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A beautiful spring day greeted our April WHO Mod & WHO Tuners race, the first of the second batch of HO event on the 2025 calendar. 

   

We returned to Simon's track design from April 2015 and marked the ten year anniversary of the first Viper to race at the Barn - a winning debut in the hands of Mike Dadson. Vipers now dominate the WHO Mod grid at WHO - this time, 17 of the 18 Mod cars were Viper chassis.

   

Twenty-one racers lined up for the qualifying heats, three running hard-bodied cars  in Tuners and the rest lexan-clad Mods. Kevin stepped up from a Mega-G+ to make his Mod debut and James was giving his Bulldog a first run in Tuners.

   

The track was incredibly fast, but had its challenging elements across all four lanes. The hairpin was catching people out from the start and the Tuners had to really slow for that and the 'wiggle' on the back straight. As drivers began to push, they found other corners required respect - most of the marshals being kept on their toes. Gareth's 27.3 in Heat 1 set the early pace, with Isaac the first driver to dip under 4-seconds for a single lap. It was Heat 8 before Keith beat Gareth's score, his 27.45 on red the best of the first pair of heat. However, it was Andy who led the way at the half way point...

   

There were a fair few cars issues being managed through the evening, but two drivers - Daniel and John - also had controller problems to deal with. John's trusty BRP required running repairs for the first time in 12 years, but was working again by his final heat...

   

Keith and Andy each banged in another 27+ lap to make it a two-way battle for pole. Meanwhile, Oliver and Gareth had their eyes on that third A final spot - the others leaving themselves too much to do in their fourth heat. Gareth and Keith were first to go in Heat 19. Gareth's run in yellow did not improve his total, but Keith absolutely smashed blue lane - setting our first 38 lap score of the night. There was a little controversy as Gareth and Keith's cars came together right at the end - was it before or after the deadstrip? Thankfully we had enough people watching the scoreboards for Race Control to make the right decision.

Keith's score meant Andy needed a 27.8 in white. Going in the penultimate heat, he had a great run, but fell a tantalising 0.2 of a lap short. Keith had pole position and Oliver had third. Oliver's run in Heat 22 didn't improve his score, but he already had a lap an a half advantage over Gareth...

   
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It's worth looking at the best laps - they are so close all the way down from Keith in first to Tracy in 14th. Those Vipers - all with different set-ups - have very similar pace over a lap. The difference - as always - is how many laps they did!

   

The report from the finals is to follow...

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Twenty-one of us lined up in seven finals, the G Final just three cars - our three WHO Tuners entries. Steve had taken Tuners pole, earned an extra championship point and chosen red lane for his Bulldog. Stephen was running a Mega-G+ from yellow lane and James was hoping a difficult debut with his rapid Bulldog would start to get better from blue...

   

It was a very cautious first lap, but all three drivers successful got round, James leading the way. Stephen pushed a bit to hard to catch up, crashing on laps 2 and 3. Steve had James in his sights, but an off on lap 6 dropped him back...

   

The two Bulldogs were lapping on a similar pace in the middle lanes and James had found some confidence and consistency after a torrid time in the heats. The pace of the Tuners Bulldog is certainly a step up from the Mega-G+ that he has raced so far.

Steve got a bit scrappy towards the end, taking the pressure off James. One late off for James was the only blemish on an almost perfect run to a final win and an excellent class win in Tuners.  Steve got over the line only half a lap ahead of Stephen.

James stepped up to red in the F Final, where he'd face three of the slower Mod cars - Kev's Bulldog in blue, Daniel's Viper in white and Kevin's Viper in yellow...

   

Kevin was stranded on the line, needing a push from Daniel, who successfully multi-tasked and led the first lap. Kev was right behind and sneaked ahead second time round. Kev is a trail-blazer this season, developing a Bulldog Mod car, and he seemed a whole lot happier this time than in January...

   

Kev banged in a succession of consistently quick laps, something his rival were struggling to do. Daniel briefly fell behind James, who was driving the Tuners-spec Bulldog strongly - about half a second a lap off Kev's times. Kevin was running hot & cold with his first outing in a Mod car - quickest in the group when everything came together, but still needing the confidence to push consistently. That will no doubt come with experience...

   

In the end, Kev rolled in three laps ahead of Daniel - a really promising performance for the Bulldog. James was only a further lap back, beating Kevin to third place for a decent points haul, top Tuner and top Rookie honours. Bravo!

Kev moved along one lane to white for the E Final. Three Vipers awaited him - John in red, Tracy in yellow and Ash in blue...

   

This was a cracking race for the win, Tracy leading from the start, but John getting past on lap two. John gradually inched out a lead until an off on lap six handed first place back to Tracy. Behind, Ash wasn't as quick on pace, but was now right behind John. Kev was having a bit of a nightmare in white lane...

   


Tracy's run on yellow lane was superb, but an off on lap 11 briefly handed the lead back to John. Tracy had it back the following lap, before dropping behind again with another crash on lap 14. Would the pendulum swing back again? Unfortunately not - John put together a clean run to the finish and Tracy had a couple more offs to end up two and a half laps behind. Ash was a solid third.

John was delighted to stay in red for the all-Viper D Final. Rob has chosen yellow, Ollie blue and Mike white...

   

This one was a chaotic and very exciting race. John had an awful start, slow first time round and crashing heavily on lap 2, losing almost two laps. Mike led the first 3 laps, then Ollie was through, until he crashed on lap 6, followed by a big one on lap 8. Mike had the lead back, with Rob close behind and John rapidly making up time, being clocked half a second a lap quicker than anyone...

   

The three at the front came together and John took the lead on lap 14. But then a big off - losing him nearly three laps - handed the lead battle back to Mike and Rob... And it was Rob who was quickest at this stage. He grabbed the opportunity and slowly began to drop Mike. It was nail-biting stuff, but a late-race off for Mike gave Rob just a little breathing space. The win went to Rob, Mike was second and John passed a stricken Ollie just before the end - the fastest two cars finishing third and fourth.

Rob would remain in yellow for his step up - could he repeat his flawless gutter-lane performance? We'll find out soon...

[Gareth]

I didn't realise Daniel was running a Viper. The car was really struggling during the heats especially into the hairpin on yellow lane. The hard body probably didn't help.

If we could get those last 3 Vipers to perform like the other 14, it'll be amazing.

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Facing Rob in the C Final were Deborah (blue), Pete (red) and Matthew (white)...

   

Deborah was off the line first and led Rob, Matthew and Pete through the opening laps - all four on a similar pace. It was exciting to watch. The pack started to fall apart when Deborah went off on lap 7 and then Pete crashing out of the lead on lap 8. That left Matthew and Rob in the gutter lanes fighting for the win, but with Deborah the fastest car on track and trying to close the gap....

   

It was a cracking battle over a dozen laps, Deborah continuing to chip away at the gap - and we suddenly had a three-way race for the win. The drama all happened in a couple of laps... Rob had increased his pace and eased past Matthew. Deborah saw her chance, but binned it on lap 19. Matthew tried to respond, but crashed out on lap 20...

   

Rob could finally take a breath, bringing his Viper home to victory after another perfect run on yellow lane - and a massive score of 26.55 laps.  Deborah had another late off, giving Matthew second place. Pete was a further lap back, having not enjoyed the track all night.

Sadly, Isaac had nabbed yellow lane for the B Final. Rob had to make do with white, with Gareth in blue and Terry in red...

   

The first four laps  of this race were very close - Terry leading the first time through, then Isaac led, then Terry again and finally Gareth. By which time Isaac was stranded trackside, receiving repairs and Rob was about to crash out of contention. That left it up to Terry and Gareth in the middle lanes to entertain us...

   

Both were on almost identical pace, never much more than a few hundredths of a second difference through the line. It was an enthralling chase - Gareth leading and Terry following. It wouldn't go to the finish line like that - Terry went off on lap 18 and again two laps later. The second one was crucial, as Gareth would be off track for six seconds on lap 23, allowing Terry to catch right up again. Given this huge opportunity, Terry didn't take it - crashing again on the next lap. Gareth cut his pace and limped to the line, delighted with his win. Rob had an excellent run in white, but it was only enough for third.

Gareth stepped up to yellow in the A Final, where he'd face Keith in blue, Andy in white and Oliver in red...

   

Qualifying had been so close and the top two continued their speed-fest by rocketing away from the line. Both had wanted blue lane, but Andy was managing to keep pace in the early laps. Going all out for the win, Andy blasted past into the lead on lap six. Keith tried to respond, but crashed out at the hairpin on lap 8 - a corner Andy could take faster. Backing off slightly, Andy spun at the 'wiggles' a lap later, letting Gareth slip through...

   

Andy's pace saw him back into the lead two laps later and on lap 12 he led Gareth by half a second, with Oliver and Keith exactly a lap back after their early offs...

   

Lap 13 was unlucky for Andy - a first of three offs in four laps in the wiggles, followed by two more later. John was kept busy with the marshalling, but it was the end of Andy's challenge. Now Gareth led with a minute to go and just under a lap lead ahead of the charging Keith. Gareth knuckled down to execute a perfect run on yellow lane, averaging around 4.300 second a lap. Keith was faster, banging in some 4.0s. As the clock ran down, it looked like Gareth would just about make it...

   

Gareth's times had drifted out into 4.4s as his concentration levels began to hit overload... Keith managed his fastest lap - a 3.849 - on the penultimate lap and a 3.956 saw him lead by 0.094 of second as they passed through the deadstrip for the final time. As the power was cut, this is where the cars stopped...

   

A brilliant recovery drive by Keith, who was dead last and a lap down with not much more than a minute left. Oliver was just half a lap behind in third, setting the fastest lap of the race on lap 21. However, it was bad luck for Gareth, who so very nearly pulled off what would have been one of the best yellow lane A Final wins at the Barn.

   
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Huge congrats to Keith on his pole and win - and to Isaac on a massive junior medal victory. After a frustrating qualifying, James cleaned up impressively in Tuners and the Rookie competition.

   

Championship tables and a bit of video will follow.

A very big thank you to everyone who came along and made it another brilliant night at the Barn. Special thanks - as always - to the set-up team, race control crew, and to all those who stayed behind to pack away. We couldn't do it without you.

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Here are the first WHO Mod and WHO tuners tables of the season...

   

   

And the updated Club and Rookie championships after four rounds of twelve...

   

   

Next up is a WHO Nascar race on Wednesday 7 May. We'll be racing on the only road-course of the season, inspired by the recently-unveiled Mexico City track that the real Nascar series will be using for the first time over the weekend of 14-15 June...

   

Then we're back to ovals for August and November.