[Gareth]

B Final

   

Ollie would remain in white lane for the B Final going up against pole man Pete in red, John in yellow and Jerome in blue.  A formidable trio with multiple championships between them and Jerome also being a former junior prodigy in the club.  

This was a must win race for Pete and John if they wanted to keep their title hopes alive.  For Ollie and Jerome, it was all about bragging rights and being the fastest drivers they could be.  

It was a disastrous opening lap for Jerome with a big crash leaving him off the road for 12 seconds.  That’s a lifetime in HO oval racing.  Pete led the early going and was thumping in 2.3 second laps for good measure.  We’d seen some 2.4s and 2.3s from Pete and Ollie in the heats but Pete was about to take it to a whole new level.  

John was a few tenths back in 2nd before crashing on lap 5 but then Pete crashed on lap 6.  Suddenly Ollie was in the lead.  Could we be looking at one of the biggest upsets in WHO history?  Ollie’s times were super consistent and he was keeping it on the road.  But Pete was driving out of his skin and a string of 2.2, 2.1 and 2 second flat laps saw him back into the lead just 9 laps after crashing.  It scarcely seems possible!    Another off on lap 22 didn’t change things, partly due to some of the quickest marshalling ever to get Pete back in the groove but it did allow Ollie to close back up again and the race for the win was back on.  Pete’s pace eased by a couple of tenths but it was still a little more than Ollie could manage.  Another off on lap 40 produced some late race drama but when the power went off, Pete had done 46.05 laps to Ollie’s 45.15.  An absolutely gripping race had kept Pete’s title hopes alive. 

John’s title fight was over as he finished a slightly distant 3rd while Jerome’s race ended with a spectacular crash to the floor for 4th.