[woodcote]

   

The first Wednesday of November is a busy evening at the Barn: the club AGM is followed by a full HO Nascar night plus the Gen6 Championship showdown. We'd be racing on the 44-foot oval we used at the same event last year...

   

Eighteen racers joined us, with Philip getting his first taste of WHO oval racing. We were missing Gareth and Pete, who was stranded near Gatwick in his work van. We put Pete on the race sheet, in the hope he might make it back to the south coast.

The AGM was brief - a successful year, a healthy bank balance, more fun to be had next season etc - and we were into the Nascar heats shortly after 7...

   

The shorter oval gave the marshals plenty to do, especially during the first half of qualifying when drivers hadn't yet mastered the track. There were good scores across all three lanes and also some complete disasters: proper HO Nascar oval mayhem!

   

The Gen6 Cup Mega-G+ cars held their own on this short track, losing time to the Bulldogs on the straights, but making it up round the corners. At the front, Oliver led Matthew by less than a lap at halfway, with Alex a further lap adrift, Ash a sensational fourth with his Gen6 Mega-G+ and fellow Gen6 runner Ollie not far behind...

   

Scores were a bit more consistent for the drivers' second pair of heats and marshals weren't called upon quite so often. Oliver, Matthew and Andy raced in the penultimate heat - Andy's win saw him jump to third overall, but Oliver just did enough to grab pole by a quarter of a lap...

   

In the Gen6 Cup battle, Ash beat Ollie by exactly two laps to qualify sixth. Ollie would need to win the C Final to challenge Ash for Gen6 race...

   


Philip raced one of Pete's heats, meaning our 2025 WHO Nascar champion had a place in the finals, should he arrive in time...