A cold and damp night set the stage for Round 2 of the 2013 Tyco F1 and Modified Championships. After the usual period of free practice and some club discussion, 10 racers got down to business.
The Track
The track that Tony had laid out had a fiendish first sector with a pair of hairpins that actually worked very nicely at balancing the lanes. They also caused some hilarious accidents and a Grosjean incident taking out three of the four running cars on the second corner and causing a restart during one race. The final sector of the track had a fast sweeping set of turns leading back to the start finish straight.
F1
Qualifying
Paul Homewood narrowly took pole position from Roy who was on fine form and trailed Paul by only 0.6 laps. Paul Rose’s Tyco was looking a good deal healthy than it had for a while too and he secured the last guaranteed slot in the A final. Nick was continuing he recent excellent form just over half a lap back from Paul in fourth place and Lee was only 0.4 laps further back in 5th. Tony was also a mere 0.3 laps back from Nick meaning just 1.2 laps separated 3rd through to 6th place. Jim took the 7th spot on the grid ahead of 2012 F1 Champion Craig who seemed to content with securing the fastest F1 lap of the night by a clear two tenths of a second. Al’s seemed distracted by a timing system that he later resolved so he lined up 9th ahead of Bruce who seemed to be settling into the groove with a new Tyco.
C Final
Craig went off like a scolded cat in the red lane and proceeded to remind everyone why he was the 2012 Champion by taking the highest F1 score of the night with 39.5 laps. Jim and Al tried to hold on to Craig from the blue and yellow lanes respectively. Al cracked first coming off after just a couple of laps while Jim held on till lap 7. With Craig then disappearing off into the distance they scrapped over second place with Jim eventually coming out on Top. Bruce ran well in tricky white lane and scored his best F1 total of the night.
B Final
The B final turned into a titanic three way scrap between Lee in blue, Nick in red and Craig in yellow. Tony perhaps regretted his lane choice as after a poor start he couldn’t keep with the charging the trio from the white lane. Craig narrowly held the early led and looked for a while like he might achieve the occasionally seen double hop up. A few uncharacteristic offs for Craig handed the lead to Nick who stayed cool and took the win. Behind him Lee who had dropped back a bit in third but Craig’s offs as he pushed to try and catch back up with Nick handed 2nd place over to the Lee in the dying seconds of the race.
A Final
Paul Homewood took the early lead in the A final from the yellow lane. Roy wasn’t far behind him in red though. A poor start for Paul Rose in blue left him trailing in fourth and Nick found himself in third place in the hop up white lane. A big off for Nick in the second minute of racing handed third place to Paul Rose. Out ahead Paul Homewood had gradually eased himself away from Roy and built up nearly a one lap cushion. With 30 seconds to go, Paul came off in the tricky first sector and found Roy just a fraction of a second behind him. A grand stand finish was on and the pair battled right till the end with Paul holding onto just the smallest of leads until the power was cut and Roy coasted to finish just a single inch ahead. It was rotten luck for Paul, but a great drive from Roy and a deserved win.
Mod
With the Tycos tucked safely away in the boxes for another month, it was time to bring out the Mods.
Qualifying
Lee’s pace in Mod has always been formidable, but he really hooked it up this month storming to his first ever Mod pole position by over a lap and took the fastest lap of qualifying. Craig was just under a lap and half behind him and Nick a further lap back in 3rd. Paul Rose was a couple of laps back in fourth ahead of Paul Homewood and Al neither of whom were running at their usual mod pace. Tony took the seventh spot by just of a lap from the only Super G+ on the grid that was driven nicely by Bruce to beat Jim and Roy’s Marchons that lined up ninth and tenth.
C Final
Bruce was a bit hasty off the line in yellow, jumping the start and earning himself a one lap penalty. Tony set off at a cracking pace in red with Jim in white and Roy in blue doing their best to keep up with him. Roy was the first to drop off Tony’s tail with a big off that left him in fourth. Jim stayed in touch with Tony for the first third of the race until an off for him put him back a bit and he found himself racing for second with Bruce. Jim’s experience won out and he held second with Bruce third and Roy fourth. Out at the front Tony had continued to pound round for the duration of the race finishing with 44 laps and beating his qualifying score in the red by almost 3 laps.
B Final
The B final started with a tight battle between Paul Homewood in yellow, Al in blue and Paul Rose in red. Al initially found himself a few tenths behind the two Pauls but pulled out the fastest lap of the night to pull them back in. From the white hop up lane Tony couldn’t stay with them and gradually dropped back. A big off for Paul Rose on lap 6 dropped him back to fourth and he promptly retired leaving Tony to take third place. With virtually nothing between Paul Homewood and Al for the first minute of racing, Al started to push a bit harder and promptly binned at the end of the back straight. Paul now had a lap in hand and with very little separating his and Al’s cars his victory looked fairly certain until he came off at the end of the 1st sector complex with just 30 seconds to go. Paul’s lead was now mere inches and with 10 seconds to go Al went all out to try and pass him but once again ended up off the track and having to settle for second place.
A Final
Paul hopped up to the white lane in the A final, where he joined his son Craig in yellow and the two enjoyed running 1-2 for the first 4 laps before the white lane got the better of Paul. After running round for a few laps in fourth Paul decided to retire. An early off for pole sitter Lee in red had left him slightly behind Craig but ahead of Nick in blue who had also not made the best start. Lee battled valiantly to catch Craig and narrowed the gap right up on several occasions only to come off while trying to close the final part of the gap. In the end Craig took the win by just over half a lap from Lee, with Nick taking the bottom step of the podium.
So far in the first 6 races of the season we have seen 6 different winners, with a few big names yet to take a win in 2013 will March add another name to that list or will we see the first repeat winner of 2013?
Thanks to all who attended another great night of SCHORC racing fun!