The
E Final was a full grid of four - Kevin in white, Tracy blue, Terry red and Rob yellow...
Both Terry and Kevin crashed on the first lap, handing Rob and Tracy a sizeable lead. Kevin and Terry would recover - thanks, in part, to Rob and Tracy having offs, but it was Rob in firm control after 5 laps, Kevin having moved up to second...
Terry finally found a rhythm that suited both his car and the track - and started to put in some consistent lap times without crashing. He moved up from last place, to third and then took second from Rob on lap 6 and the lead from Kevin on lap 7. More crashes from Rob and Kevin then put Tracy in second and on the same lap as Terry. It really was anyone's race. However, Terry managed to keep it clean to the chequered flag and it was Tracy who faltered on the final lap - the other way round and it would have been Tracy stepping up. Rob came in third, just a fraction behind Tracy - and Kevin was less than half a lap back. A close race to get us started...
Terry stepped up to white lane in the
D Final. Although the middle two lanes were most people's favourites, the gutters had worked well for some. Matthew qualifying top of the D and choosing yellow, Mike and Ozzy happy to snap up blue and red...
Matthew looked good in yellow, blasting off the line and leading the opening laps as Terry and Mike both crashed on lap one. Terry got no further than that first lap, his car unable to continue...
Mike, however, did recover and took the lead when Matthew binned it on lap four. Both banged in some great laps, but Mike's car was quicker, pulling out a half lap lead that he held through to the chequered flag. Behind them, Ozzie drove well, but three offs dropped him two laps back.
Mike had white in the C Final, Gary following the unexpected trend and picking yellow...
Gary led through the line at the end of the first lap, but an off dropped him behind Ash and Mike, with Duncan already having been in the scenery with his Tyco. What followed was a heart-in-mouth chase for 8 laps - Ash out front and Mike hunting him down...
A couple of super-quick laps put Mike's car alongside the leader, the pressure forcing Ash into an error. Trying hard to recover lost ground, Ash crashed again - surely that was game over? Mike held his nerve and won by just over a lap - a double step-up and a rare clean run from lights to flag...
Behind, Ash had given it a good go, finishing a quarter of a lap ahead of Duncan. Gary had two lengthy offs, making him rue that choice of yellow lane!
Mike now found himself in the B Final, alongside Daniel, Isaac and Andy...
This was a scrappy race with the deserved winner being robbed on the line. Top qualifier Andy had chosen blue lane and had a healthy lead after the first lap. That fell apart when he crashed on lap two, but swift marshalling meant only three seconds - or about half a lap - was lost. Isaac was out front, miles ahead of Mike and Daniel, who'd both crashed early. The gap from Isaac to Andy was nearly a lap, with the leader banging in a succession of error-free laps...
That pattern continued - Isaac holding his lead, Andy not making much of an impact and the other two falling further behind. But then, with about 7 laps to go, Isaac started to slow and Andy sped up - taking nearly a second a lap out of the lead. The post-race chat from Isaac was that he was trying to stay on and control the lead, but his car also seemed to be tightening up. The final time through the line and Andy had the lead...
Much to Andy surprise and Isaac's disappointment, that was the result - a win by 0.05 of a lap. Apart from the final few laps, it wasn't one of Andy's better races and with a clean run, Isaac had really deserved the win and the step up... At least he had bagged enough points to secure the Junior F1 title. Behind, Mike just pipped Daniel in the battle of the McCanns.
That left Andy in white for the A Final, up against Pete in red, Ollie in blue and Kev choosing that yellow lane...
It was an absolutely cracking start to the race - Ollie throwing everything at pole-sitter and F1 champion-elect Pete. Pete led first two laps, Ollie ahead the third and fourth time round. Pete edged in front again by the smallest of margins - and then the two of them came together at Teddy Yip corner on lap 6. Pete was re-slotted almost immediately, but Ollie dropped to the floor, losing nearly 13 seconds with the crash and then a slow recovery lap - pretty much two laps.
Pete was off again two laps later, but again it was a quick one and he retained the lead - just ahead of Andy. More crashes might have put Andy in with a shout of victory, but Pete and Ollie's cars were much quicker. They all kept it clean on the run-in, Pete winning by nearly three-quarters of a lap, Andy second and Ollie third, a further half lap in arrears. Kev had a few offs in yellow and was almost two laps behind Pete at the end...
A suitably exciting A Final to end the 2023 HO season - and two delighted medal winners took their places in front of the Christmas tree...
Here are all the stats from this month's finals...
click the image to make it bigger
Four champions were decided - and presented with trophies - on the night, plus two more to declare after some post-race number-crunching. We'll have those later!
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