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We're back at the Barn on Wednesday for the second round of our AFX Formula One Championship. Doors open at 6.15pm for practice, with heats starting between 6.45 and 7pm. We aim to finish by 9.30.

For this race we'll be using a brand new layout, inspired by the Meadowdale International Raceway...

   

Race fees are £3 adults / £2 under-16s. We ask that all racers aged 13 and below bring a responsible adult with them.

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Race Report - Qualifying Heats

Twenty-four racers gathered for the June F1 race. We welcomed John for his first taste of club racing at the Barn on a monster F1 layout...

   

The track was quick - suiting the Super-G+ cars, but there was plenty of challenges in the 100-foot lap...

   

There was a racing debut for the new generation AFX F1 cars in Heat 3 - Andy giving his Monza-liveried Alfa Romeo a spin on 100% stock components, including the tyres. A 14.65 score and fastest lap of 7.379 in white wasn't too shoddy...

   

However, like many racers, Andy was getting more joy out of the track with a Super-G. There were exceptions - Deborah, Kev and Ash all sitting in the top ten at the half way stage of the heats. Meanwhile, Keith was having a torrid time with his Super-G and switched back to his usual Mega-G+ for the second pair of heats. This is how things stood after Heat 12...

   

Heat 14 was memorable for two incredibly close battles. Ollie and Isaac would almost certainly be battling for the junior medal and they ran breathtakingly close until Ollie had a couple of offs. Jerome and Pete went all the way to the end with no more than a few feet separating them. They looked like they'd be up for a repeat in the A Final.

   

As we moved towards the close of the heats, the A Final line-up looked like Darren, Jerome and Pete. However, Deborah very nearly crashed the party with her Mega-G+ in the penultimate heat. She missed out by less than half a lap. And there were some incredibly close scores in the midfield, promising some exciting finals to come...

   
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And here's what happened in the finals...



Thanks to Ollie for camerawork in the B final.

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Race Report - Finals Pt 1

   

24 racers gave us eight step-up finals, starting with three in the H Final. Dylan's Super-G would line up in white lane against the Mega-G+ cars of Rob (blue) and Kevin (red)...

   

Dylan came a cropper on the esses after Turn One, Kevin following him off further round that first lap - so Rob already had a comfortable lead the first time through the line. Despite having the slowest of the three cars, Rob was still out front at halfway - Kevin in second after another couple of crashes for Dylan...

   

Rob kept plugging away as chaos ensued around him. Dylan was the closest to snatching the win, but a couple of late offs left him 0.85 of a lap adrift. Kevin was a further 0.6 of a lap back. But victory went to the slow-ish, but steady Rob.

Rob's reward was white lane in the G Final, where he'd line up with fellow Mega-G+ runners Steve (red) and Ethan (blue). John was racing his brother's spare Super-G and had chosen yellow...

   

It was textbook formation flying for the first few laps of this one - John holding a slim lead over Ethan, Rob and Steve. Ethan binned his Mega-G+ on lap three and then struggled to get back in a rhythm. The other three kept plugging away, John and Rob pulling ahead of Steve...

   

John had built up a half lap gap to Rob - which was just as well as an off dropped him right back into Rob's sights. They continued in close combat until a crash for Rob on the penultimate lap left him 0.65 of a lap adrift at the end. Steve had driven a faultless two minutes, but it was only enough for third. Ethan came in fourth. However, John was celebrating a final win on debut...

   

And he was straight back in yellow lane for the F Final - which was a pleasant surprise! John would face two Mega-G+ runners - Nathan (blue) and Tracy (white) - and Tyco maestro Duncan in red...

   

Tracy had a first corner crash, leaving John to lead the first three laps ahead of Duncan and Nathan. An off for John dropped him back into a three-way scrap, with Tracy not far behind. This race could have been anyone's...

   

John binned it again on lap 6 - and both he and Duncan were off on lap 7. But is wasn't game over for any of them. Keeping things steady, despite having the slowest car, Nathan had John and Duncan in close attention. The lead swapped back and forth in dramatic fashion. It looked like Duncan might take a famous Tyco win, but he threw the chance away on the penultimate lap...

   


Meanwhile, Nathan had got in front  of John with his fastest laps of the race and he hung on to bring his Mega-G+ home just 0.15 of a lap ahead for a most memorable victory! And what a race - both Nathan and John had led 5 laps and Duncan 4.

Nathan would stay in blue lane for the E Final - an all-Mega-G+ affair with Ollie choosing yellow, Ash white and Mike red...

   

This was another super-close race, seeing all three cars circulate together - until Nathan binned it on lap four. The others continued on, the gaps between them opening and closing by a few hundredths of second each lap. Having three cars on almost identical pace is just what we want...

   

Ollie had led from the first lap, but a crash with about thirty seconds to go dropped him all the way back to third. He responded with the fastest lap of the race - but could he pass Ash and Mike to grab the win? All three were pushing hard - Ash crashing out on lap 14 and Mike a lap later. Ollie crossed the line 0.35 of a lap ahead of Mike, who was 0.15 of a lap ahead of Ash... That was quite a race - and Ollie was very relieved.

For the third time in a row, the winner stayed in the same lane - Ollie taking yellow in the D Final, Gareth's Super-G in blue and the Mega-G+ cars of Kev in red and Keith in white...

   

March's F1 winner Keith was having an awful evening and needed a good start to get back in the mix. He didn't get it... last at the end of the first lap, he then crashed on laps 2, 3 and 4 to drop out of contention. Meanwhile, Gareth was building a lead over Kev, with Ollie having an off on lap 3...

   

A crash for Kev on lap six pretty much sealed the deal for Gareth, but he'd take an excursion into the scenery five laps later. But it was only a brief glimmer of hope for Kev - Gareth went on to win by a lap and a quarter, Ollie three laps off the leader after a string of mid-race crashes.

There was no blue lane step-up for Gareth, he'd have to make do with yellow. The top three finals, full results and championship tables will follow later...

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Race Report - Finals Pt 2

The C Final lined up with Oliver in red, Isaac's sole Mega-G+ in white, Matthew in blue and Gareth stepping up to yellow...

   

It was Gareth who led the first lap, but Oliver was a little quicker and led at the end of lap two. Gareth and Matthew then both had offs, leaving Oliver leading Isaac. These quick Super-Gs were lapping incredibly fast - both the recovering drivers dipping below 6 seconds - but it's consistency that wins races...

   

Both Oliver and Isaac completed the two minutes without error, Matthew just failing to catch up with the Mega-G+ runner and junior medal winner. It was a cracking drive by Isaac, finishing just a lap back from race-winner Oliver.

The B Final saw top Mega-G+ driver Deborah (blue) line up against a trio of Super-Gs in the hands of Andy (red), Terry (white) and Oliver (yellow)...

   

Terry delivered a blistering first lap, but then inexplicably binned it at Turn One the second time round. That handed the lead to Andy, but Terry was back on the charge - banging in a string of sub-6-second laps. Andy managed one lap at that pace and then was off in the final corner on lap 6...

   

That was pretty much race over, except for Deborah keeping Terry honest with a scarily consistent run to the line  of 15 consecutive laps at 6.2 seconds. The gap at the end was 0.85 seconds, so just one slip-up by Terry would probably have cost him the win. Andy was third and Oliver fourth - seventh overall not helping his club championship challenge.

Terry would stay in white for the A Final and just needed to repeat his previous performance to be in with a shout of the race win. He faced pole-sitter Darren (blue), Jerome (red) and Pete (yellow)...

   

This was scrappy from the start - Terry crashing at the first corner and taking out Jerome...

   

Terry would be off again on laps 2 and 4, leaving Pete to try and hang on to a rapidly disappearing Darren. He tried his best, but was giving away around 4 tenths of a second a lap...

   

Pete's challenge ultimately evaporated with an off just after halfway - and he eased off after that to hold position and bag important championship points. Darren was on superb form, running mid-5-second laps without error. He banged in the best score of the night - 21.35 laps - and claimed his first HO A Final win since February 2016. There was late drama - Terry pipping Jerome to an unlikely third place right at the last.

Huge congrats to Darren - it was excellent to see him back on the top step of the WHO podium...

   

Here are all the stats from the finals...

   
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Those results mark the halfway stage of the season - and Darren could bag his first WHO title since winning the 2013 Nascar championship...

   

Pete's runner-up spot puts him a handy 85 points ahead of both Terry and Oliver, who are tied in second...

   

Nathan has a big lead after his third maximum points in the Rookie of the Year competition...

   

But there's still a long way to go.

Huge thanks to everyone who came along on Wednesday to help make it such an enjoyable evening at the Barn. Special thanks goes to the set-up crew, race control team and everyone who stayed behind to pack away. We couldn't do it without you.

The next HO action on the calendar is our third WHO Mod & WHO Tuners race of the season on Wednesday 3 July. We have another one of Simon's classic Mod tracks to look forward to.