Another glorious sunshine weekend and another shoot for the calendar, which you may have not been aware of and a spot of travelling and banter of the highest order was the highlights of the weekend.
Friday evening, and a glorious evening befell the south coast of Cornwall, as 2 car loads of girls and various camera equipment headed to Trenant, home of the infamous Moss family. With the family tradition of being good racers when the rains came (father Jeremy was a regular regenmeister), and with Dan's birthday being in April, the theme April Showers was developed. Cue the pits favourite Alana, Rebecca, with newbies Abii and Kristina. Also present was Dale Moon (302) who completed the March shoot.
So onto the lawn the cars rolled....
Abii and Kristina then proceeded to do the green shoot.
Then came the main event. April Showers. We had brollies, we had wellies. We had girls!We had a slight audience! We didn't have rain! Dale, PJ and Dan all got assistant roles. Handed a water pistol each they proceeded to get the rain. Handing a water pistol to cheeky funster Dale did not go down well with Alana, as the 302 pilot blotted his copy book with the red headed girl as he proceeded to squirt the lady with his weapon. As the buckets arrived and the girls got soaked even more, due to some low down scheming between photographer Nat Lampshire and Dan Moss...
Other spectators included Jeremy Moss and Mark Moon, former racer and now famed for being a "friend of Crispen". However, Mr Moon Snr, took a pride in a position and got a front row, even VIP seat in the action. As he became proclaimed as "moisture consultant" he then felt the need in his heightened status. A reconstruction is below.
After telling all the models to bring a spare change of clothes, it was Alana herself who forgot, and proceeded to shiver all the way to MacDonalds.
Saturday
After a spot of lunch and an extended period of relaxing, it was over to the laptop and a selection of results to update the highly popular "road to gold" page as live. I knew that plenty of questions would be coming that night, especially as some drivers were planning their journeys for the morning. My thanks to Stevie Kirk, and numerous over folk over at the Rob Speak facebook page, as both Allstox and Ftooz had internet silence when it came to results. I also arranged with Chris Mikulla (522) the details of the shoot that was going to take place the following day at Taunton. Meet by the old entrance and find a nice spot further up the road away from prying eyes. Meet you as close to 1030 as I can says I to Chris.
Sunday.
Up with the lark and on the road as soon as possible. I picked up Alana, who was running late and in the centre of Plymouth. Slow fast lane hoggers, a need to get some cash in Honiton, and we rocked up to Smeatharpe, nearly half an hour late thanks to the East Devon version of Bradley Wiggins and Victoria Pembleton weaving across the road riding two a breast. Fuck. All a bit of a rush, Rygor had arrived. Both Grace and Tia are ready, the camera is ready. Click, Click. Fuck. Batteries run out! Ok, says I, I'll just get the spares out of my bag. Open Bag. Ah fuck. They're in the charger at home. Fuck! So back in the car we go, past Vicky and Wiggo again, into Honiton and grab some double AA's and we go again. Stress less and it was away we go again! Thanks to Chris and The Tiger and most importantly to Grace and Tia, proving that stock car WAG's can be fun too!
With a lot of regulars at the Barford Qualifier or stranded with no tow vehicle, numbers were down. 34 cars still was very very good though and better than the qualifier.
Sadly, the hot weather brought with a bit of state of "meh". Simon Edwards (430) crossed the line first after a flyer of a start, as he became the latest on the Pringle list, and loaded up in protest. This gave Tom Adcroft (768) the win. Tom was down at Taunton because he couldn't go to Barford, some family disagreement or tuther. He was most impressed with Alana. "If you bring birds like that I'll come here more often". It became apparent that the rapidly improving John Scorse (519) in the Hybrid Higgy (ex Ross Rowe, built by the former pilot, Mike Lampshire, the Higster and to a much lesser extent, yours truly) and Gary Sillifant (627) were going to be hard to catch. Indeed it was Chris Bradbury who eventually caught the whites, somewhat at a canter. The consolation was won by a rejuvenated James Rogers (544), as many faster yellow tops fell by the wayside. A disconsolate Matt Westaway (835) was peeved off with a lack of power, and Matt Linfield (464) was scratching his head with the lack of power. 5 cars decided it was too hot to race and didn't make it out for the meeting final. Again, Sillifant and Scorse led them away, with Ryan Hoskin (991) in touching distance of the white tops. But for the Roy Goodman Perpetual Trophy, of which Roy, 84 years of age, turned up in flowery shirt befitting the summery day, one man took to the track with history on his mind. Bradders set on a 6 consecutive final win at Smeatharpe, a feat only matched by Bill Batten. He did win it, at a relative canter, from Scorse and Hoskin. Bradbury became the second driver in its 10 year history to win the rosebowl twice, following Chris Cuming. With Alana and I hanging around Bradders and Priddle, much banter was had. Mr 886 took great pleasure in winding up the easy to wind up Plymouthian lass, but Mr Bradbury Snr gave some consolation to Alana, giving her the flowers for the day. We then found in the boot of my car that one of the bottles of bubbly that was supposed to be for the April Showers shoot, had exploded. So, take the other 2 as a bonus. An incentive if you will. Alana was thirsty, so I got her one to drink, and gave one to Bradders for 6 in a row. As the national lined up, people were asking if the unthinable, a second maximum? Sadly, Sillifant and Scorse had other ideas, but it was Gary who was beaming, as he took his first ever win in F2, to suitable delight, and his dad Derek was smiling from ear to ear also. Meanwhile back in the pits, Alana was struggling to open her champers, so enlisted the help of mischeivous Mike Priddle, who proceeded to shake it up a bit and spray it over her. Schoolgirl error!
Having professed to her that I haven't been to a dull Taunton in a while, I took full responsibility for it being a bit dull, however the banter in the pits is becoming at a level which is making the racing enjoyable....
So hi ho hi ho, it's off to Skeg we all go. Not me. I have weeding to do, maybe watch a bit of cricket all things more exciting.
Ta fer now...
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