[woodcote]

Rob stepped up to yellow lane in a very fast-looking D Final - Deborah in red, Isaac in blue and Ryan white...

   

Keeping Isaac out of red lane was a good move, but he had the fastest Viper of the night and would be the one to beat. However, it was Rob that got round the first lap in the lead, Deborah going sub 5-seconds on lap two and going to the front. Isaac was right behind and on a very similar pace - mid 4-seconds. The front two gradually eased away from Rob and Ryan, Rob dropping back with a crash on lap 5. Isaac was a few hundredths of a second quicker each lap and eventually took the lead on lap eight...

   

Despite getting into the lead, Isaac still had a big job to do. Deborah was working hard to limit her losses, so when Isaac had the briefest of offs on lap 19, she was back through and into the lead. Could Deborah keep ahead on pace? Maybe, maybe not - we'll never know as a crash on the penultimate lap gifted the lead back to Isaac. Another off on the last lap sealed it - Isaac winning a thrilling race by just shy of two laps. Rob very nearly grabbed third after Ryan ran into some late-race issues, but finished 0.8 of a lap adrift.

Isaac stepped up to his unfavoured white lane in the C Final. He was up against Alex (blue), Pete (red) and Matthew (yellow), so had a tough task ahead...

   

A blistering first lap gave Isaac the lead of the race... but that was followed by an off - Alex now in first place, closely pursued by Pete and Matthew. This was shaping up to be another thriller, until Alex crashed out on lap 6. Nonetheless, Pete did have Matthew to worry about - just a few feet back and matching his lap times...

   

Pete's lead ebbed and flowed until Matthew binned it on lap 10 - that left Pete in firm control of the race. Not one to throw away a lead, Pete stayed focused and brought his Viper home without error. Good job too, as Alex fought back well, but that early crash cost him dear. Isaac beat Matthew to third.

Pete would have yellow lane in the B Final, a veritable roll-call of WHO champions with Keith in red, Andy in blue and Jerome in white...

   

Keith was quickest away, followed by Pete, Jerome and Andy. Whether there was damage from his last heat or not, Andy's Viper was struggling and he dropped to the back. At the front, Pete tried to keep Keith in his sights, but an off on lap 8 scuppered those plans. Jerome had a few offs himself, giving a fixed-up and recovering Andy an opportunity for third...

   

Andy would pass Jerome and then throw third place away with a late off. Meanwhile, Keith kept his nose clean and finished a lap ahead of Pete - without that early crash, it would have been much, much closer.

The top 4 qualifiers lined up in the A Final - Terry in red, John in blue, Oliver in white and Keith in yellow...

   

A cautious start saw Terry lead Keith, Oliver and John through the first lap. Keith crashed the second time round, leaving a three-way battle for the lead. John was the first driver to go sub 5-seconds, closing the gap on Terry and gradually dropping Oliver. It would be a titanic scrap between the cars in blue and red...

   

Oliver couldn't keep up the pace and a mid-race off dropped him out of contention. John kept pushing and the gap remained close - the two front-runners clocking almost identical lap times. As the finish loomed large, John made one last lunge - a few hundredths here and there wasn't going to be enough - but he overcooked it going into turn 2 and the crash wrecked his race - nearly 20-seconds lost to replace the rear axle. Terry was home and dry, Oliver second and Keith third. John limped home in fourth...

       

Huge congratulations to Terry on his second HO A Final win of the year and to Isaac on his first junior medal of 2024. Gareth won the Tuners race and - on debut - Will finished top of the rookies...

   

Here are all the stats from the finals...

   
Click the image to make it bigger.

And here are some video highlights of all the finals...




A very big thank you to everyone who came along and made our Easter race meeting so much fun. Special thanks goes to the set-up and race control teams and to everyone who stayed behind to pack away.

To make sure we finish as close to 9.30 as possible, we'll shift the start of practice to 6.15pm and aim to begin the heats at 6.45 from the next HO night on Wednesday 1 May. If that's going to be an issue for anyone, please let us know and we'll make sure you're on the race sheet.