[woodcote]

Twenty-one of us lined up in seven finals, the G Final just three cars - our three WHO Tuners entries. Steve had taken Tuners pole, earned an extra championship point and chosen red lane for his Bulldog. Stephen was running a Mega-G+ from yellow lane and James was hoping a difficult debut with his rapid Bulldog would start to get better from blue...

   

It was a very cautious first lap, but all three drivers successful got round, James leading the way. Stephen pushed a bit to hard to catch up, crashing on laps 2 and 3. Steve had James in his sights, but an off on lap 6 dropped him back...

   

The two Bulldogs were lapping on a similar pace in the middle lanes and James had found some confidence and consistency after a torrid time in the heats. The pace of the Tuners Bulldog is certainly a step up from the Mega-G+ that he has raced so far.

Steve got a bit scrappy towards the end, taking the pressure off James. One late off for James was the only blemish on an almost perfect run to a final win and an excellent class win in Tuners.  Steve got over the line only half a lap ahead of Stephen.

James stepped up to red in the F Final, where he'd face three of the slower Mod cars - Kev's Bulldog in blue, Daniel's Viper in white and Kevin's Viper in yellow...

   

Kevin was stranded on the line, needing a push from Daniel, who successfully multi-tasked and led the first lap. Kev was right behind and sneaked ahead second time round. Kev is a trail-blazer this season, developing a Bulldog Mod car, and he seemed a whole lot happier this time than in January...

   

Kev banged in a succession of consistently quick laps, something his rival were struggling to do. Daniel briefly fell behind James, who was driving the Tuners-spec Bulldog strongly - about half a second a lap off Kev's times. Kevin was running hot & cold with his first outing in a Mod car - quickest in the group when everything came together, but still needing the confidence to push consistently. That will no doubt come with experience...

   

In the end, Kev rolled in three laps ahead of Daniel - a really promising performance for the Bulldog. James was only a further lap back, beating Kevin to third place for a decent points haul, top Tuner and top Rookie honours. Bravo!

Kev moved along one lane to white for the E Final. Three Vipers awaited him - John in red, Tracy in yellow and Ash in blue...

   

This was a cracking race for the win, Tracy leading from the start, but John getting past on lap two. John gradually inched out a lead until an off on lap six handed first place back to Tracy. Behind, Ash wasn't as quick on pace, but was now right behind John. Kev was having a bit of a nightmare in white lane...

   


Tracy's run on yellow lane was superb, but an off on lap 11 briefly handed the lead back to John. Tracy had it back the following lap, before dropping behind again with another crash on lap 14. Would the pendulum swing back again? Unfortunately not - John put together a clean run to the finish and Tracy had a couple more offs to end up two and a half laps behind. Ash was a solid third.

John was delighted to stay in red for the all-Viper D Final. Rob has chosen yellow, Ollie blue and Mike white...

   

This one was a chaotic and very exciting race. John had an awful start, slow first time round and crashing heavily on lap 2, losing almost two laps. Mike led the first 3 laps, then Ollie was through, until he crashed on lap 6, followed by a big one on lap 8. Mike had the lead back, with Rob close behind and John rapidly making up time, being clocked half a second a lap quicker than anyone...

   

The three at the front came together and John took the lead on lap 14. But then a big off - losing him nearly three laps - handed the lead battle back to Mike and Rob... And it was Rob who was quickest at this stage. He grabbed the opportunity and slowly began to drop Mike. It was nail-biting stuff, but a late-race off for Mike gave Rob just a little breathing space. The win went to Rob, Mike was second and John passed a stricken Ollie just before the end - the fastest two cars finishing third and fourth.

Rob would remain in yellow for his step up - could he repeat his flawless gutter-lane performance? We'll find out soon...