[woodcote]

Race Report: Finals F to C

Sadly, Pete didn't get to start the F Final, so Phil's Mega-G+ (yellow) lined up against the Bulldogs of Kev (white) and Kevin (blue)...

   

It was the rookie who led 5 of the first 6 laps, until an off handed the lead to Kevin...

   

After a slow-ish start, Kevin was the last man standing as Kev had an early off and Phil's fine start got a bit crashy. Kevin was lapping steadily, but his lead over Kev soon evaporated and he slotted into second, upped his pace and hung on. This turned out to be a scintillating race for the first final of the night - neither crashed in the run to the line and Kevin edged back into contention. Neck and neck round the final lap, the track power cut as the two Bulldogs passed over the dead strip - Kev just ahead... 

   

... but Kevin's car rolled past, stopping just a nose ahead and giving us one of the closest WHO HO final finishes we've ever seen!

   

Kevin stepped up into yellow lane for the E Final, facing the Mega-G+ cars of Rob (red) and Tracy (white) plus James' rapid Bulldog (blue)...

   

Tracy led the first time round, but then it turned into a masterclass from James as Rob lost three laps with a big off and the others also had excursions off the tarmac...

   

James' Bulldog was very quick over a lap during the heats, but he struggled to get a consistent run going. His first 30 laps were faultless, but then three offs in succession gave Rob some hope...

   

Despite a tricky end to the race, James had done enough and won by a lap in another high-scoring final...

   

James moved to red in the D Final, where he'd line up with Mike's Mega-G+ (white) and the Bulldogs of Isaac (blue) and John (yellow)...

   

It wasn't a great start for James, with a first lap crash immediately putting him two laps down. John crashed on lap 4 and Isaac on lap 5 leaving Mike out front with his Gen6 Mega-G+ and his eyes firmly on a clean run to the end...

   

The chasing pack of Bulldogs faltered. James was quickest over a lap, but way too crashy. John crashed two more times early on and again around half way. Isaac only had the early crash, but was the slowest of the three and on a similar pace to Mike. With John eventually putting together a clean second half of the race and lapping a few tenths a lap quicker than Mike and Isaac, marshals and spectators were treated to a super-exciting and rather chaotic climax to the race. 

   

An off for Mike put Isaac right on his tail - and the 2026 Junior champion grabbed the lead after another crash for the Mega-G+ with only eight laps left. Meanwhile, John was on a mission and closing the gap relentlessly. Last time through, the gap was tiny - surely John would take a famous last-lap victory. But no - a pile-up at turn two caught John's Bulldog, while Isaac slipped through the carnage to take the win...

   

Isaac stayed in blue for the C Final, lining up against Chas (red), Ollie (white) and Stephen (yellow)...

   

Ollie had the only Mega-G+ in this race, hoping to step up and challenge Ash for the Gen6 Cup win. Stephen had the only Christmas jumper - and why not? Halloween is over and it's only even weeks to the big day. Isaac had a first lap wobble, Stephen was off on lap 3 and the Ollie-Chas battle looked like it was going to be a good one...

   

Ollie was straight into 2.8 second territory, whereas Chas took a few laps to go sub-3 seconds - and that gave Ollie a nice lead. Yet Chas wasn't giving up...

   

Chas upped his pace and was (very) gradually eating into Ollie's lead, when a crash on lap 27 put him two laps back. Ollie could relax a little and a brief off for him with twenty seconds to go didn't matter as Chas had just crashed again too. Behind, both Stephen and Isaac had recovered well, but any slim chance Isaac had of catching the leaders went up in smoke with a big off, losing him three laps with thirty seconds to go...

   

Ollie won with a huge 40.55 score - and Ash would have Gen6 company in the B Final...