The Track
Lee had laid out a fast and well balanced track for the evening’s racing. It featured some interesting corners and the first use of the clubs newly purchased 18″ bends.
F1
Qualifying
After dominating last year’s F1 season, reigning champion Craig’s 2012 season had been a touch lacklustre in comparison. Craig was back on his usual form though taking big scores in all lanes and securing pole position by over three laps from Paul Rose who was just half a lap ahead of Paul Homewood in third. Lee’s big score in red helped him to the fourth grid spot ahead of Al. Al managed to set the same score in white, blue and red and beat John by just two tenths of a lap. Jim, Nick, Tony and Steve completed the order with Tony setting the fastest F1 lap of the evening in the blue lane.
C Final
Tony had the early lead of the C final from the white lane. Jim in Blue and Nick in Red were close on his heels though. Steve in Yellow dropped back to a distant fourth after some early offs. An off on lap four for Tony handed Jim the lead and Nick second place. Tony had some staggering pace though and quickly passed Nick and closed Jim down before another off left him with it all to do again. He closed in on Jim several times and retook the lead for a time before a series of offs in the latter phase of the race allowed Jim to pull out a comfortable lead and Nick to take second place.
B Final
The B final proved could have been an exhibition race it was so closely contested. John Chell lead a large chunk of the race from the white lane, but with Lee in red either right behind or ahead of him. Jim in yellow and Al in blue were also in the mix for the majority of the race and all four racers were on the same lap for all of the three minutes except for a brief period were Al was a lap down following an off on lap 21. All finishing within eight tenths of a lap, Lee too the win by a few inches from John with Jim just two tenths behind in third.
A Final
Team Homewood had the early lead in the A final with Craig in blue and Paul in red. Paul Rose in white didn’t have the best start and Lee in yellow also suffered from an early off leaving them both chasing the charging Homewoods. The racing between the two Homewoods was very close with their fastest laps seperated by just 2 thousandths of a second in Paul’s favour. By lap 15 Paul had pulled out a narrow lead from Craig but a series of incidents sent him gradually back down the field until he found himself running in fourth and decided to retire from the race. Craig went on to comfortably take his first F1 win of the 2013 season with Lee in second and Paul Rose on the final step of the podium.
Mod
Qualifying
A consistently high score across each lane saw Paul Rose secure pole position in Mod by just over three laps from Lee. Paul also one of only two drivers to dip into sub four second laps. The Homewood’s Marchon was looking a bit off colour running a recently replaced rear axle, but Craig hustled himself to a comfortable third place a lap and half ahead of Al in fourth. Nick secure fifth place ahead of Tony in sixth. Paul Homewood took the fastest lap of the night but couldn’t seem to turn that pace into his usual big scores and he found himself seventh. Behind him Steve, Jim and John completed the grid. John may have qualified last but he appeared to be having a wonderful time driving a series of classic muscle cars on a Tyco chassis.
C Final
Jim in white took the early lead but with Steve in red hot on his heels for the duration of the race. Following a good start Paul had mechanical issues and found himself fourth in the blue lane with John and his Tyco several laps ahead in yellow. Paul quickly reeled in and past John but couldn’t close down the leaders leaving Jim to take the win by just over a lap from Steve.
B Final
From the start it was Nick in Blue and Al in red fighting for the lead of the B final. Nick held the narrowest of leads of just a few inches for the first minute until Al slowed briefly allowing Nick to pull out a couple of feet. Shortly after Nick had a big off and found himself third behind Tony in the white lane. Nick and Tony battled for second place until the latter part of the race when another big off Nick but him back battling with Jim in yellow for fourth. In the end Nick held Jim off finishing two tenths ahead, with Tony in second and Al taking a comfortable win.
A Final
After a typically close set of opening laps pole sitter Paul was the first to leave the track from the red lane. Offs for Craig in white and Al in yellow helped him make his way back into contention and soon he was fighting with Lee in blue for the lead. Having slightly more pace he extended a narrow lead from Lee which he held to take the win. Craig seemed to be struggling in white and dropped a fair way back. He was gifted third place in the closing stages of the race though after Al’s car mysteriously stopped on track. The marshalls checked it for mechanical and electrical issues before spotting a track break as the cause of the issue.
Thanks to all who attended!