[woodcote]

Race Report - Finals F to C

The F Final was a three-car affair, with Nathan (red) lining up against Tracy (white) and Dylan (yellow)...

   

Dylan had raised some eyebrows choosing yellow over blue, but it had been his best lane in the heats and he'd scored more laps than many, including his dad. It was Dylan's Super-G that led the first lap...

   

Nathan had a catastrophic off on lap 4, losing nearly five laps. Tracy came off too and found herself a lap behind the leader. I was now Dylan's race to lose. All three drivers knuckled down and put in some impressive laps...

   

The trio were approaching the final 30 seconds when Dylan had an off. Another error two laps later saw his lead evaporate and Tracy right back in the hunt for the step-up. Dylan kept calm and recovered with six clean laps, whereas Tracy crashed twice in her final three laps. Dylan's score of 23.75 was easily his best of the night, with Tracy also beating her best in second.

Dylan remained in yellow lane for the E Final. Could he overcome Mike (red), Stephen (blue) and Kev (white) to make more progress?

   

Stephen had enjoyed an excellent debut so far - driving the club cars with good speed and excellent care. Heats are one thing, but there's more pressure and adrenaline to contend with in the finals. Stephen, Kevin and Dylan all crashed on the first lap - the debutant suffering the longest delay and returning three laps down. Mike was out front in his Super-G and his lead grew as the others crashed more...

   

Dylan was Mike's main challenger - he was quicker over a lap, but a string of crashes kept dropping him back. An off for Mike just after half distance did make things interesting and Dylan kept things clean to narrow the gap. However, two late race crashes for Dylan meant Mike could relax again - and a crash on his penultimate lap didn't matter. Kev beat to Stephen to third.

It was the turn of Mike to stay in lane for the D Final. He'd be the only Super-G up against Ash (blue), Ethan (white) and Rob (yellow)...

   

The start of this race was the complete opposite of the previous one - all four drivers circulating together for the first couple of laps with Ethan in the lead. Rob and Ash couldn't hack the pace and both crashed twice, dropping them a lap back of the duelling leaders...

   

This was an incredible battle between Ethan and Mike, never separated by more than a few feet - Mike's Super-G having the advantage through the fast section, Ethan's Mega-G+ cancelling that out through the esses. Their concentration was intense and lap times almost identical. Mike held the lead through the line on lap 5, but Ethan was straight back. Mike grabbed the lead on the line again on lap 12 and held it next time round - but Ethan fought back and repassed the WHO veteran...

   

Surely one or both of the leaders would crash before the end? But no, this momentous scrap was decided on the track, Ethan bringing his car home just 0.05 of a lap ahead of Mike's and their fastest laps separated by 0.058 of a second. What a race! The battle for third was almost as close, a crash for Rob on the penultimate lap ending his pursuit of Ash.

Ethan stepped up into yellow for the C Final. This was unfamiliar territory for Ethan, but also for Kevin (red) and Steve (white). Only Isaac (blue) is a regular at this end of the grid...

   

Isaac needed to win to challenge Ollie and keep alive his hopes of the F1 and Club Junior championships. The others had dreams of a B Final appearance...

   

Steve led the first two laps, Isaac overpowering him to grab the lead on lap 3 - but all four runners were still all in with a shout. Ethan was first to crash on lap 5, followed by Steve and Isaac two laps later. That left Kevin, who'd had a slow start, at the front and going quicker than anyone else...

   

We then witnessed a metronomic masterclass from a driver who has had a solid, but not outstanding debut season at the Barn. Lapping in the low 4.4 seconds and never looking in danger of an error, Kevin kept notching up the laps. Without the benefit of any lucky 'extras', we all watched as red lane recorded 24, 25 and then amazingly 26 laps. Finishing with 26.6 laps gave Kevin the second highest score of the night so far, just short of Gareth's 26.75 during the heats.

A magnificent win for Kevin, who was followed three laps back by Isaac and Steve in third, five laps behind the winner.

That all meant Ollie could relax, having won the junior medal, plus two championships. He'd go next in the B Final...