. Pete's Mega-G+ was second on 37.80, just a tenth of a lap ahead of Andy's Super-G. The gap between fourth and fifth was even smaller - Jerome's Mega-G+ on 36.55 and Ryan's Super-G on 36.50. Oliver's Mega-G+ rounded out the top six with a 36.30. Isaac was top junior, his Mega-G+ up in an impressive eighth place with 33.96 laps. On debut, Jon had banged-in two excellent heats with Matthew's Mega-G+ to put him eleventh on 32.65 laps.

   

With all four lanes extremely drivable, the second pair of heats would simply be about improving. Terry looked untouchable at the top and - as much as they tried - Pete and Andy could only shave a little off his advantage. Those would be the automatic qualifiers for the top final. It was incredibly close from fourth to seventh - covered by a mere 0.6 of a lap - Ryan having first choice of lane for the B final, but Jerome facing a fight out of the C. Isaac was overtaken by both Rob and Kevin - the three of them finishing with 52, 51.9 and 51.8 laps - but the youngster was comfortably top junior. Jon remained eleventh after an impressive debut performance...

   
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Next up are the five finals...