9th-Feb-24, 09:49 PM
Finals - Part Two
Pete stepped up to blue lane in the D Final, where Matthew had chosen red, Duncan yellow and Kev white...
The early stages saw some magnificent close racing - all four cars ripping up the oval at a similar pace. Matthew led the way, the others never far behind. Up against two Super-Gs and Duncan's Life Like, Gen6 runner Kev sat at the back of the bunch and waited. First to fall off was Duncan, crashing out of yellow lane on lap 7. Pete followed on lap 10 - some rapid marshalling limiting his losses. That left Matthew leading Kev - and when Matthew had a massive crash on lap 14, Kev found himself in first place and more than half the race to run...
Out in the white lane, Kev was fully on the rev-limiter - his Mega-G+ was flat out all the way round. Matthew was out of contention and Duncan was getting scrappy, but if Pete could keep his car on the track, Kev was a sitting duck. Pete reeled in the Gen6 car, Kev's lead lasting only four laps - but the Mega-G+ man wasn't done. Pete knew that another off would probably hand the race to Kev, so he eased of a little, the two cars separated by only a few feet. The tension rose as the clock ran down - Kev kept up the pressure, but Pete brought his car home safely a quarter of a lap ahead. Kev missed out on a crack at the Gen6 win, but he'd enjoyed the battle. Duncan rolled in three laps back and Matthew characteristically banged in the fastest lap of the finals so far, despite a lengthy time of track that cost him at least 8 laps.
Pete moved lanes again for the C Final, racing in white lane this time. He faced John in red and the top two Gen6 cars of Keith and Deborah in blue and yellow. Although focused on the Gen6 win, Keith fancied his chances for a step-up and led the first lap. John passed him next time round and he became the head of a super-fast line of cars that gradually spread out as John dipped into the 2.9s and Deborah stuck to an ultra-consistent 3.4 second pace in yellow. In the middle, it was nip and tuck between Keith and Pete. It was mesmeric to watch - four superb drivers at the top of their game...
Halfway came and went and still no errors. Keith, perhaps losing sight of his Gen6 priorities overcooked it on lap 23, crashing out and dropping to the back of the pack. Sensing her chance, Deborah upped her pace a little to try and keep Keith at bay for the final third of the race - that was the first duel to follow. The second battle was a surprise - John binning it with about half a minute to go and finding Pete right on his bumper. The two-time Nascar champ remarkably kept his cool, settling straight down with a 3.3 second lap and then - eyes out on stalks - banging in a series of 3.1s and 3.2s that kept him just out of Pete's grasp. Of course, another off would have ended it. Both chases were exciting to watch, but John and Deborah did what they needed - John winning the C Final by a tenth of a lap and Deborah winning the Gen6 race by just over half a lap.
John's reward was yellow lane in the B Final. He was up against Gareth in blue, Ryan in white and Jerome in red - all gunning for the step-up and a crack at the overall race win. Gareth and Ryan had both been contenders for automatic A Final places and it was the two of them that gradually pulled away. That gap became a chasm as John and Jerome had rather scrappy middle phases of the race. Despite the chaos around them, Gareth and Ryan stayed locked in battle and racing at a pace we'd not seen all night, bringing a hush to the room. Gareth had the upper hand, taking a few hundredths or a tenth out of Ryan more often than not - although Ryan fought extremely hard to limit his losses...
Then - with about half a minute to go - disaster struck for Gareth. A big off wrecked all his hard work - his car didn't feel right and he retired it. Such was Gareth's pace, John and Jerome only passed his lap total in the final few seconds - John beating Jerome by a tenth of a lap. Out front, Ryan kept pushing and threw his car at the line to record a remarkable 41 lap score - the first time anyone had passed 40 laps all night. However, that last second lunge might not have been his best move - he hit the barriers and the car looked rather second-hand going into the A Final...
Terry (red) and Andy (blue) seemed confident going into the A Final. Their qualifying heats had been near-perfect and their cars were on song. However, Oliver (white) and Ryan (yellow) both had worries about their cars - Oliver having a damaged crown gear and Ryan regretting that moment of madness at the end of the previous race...
As the cars were lined up and the lights when out, form meant nothing - a WHO Nascar A Final usually means an adrenaline overload, chaos, carnage, regrets for some and overwhelming joy for the eventual winner...
Terry's car was left on the line, but Duncan got him moving quickly. Oliver led the first lap from the outside lane, closely followed by Andy - who then put his Taco Bell Chevy on its roof coming out of Turn 4 on lap 2. A wonky body, tyre rub and a poor-handling car meant it was game over for the pole-sitter and he retired just after half way. Terry was rapid - a couple of tenths quicker than anyone else - but a crash on lap 8 put him a lap behind Oliver, who still held the lead with his ailing Super-G. Ryan was getting scrappy in yellow, so was down to a tortoise vs hare chase for the win...
Oliver's car was struggling - lapping nearly half a second slower than Terry - but somehow he held on, helped by Terry crashing out of the lead on lap 28. As the clock ticked down, Oliver did all he could to wring every last ounce of speed from his car. Could he hold on? Would Terry crash again? In the end, it was tantalisingly close - but the record books will only offer one fact... Terry won the race by a tenth of a lap...
Here are all the results, stats and championship points...
Click on the image to make it bigger
Congratulations to Terry on another A Final victory and to Ollie for a resounding junior medal win...
Dexter was top rookie on the night and an excellent second in the junior standings. Gen6 champion Deborah started her title defence with a victory that sends her directly to November's winner-takes-all showdown. Who will join her on the grid?
Massive thanks to everyone who came along and helped make our February Nascar race such an enjoyable evening. Hopefully the 9.45-ish finish wasn't too late - it was great to see so many people staying to watch the A Final. Special thanks goes to the impromptu race control team for packing 32 heats and ten finals into less than three hours - helped enormously by all the drivers arriving promptly for their races. Many thanks to the set-up crew and to all those who stayed behind to clear away.
We're back on Wednesday 6 March for more HO action - our first Formula One race of the year and what is scheduled to be the debut of our AFX version of the St Petersburg Indycar street circuit. Mike is leaning towards American and Australian layouts for 2024.
Before that, our second Scalextric digital event of the season takes place on Wednesday 21 February. The Nascar team race & Legends pairs race format is the perfect training ground to the learn the WHO/digital ropes before progressing to the WHO GT Championship and then a busy autumn of Digital Saturdays.
Pete stepped up to blue lane in the D Final, where Matthew had chosen red, Duncan yellow and Kev white...
The early stages saw some magnificent close racing - all four cars ripping up the oval at a similar pace. Matthew led the way, the others never far behind. Up against two Super-Gs and Duncan's Life Like, Gen6 runner Kev sat at the back of the bunch and waited. First to fall off was Duncan, crashing out of yellow lane on lap 7. Pete followed on lap 10 - some rapid marshalling limiting his losses. That left Matthew leading Kev - and when Matthew had a massive crash on lap 14, Kev found himself in first place and more than half the race to run...
Out in the white lane, Kev was fully on the rev-limiter - his Mega-G+ was flat out all the way round. Matthew was out of contention and Duncan was getting scrappy, but if Pete could keep his car on the track, Kev was a sitting duck. Pete reeled in the Gen6 car, Kev's lead lasting only four laps - but the Mega-G+ man wasn't done. Pete knew that another off would probably hand the race to Kev, so he eased of a little, the two cars separated by only a few feet. The tension rose as the clock ran down - Kev kept up the pressure, but Pete brought his car home safely a quarter of a lap ahead. Kev missed out on a crack at the Gen6 win, but he'd enjoyed the battle. Duncan rolled in three laps back and Matthew characteristically banged in the fastest lap of the finals so far, despite a lengthy time of track that cost him at least 8 laps.
Pete moved lanes again for the C Final, racing in white lane this time. He faced John in red and the top two Gen6 cars of Keith and Deborah in blue and yellow. Although focused on the Gen6 win, Keith fancied his chances for a step-up and led the first lap. John passed him next time round and he became the head of a super-fast line of cars that gradually spread out as John dipped into the 2.9s and Deborah stuck to an ultra-consistent 3.4 second pace in yellow. In the middle, it was nip and tuck between Keith and Pete. It was mesmeric to watch - four superb drivers at the top of their game...
Halfway came and went and still no errors. Keith, perhaps losing sight of his Gen6 priorities overcooked it on lap 23, crashing out and dropping to the back of the pack. Sensing her chance, Deborah upped her pace a little to try and keep Keith at bay for the final third of the race - that was the first duel to follow. The second battle was a surprise - John binning it with about half a minute to go and finding Pete right on his bumper. The two-time Nascar champ remarkably kept his cool, settling straight down with a 3.3 second lap and then - eyes out on stalks - banging in a series of 3.1s and 3.2s that kept him just out of Pete's grasp. Of course, another off would have ended it. Both chases were exciting to watch, but John and Deborah did what they needed - John winning the C Final by a tenth of a lap and Deborah winning the Gen6 race by just over half a lap.
John's reward was yellow lane in the B Final. He was up against Gareth in blue, Ryan in white and Jerome in red - all gunning for the step-up and a crack at the overall race win. Gareth and Ryan had both been contenders for automatic A Final places and it was the two of them that gradually pulled away. That gap became a chasm as John and Jerome had rather scrappy middle phases of the race. Despite the chaos around them, Gareth and Ryan stayed locked in battle and racing at a pace we'd not seen all night, bringing a hush to the room. Gareth had the upper hand, taking a few hundredths or a tenth out of Ryan more often than not - although Ryan fought extremely hard to limit his losses...
Then - with about half a minute to go - disaster struck for Gareth. A big off wrecked all his hard work - his car didn't feel right and he retired it. Such was Gareth's pace, John and Jerome only passed his lap total in the final few seconds - John beating Jerome by a tenth of a lap. Out front, Ryan kept pushing and threw his car at the line to record a remarkable 41 lap score - the first time anyone had passed 40 laps all night. However, that last second lunge might not have been his best move - he hit the barriers and the car looked rather second-hand going into the A Final...
Terry (red) and Andy (blue) seemed confident going into the A Final. Their qualifying heats had been near-perfect and their cars were on song. However, Oliver (white) and Ryan (yellow) both had worries about their cars - Oliver having a damaged crown gear and Ryan regretting that moment of madness at the end of the previous race...
As the cars were lined up and the lights when out, form meant nothing - a WHO Nascar A Final usually means an adrenaline overload, chaos, carnage, regrets for some and overwhelming joy for the eventual winner...
Terry's car was left on the line, but Duncan got him moving quickly. Oliver led the first lap from the outside lane, closely followed by Andy - who then put his Taco Bell Chevy on its roof coming out of Turn 4 on lap 2. A wonky body, tyre rub and a poor-handling car meant it was game over for the pole-sitter and he retired just after half way. Terry was rapid - a couple of tenths quicker than anyone else - but a crash on lap 8 put him a lap behind Oliver, who still held the lead with his ailing Super-G. Ryan was getting scrappy in yellow, so was down to a tortoise vs hare chase for the win...
Oliver's car was struggling - lapping nearly half a second slower than Terry - but somehow he held on, helped by Terry crashing out of the lead on lap 28. As the clock ticked down, Oliver did all he could to wring every last ounce of speed from his car. Could he hold on? Would Terry crash again? In the end, it was tantalisingly close - but the record books will only offer one fact... Terry won the race by a tenth of a lap...
Here are all the results, stats and championship points...
Click on the image to make it bigger
Congratulations to Terry on another A Final victory and to Ollie for a resounding junior medal win...
Dexter was top rookie on the night and an excellent second in the junior standings. Gen6 champion Deborah started her title defence with a victory that sends her directly to November's winner-takes-all showdown. Who will join her on the grid?
Massive thanks to everyone who came along and helped make our February Nascar race such an enjoyable evening. Hopefully the 9.45-ish finish wasn't too late - it was great to see so many people staying to watch the A Final. Special thanks goes to the impromptu race control team for packing 32 heats and ten finals into less than three hours - helped enormously by all the drivers arriving promptly for their races. Many thanks to the set-up crew and to all those who stayed behind to clear away.
We're back on Wednesday 6 March for more HO action - our first Formula One race of the year and what is scheduled to be the debut of our AFX version of the St Petersburg Indycar street circuit. Mike is leaning towards American and Australian layouts for 2024.
Before that, our second Scalextric digital event of the season takes place on Wednesday 21 February. The Nascar team race & Legends pairs race format is the perfect training ground to the learn the WHO/digital ropes before progressing to the WHO GT Championship and then a busy autumn of Digital Saturdays.
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