Race Report Part Two - Finals
Seventeen racers means six finals, starting with a knockout WHO Tuners duel...
The
F Final was a head-to-head between our two newest racers, Ollie and Ash. With all eyes on them, they delivered an exciting and close race right to the chequered flag. Ollie matched his heat score in blue and Ash set a new personal high score of the night - you can't ask for more than that. Ollie got the win, but Ash's debut performance showed plenty of promise.
Ollie stepped up to white lane in the
E Final - a favoured lane for the Mod racers, but a tricky 'gutter' lane for the heavier, less stick-down Tuners cars. Gary was in yellow - the other gutter - with Matthew's old Mod car. Having had issues in the heats, Gary made the car work in this final - although Ash led the first lap, Gary was out front for the rest of the two minutes with a clean race and no offs. Ash made sure the pressure was on, following close behind until one crash with around 30 seconds dropped him half a lap back. Despite missing out on the win, 17 Tuners points were more than enough to clinch the championship. Isaac followed two laps behind in red lane - winning the junior medal for the evening - with Ollie having a tough time in white.
The last of the Tuners cars was up in the
D Final. Kevin had qualified extremely well and he'd give a very good account of himself against the Mod cars of Gary, Mike and Daniel. Kevin was already dropped by the faster Mods at the end of the first lap - Daniel taking a lead that he'd keep to the chequered flag. It was a brutal performance from the ex-junior racer, his pace and consistency no match for the others. A long off for a popped axle put Mike out of contention, which meant it was Kevin - running strongly and cleanly in blue - who came second... albeit three laps adrift. Mike clung on to third and Gary came in fourth.
The speed was massively ramped up in the
C Final. Jerome, Matthew and Terry are normally up in the WHO Mod B and A Finals, but each had issues in the heats. From the off, it looked like their cars were back on song - and Daniel was certainly on the pace in red lane too. Terry in blue and Jerome in white gradually inched away - theirs was the battle for the lead. Jerome had the better of the early stages, but then an off on lap five put him nearly a lap back. The championship leader recovered brilliantly, cutting Terry's deficit lap after lap until the Gulf car was in his sights. However - the story of Jerome's evening - another off with less than 30 seconds to go lost him another lap. Terry came in first, Jerome's WHO Mod title hopes evaporating - although he did have the consolation of the Junior Mod championship, having been under 16 for the first race in January 2020! Matthew was just half a lap back, with Daniel not far behind after another very impressive run.
The
B Final was all about whether Keith could get himself up into the A Final and make a claim on that WHO Mod championship trophy. He'd chosen blue lane and set about putting together a sensational two-minute race. He was untouchable. Behind, Oliver and Ryan battled for second place - Terry dropped away, not quite on the pace and suffering a couple of long offs. Of the two Walker brothers, Oliver was undoubtedly faster, but his race was error-strewn. The gap between them at the end was just a quarter of a lap - yet the crash count was 1 to 4 in Ryan's favour. Expect both to be gunning for regular A Finals and race wins next season.
After rather a few crash-fests in qualifying and earlier finals, the
A Final delivered a breathtaking example of controlled, close-formation Mod racing - despite the pressure of a three-way championship battle. The race was extremely exciting to watch and even more exciting to take part in. The championship maths were simple - a race win for either Deborah or Keith was enough for the trophy, Andy could retain the trophy with a win, but only if Deborah didn't finish second. Pete was the spoiler. The race started at an intense pace, with all four drivers separated by hundredths of a second - you could throw a face mask over them. Keith led lap one, Deborah lap two, the lead changing during the following laps, but Deborah usually just in front over the line. That's how the first minute went - the pace creeping up into the very low 5 seconds and an occasional 4.9. On lap 12, Keith was the first to falter - crashing out of red lane and never getting back on the insane pace of the leaders.
Pete was playing the role of spoiler perfectly, taking the lead and ratcheting up the pace even more. With 30 seconds to go, Andy sensed an opportunity. However, when drawing level with Deborah on the eighteenth lap, there was the slightest of touches - and Andy was off. The championship pressure eased, Deborah attacked Pete, passing him and holding on until the end of the race. The gap was just a couple of feet. Andy finished just over half a lap back, with Keith exactly a lap behind him - side-by-side on the track.
Huge congratulations to Deborah on her race win and a very first WHO title. It was an exciting championship, a rip-roaring final round and a very worthy winner! Two victories and a third over the four races gave her a 65-point advance over Jerome, with the other two race winners Keith and Andy separated by ten points in third and fourth. Another first-time HO champ was Ash - taking the Tuners title with three class podiums, including a win in July. Congrats also to Kevin on his Tuners class win this time out - plus a full haul of 10 Rookie of the Year points. Isaac won the junior medal for the evening, but Ollie was the closest he's come to silverware yet.
As always, huge thanks to everyone who came along to create yet another marvellous HO evening at the Barn. Special thanks go to the set-up crew, to a slick race control effort led by Ash and to everyone who stayed to pack away - we were done and locked up by 9.45.
I'll post the WHO Mod championship tables shortly and then there's still the video to follow.
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