So 6 in 5, became 5 in 5 and in turn became 4in 4 due to Stoke's precarious mud pit!
After an exhausting journey back from Skeg (an epic 2 and half hour journey as every slow moving traffic was in front of me throughout Lincolnshire) and an extended lie in, meant that instead of heading to King's Lynn, I stayed at home and did what normals do, watch the Voice. Sit still Jessie J!
DUTCH DELIGHT AT LYNN
A restricted entry, and only 3 races, it was one for the banger fans and not the stox boys, as Kings Lynn played host to the F2's for the second Saturday in a row, and despite the restrictions a fairly good line up took to the field. After heat wins for Bradders and John Davies (77), final time saw international entrant Ron van Wamelen, who on the official Brisca F2 site, is named "Cock". Now whether Mike Priddle (14) has hacked the site and gave him a loving nickname, or whether it was just crazy Dutch persons! It was a Dutch winner, and fresh from impressive displays from Danny van Wamelen last year, it was Ron's turn now. The H305 car took the win, from Bradbury.
MEANWHILE AT COWDENBEATH....
Normal service resumed with the Moodie Burgoyne distribution of the points, albeit rudely interupted by Stewart Mitchell (733). GN for 647, and heat and final for Moodie
BRADDERS BENEFITS FROM BONKERS BRISTOL
Sunshine befell the Mendips Raceway, with 31 cars in the pits, numbers were up on last year, but still disappointing for a World Qualifier....
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| Yabba dabba d'oh! |
Final time, and after an aborted start courtesy of an over eager Ross Rowe (105) . However fun was to come in the shape and form of one of the most spectacular crashes. Colin Gregg (305) went broadside and collected Richard Beere (254) (in the borrowed Jamie Avery car) and Chris Rowe (76) left with nowhere to go. What was then to happen, didn't cover Bristol in much glory. The "cause of the stoppage" rule reared its ugly head. Now, as the drivers have gotten used to the rule, albeit with some disdain, it was apparent to the majority of drivers (especially ones on the infield), that if you needed to be hiabed off your car, then that *might* have constituted cause of the stoppage. I hate slagging off Bristol for poor decisions, for once I was not alone. It baffled all and sundry really.
Nevermind back to the restart and Westaway had got away and had Dan Moss (797) for company, with Bradbury not too far behind. Westaway fell asleep on the restart allowing Moss through. However, it was Bradders who made it 60 out 60 qualifying points on the road to gold. Chris Mikkulla (522) took the GN, and pointed the car to the garage and watched the rain fall in the morning. A very good Bristol meet, if not a little brutal!
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| "Keep driving, line's clear" |
Well he's back... the Blog's Our Man in The North, and after meeting him on Good Friday, the meeting of minds, he had to have a say on Barford's Easter Eggstravangza, incognito style!!
'Back to the old house' (with credit to Morrissey, an erstwhile resident of the only other place where it always seems to rain....)
Easter weekend is when our season really grabs traction, with meetings double-stacked during the days and four days of racing on the trot for drivers to attack with vigour.....within this maelstrom of action, from track to highway to track to highway, Barford once gain hosted one of only two fixtures on Easter Sunday and, along with attending to a little hobby business (more of which in another correspondence), this was my first opportunity to visit Barford after it had been announced as the venue for the sport's 50th World Final. The decision to award the event to Barford, despite it being the next natural choice in the promoters rota that is the arbiter of such matters, was met with no small amount of scorn and derision by a segment of the wider fanbase (not least the section of the fanbase who are many hundreds of miles away in what can still be considered the sport's heartland beyond the Mendip Hills) but stories had abounded over the winter months that improvements were afoot to make the venue one which is worthy of the sport's premier event.......with this in mind, I travelled the short route along the A688 to see where we were in this process of renewal.
First impressions upon entering the site (I hesitate to call it a stadium, as anyone who has visited can attest) were......well they were very good! A new series of farm buildings have been erected which have encouraged a re-jig of the racing part of the site, so we publics now park in the old pit area, and the main pit area is now from the old scrutineers area up the hill behind the home straight. New accesses have been created from the pits to the home straight spectator area which gives the whole venue a much more compact feel, but the problem encountered at the recent semi-final meeting of traffic overlapping through the pits has been solved at a stroke, so NEOMS (the promoting body) have learned well from their recent travails so the first mark on the card....is a plus!
The racing was underway in short order with the whites & yellows race that leads out the F2s that headed the bill on the day, and it was clear straight away that the new surface at Barford has bedded in well, enabling the cars to attack the bends with more vigour and exit with more consistency.....or to put it another way, an RCE is becoming the weapon of choice around this smallest of small ovals, but I digress as we're getting ahead of ourselves. The Whites & Yellows race marked a milestone on the developing career of Mark Harrison (161) as he took his first win in the ex-Chris Burgoyne motor, but his form on the day clearly demonstrated that as he gets to grips with his steed the performances should develop.
Heat 1 saw the first of several wins on the day for Mister Moodie, who continued his ominous form from the most recent meeting, despite a short but heavy shower that saw him out of the car during a mid-race stoppage making setup changes to the car.....they had their effect too, as he won at a canter from Mick Kirk ahead of Mark Wareham, who managed to hold Charlie Whitfield at bay as he started to get to grips with his brand new RCE.
Heat 2 was a protracted affair featuring two stoppages, the first of which saw a bad tangle between Kirk and David Parker, who was becalmed on the back straight and had been left in position for a little too long, and the second which saw Liam Bentham take a short and violent trip from the turn 1 fence to the local medical facility via a short bout of unconsciousness following what looked initially like a very hard shot from Chris Burgoyne. Later enquiries, however, told a curious tale of a foot that jabbed between the pedals meaning that Liam was powerless to resist the forces of physics, specifically the one that talks of actions (toward the fence) and reactions (from said fence). Liam took no further part in the days proceedings, and his car will need no small amount of work to renew its form, both physical and sporting. After all the action had subsided, Moodie held the chequered flag aloft once more ahead of Billy Webster, who had managed to wrestle his way past Chris Burgoyne on the final lap
Heat 3 was always going to be a subdued affair after the previous race, but it saw Micky Brennan take a good win ahead of Charlie Whitfield and John Broatch while Mark Harrison took another good result with 4th place.The final of the day took place after what seemed like an interminable time, and yet again it was Moodie to the fore, slicing through the back in short order and romping to an unchallenged win.....it is early in the season of course, and a lot can happen to cars and drivers and even tracks but the form from Moodie on this day was ominous indeed, and his rivals must already be thinking of strategies that can keep the flyer from Fife within reach come September. At the moment this looks frankly unlikely but we all know that predictable world final races are about as likely as snow on Christmas day, especially when Santa's full complement of elves are in attendance.
Unfortunately I'm unable to finish this report with descriptive notes for the Grand National, for the brass monkey had already been de-....well you get the idea, and after a race programme that seemed to take its pace notes from the progress usually attributed to glaciers I had had my fill.
Barford is hosting this years World Final, and their improvements to the venue are already well underway and, as described earlier, they'll go a long way to solving some of the problems that have blighted their schedules in recent years, but it was particularly apt that during Easter weekend we would see a meeting at a venue that was almost like the proverbial egg......shiny and glossy on the outside but with no content or real substance, and an after-effect from the short burst of gluttony that borders on nausea.....we can only hope that the methods are up for the same successful overhaul that the venue has seen.
I'll be back, but I'm not quite sure when
Yours, in sport.....Wrighty (or was it Daphne or Jessie or Loretta....Warren?)
BENNETT LIKE GORDON!
With a few numbers down due to the weekends exhortations, and the frankly awful weather meant Smeatharpe was awash with the wet stuff.
2/3rds format and 29 cars, a little disappointing as 2 car stayed on their trailers and some stayed on their sofas. The heats were owned by Andrew Bennett (830) proved that a future name change to Raymond Babbitt - the Rain Man, famously portrayed by Dustin Hoffman, as he skipped and splashed to victory. Chris Bradbury (886) inherited the win of heat 3 from Pringler Chris Rowe (76). Final time and it looked as though it was a straight battle between rain experts Bennett and Matt Linfield (464). Indeed the Hewaswater based yellow top sped away, and was not to be caught. Linfield was second and crossing the line backwards after a last bend assault from Neil Hooper (676) (with the purple dress) was Jay Tomkin (290) who then parked up for the post race celebrations in the stricken 596 car. The Gn was rounded out with a victory for Hooper, only after Dale Moon (302) ruined a near perfect day as he removed Bennett on the last corner whilst running 5th, which annoyed the fiscally frugal farmer! Right let us get dry!
GOLDIN GOLDEN AT BUXTON
Up to the Hi Edge Raceway on the bank holiday, and with the weather like it was, it was probably disgusting... After a win for Chris Burgyone (647) and Mickey Brennan (968) in the heats, it was the British and European Champion Barry Goldin (401) who took the win in the Final. Despite starting the season late dear Ol' Basil has certainly marked his intentions on both surfaces. Brennan rounded out the day with a win in the handicap.
LUND STEALS THE SHOW AT BELLE VUE...
and we're not talking about F1 Multichamps John's new luminous tractor, as it was Michael Lund (995) who was unstoppable on the Manc shale. After a Runner up spot to Daz Shaw (377) in heat 2, Lund took the final from heat 1 winner Andrew Palmer (606) and consolation winner George Turrucki (186) who rolled in 3rd. Palmer took the national.
SOGGY SKEG - DEAD GOOD
Another bank Holiday, but a more disappointing turn out. It was wet and damp, and even the normally undeterred Richard Kaleta was probably sogged right out. With white charger Mark Meeds (458) disposed by work, it was left to Daz Kitson(732) and Gordon Moodie(7) to sort out positions in the wet! It was Kitson who added to his stellar Skegness form with 2 heats, and then in the final, nothing could split the pair, a dead heat called at transponder! People who viewed the race said that Moodie might have snuck it, but down to transponder positioning saw it as a draw. Both drivers took the lap handicap, in a first at least for my 25 years of racing, but it was kerb cutter, Dave Polley (38) who took the GN.
MOODIE MARVELLOUS AT MIDWEEK SKEG
Thursday saw me back at work, but for all the holiday makers in the East Coast, it was a spot of stock car action! 25 cars, all in, and with Monday's missing person Mark Meeds (458) picking up where he left of, however in the dry conditions, he couldn't shake of the silver fox Gordon Moodie (7) who took both heats and final. Craig Utley (780) took 3 3rds and the GN, which has currently got him head for the flashing lights..
And thus concludes the week of attrition! With only Crimond to go, its gonna be all important for the new paint chasers - the points have been updated!
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