[Gareth]

Race Report

The start of autumn always means the championship deciders beginning at WHO.  In October that would be Modified and Tuners.  Andy Player just needed to turn up and race to seal the Mod win but in Tuners we had a much more exciting prospect in store.  This would be the last hurrah of the Viper Pro-10 monsters as we will be switching the stock Pro-4 magnets from next season.  With numerous track breaks throughout the evening, it was easy to see why! 

With Steve Puttick sadly passing away this year, he would not be able to hold onto his championship lead.  But that did leave the exciting prospect of a new Tuners champion in the form of either James Blackmore, Kevin Gifford or Kev Fuller.  All three would be racing this evening.

   

Young Oliver and Adam the Elder both returned this evening but also with three friends who were also new to the club.  Welcome to Hunter Burdfield, Neil Terry and Karl Trott.  

We’d be racing on another vintage Simon track from 2015.  A lopsided diamond with a dizzying infield that would see the cars running through several switchbacks.  It was a compact design but a fairly long lap.  

The pace difference between the Mods and Tuners was particularly pronounced at around 3 seconds a lap.  This would make it tricky for the drivers in both classes to find the pace in mixed heats.  

Through the heats there were the usual big hitters in the form of Pete, Terry and Andy at the top. Just behind them, Mike McCann was looking super impressive and quick along with Matthew while Oli Walker was struggling with his Vipers and Rob Bean’s car almost caught fire necessitating a change in armature and larger wheels to try and keep it running cool. 

In Tuners there was a nice battle shaping up between James, Kev and Simon, Kevin a little further back and struggling with his Bulldog. Oliver, Adam and Hunter would have been right up there as well but sadly they had to head off after two heats along with Neil and Karl.  That meant that the Juniors would be a straight fight between Ollie Bean and Isaac Fuller.  Unfortunately for Ollie, Isaac was absolutely flying and qualified in the C Final while Ollie was only in the E.  

There was also a welcome break in the middle of the heats to eat cake to celebrate Tracy McCann’s 50th birthday.  Many happy returns to you Tracy and thank you to Mike for providing us with cake.  

The final heat of the evening saw Mike McCann in blue going for his first A Final in many  seasons.  If he hit 24 laps he had a chance.  A track break meaning we had to pause the action only increased the tension still more.  Mike hit the 24 laps in the final seconds but agonisingly his score of 24.25 left him 0.15 laps behind Andy’s total of 71.1.  Incredible drama!