So to the fun coast we all go, for plenty of laughs, lager and laying about. Oh and Skegness Stadium made it rather inconvenient to have some racing on......
THURSDAY -
TORRENTIAL RAIN FALLS MOSTLY ON SKEGGY PLAIN
Monsoon like condition befell the fun coast, putting a real and actual dampener on manys preceedings. Whether we saw flooding like previous years which saw tents pitched in rivers remained to be seen.
Racing wise, the apertif saw the obligatory Skegness win for one G. Moodie Esq (7) and in heat 2 local success as budget racer Mark Meeds (458) splashed his new to him RCE to victory. Should be a fairly busy weekend for Mark, he's a manager at one of the many campsites! The consi saw Justin Fisher (315) continue his good spell of decent form, however it was only after Aaron Vaight (184) was deemed to have joined the Pringle club...
The final saw Moodie, Polley and Burgyone scrap, but it the silver top who took the win.... Burgoyne rounded out the evening by being the first in the dry motorhome and taking the national..
FRIDAY
Proof that the best laid plans goes breasts upward all the time went with the J-ho Funbus. As of Thursday tea time, the car was partially loaded with the essentials for any 7 hour journey. Haribo and energy drinks, incidently between myself and Gordon Moodie, we bought enough Red Bull to fund a F1 season for the soft drinks company. Plan was to chill in the morning, pick up one traveller, have a kip and then hit the road after the 2 part of the entourage had finished her modelling gig. I cleaned the cars and gave its pre flight checks and checked the tread on the tyres and found, that thanks to Her Majesty's potholes, the tracking on the car was out and the tyres were unevenly bald. Like an alternative girls hair cut! So an early morning trip to get 2 new tyres tracked and balanced, I get a text saying that one of my entourage has dropped out because of monetary issues. Ho hum, says I, we'll go with 2 and me. So I head to bed at 3pm to get some kip before the big journey up overnight, only to be awoken by my phone. Text, ack well, down to riding solo. With this in mind, back to sleep I went and got on the road.
Diversions and a peasouper on the way in didn't help my concentration. I rolled into the infamous Simmo's campsite, to be greeted by the legendary Janners, Liam Rowe (605) and westcountry super fans Laz and Jimmy C, along with "former" Saloon World Champ, Eddie Darby and banger driver Kat Dawe, who we chatted about the upcoming ladies race, where she will be racing the one and only Bill Batten's car, and the fact we share the same birthday. She kept on yapping as the sun rose, and Ed went to bed. It was also bedtime, time for a cheeky power nap before setting about the fun ahead.
SATURDAY
PANNETT RODS TO SATURDAY NIGHT FINAL FEVER
So as a bit of a tradition, the weekend started with the champions challenge which involved, 2 members of Her Majesty's Finest Old Bill, with a speed gun, and 3 world champions, Tom Harris for the Tractors, Stuart Shevill for the Tintops, and the legend, Rygor the Tiger. It was a win for Harris overall, as although Rygor thoroughly enjoyed his go in the one, it was a diasterous couple of laps in the saloon which scuppered his chances.
So with the capacity crowd champing at the bit, it was go time. Plenty of cars, meant fairly busy grids, and with it, the opportunity for a lower grader to get away. That they did. Heat 1 saw Chris Bryan (805) lead away Jak Marshall (199) now resplendent with the ex Nigel Green RCE leading them away. Bryan took over, and held off Moodie who was a fairly distant third.
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| You gotta be this high to ride..... |
The second heat was a win for all round cheeky chappy Micky Brennan (968) who's always the life and soul of the party, with one of the bigger camping pitches at Simmos.
If Scotland was to go independent, then there would be no doubt that Gordon's English base would be the Fun Coast, so it was a little bit of a shock that Moodie took heat 3, a win on his second attempt, proof that he is nearly human!
Heat 4 was a yellow top affair with the scrap between Bryan and Marshall and AJ Thompson (717). With 2 to go Thompson led Bryan from North East driver Dave Pannett (836). With Pannet breathing down the 717 cars as the 2 to go, the race was called early cos of pile up involving 100 and 921. A win for Andrew John Thompson, ace race painter extraordiaire and owner of one of the prettiest cars on the scene crossed the line first and I spoke to AJ just after...
A controversial end to heat 5, as Nail 'em Broatch (725) and Justin Time (315) sped away after the yellow red top H383 Pieter van der Valk... who kerbed his car in the traffic. This brought them under the starters orders, and there was certainly some confusion as most of the lead cars thought there was 2 to go. However, when they exited turn 4 to be greeted with the chequered, some puzzled looks were gazed, as there would have be a more dramatic finish if there was another lap. Dave Polley (38) the steward's favourite(!) remonstrated with the starter and waved his "2" board at race control. But Nail'em (complete with nostaglia on board ) held on for the win.
With the confusing format saw 2 "consolations" for the ones not lucky enough to be in the top 28 points scorers. Consi 1 saw Skegular Regular Jimmy "The Wriggle" Riggals (527) holding off Dicky Pint Of (254). Consi 2 saw Livov Riley (422) take full advantage of the charging Luke Lovelength (120) , by catching and beating the midlands yellow top to take a popular win.
The meeting final with it's confusing nature was a cracker of a race. Early progress was hampered by favourite Moodie, allowing the yellow top Jak Marshall to speed away. He was again hotly persued by charging blues Pannett and Fisher. Neil Hooper (676) had broken away from the red top scrum (as a rugby man, he is used to this). That's the way it finished and a return to red for the Barford regular.
SUNDAY
GOLDIN'S OK UK
Sunday was one of those days. A reasonable night's sleep in Dirty Gertie, and a relatively quiet snooze. As the sun rose, I woke to see at around 6am, the professional drinking side of Janner Motorsport stumbling back to base. Enough of these shenanigans, sez I, and I grabbed another 20 minutes before making my traditional decision (as is the norm whenever I camp) to seek sustenance and facilities for the morning convolutions. A search for a good old fashioned greasy spoon open in Skeg on a Sunday morning was somewhat unfruitful and I found myself in the comforting bosom of those golden arches, and got myself a breakfast wrap. With little or no life coming from the campsite and a look at the watch saw it was worth a punt to drive up to the track. Plenty of life up there and I got in early doors. Now, with the best laid plans, also included a squad of at least 4 models and a pro tog, ended up with yours truly on camera and the lovely April and Emma to join me for some calendar shooting.
Dodging the showers seemed to be the order of the day, as quite heavy showers came about thick and fast and in some very specific areas, downpours were thicker than others....
However what was questionable was George's politeness when drenching the girls, and the fact he has a Hello Kitty bucket in his transporter!
In the bit before the big race, there were heat wins for Mickey Brennan, final winner Pannett and Gordon Moodie. In the last chance consolations, wins for Skeg regular Chris Utley (780) and Paul Reid (17) gave a good Scottish win
UK Open time, and with the meeting severely overrunning due to the fence demolition, no parade was available. Shame really. Perhaps, and this is just a salient point, that the UK race should be earlier on the bill, so that any folks who want to get home the right side of midnight can do. The grid looked like Kellog's Crunchy Nut Corn Flakes. Tasty, tasty, very very tasty. Moodie was on pole, alongside veteran Broatch with Brennan and Polley taking the inside line. Justin Fisher (315) due to start on Row 4, proclaimed in the pre race build up, that he might be leading come the end of the first lap. He did, briefly, as bedlam reigned, seeing the end to many hopes, including Rygor, Rubery and several others.
On the restart, it was Barry Goldin (401) who lead them away with George McMillan and Chris Burgoyne tacking along for company. With not many laps to go, GeoMac had a dive at Goldin, which slightly over cooked, allowing Burgy thru and also Irishman Chris Kincaid. Faultless driving from Goldin saw him take the title home, one of few not to have adorned the 401 car.
So with Moodie rectifying his UK misdeameanours by taking the last race of the weekend for the F2's and everyone set about their merry way home....
POINTS OF ORDER
An Apology. Sorry Crimond fans left last weeks meet of the report. If you didn't come from Aberdeenshire, then it was unlikely to of hit your radar as Stuart Kelly (339) took a hatrick, from brother Graham (721) and Robbie Dawson (854). Dawson took the national...
Fence. Many an event seems to have a lengthy delay for fence repairs. The very nature of the racing on these large meetings at Skegness means that the racing is hard. But to have these lengthy delays, when people have travelled hours, and have long journeys home is unacceptable. It seems all too regular an occurence and the track needs a new fence. Plate it up and lets see the sparks fly! The standard arguments about the bogs and the like
Format - Total confusion for the format of the Saturday night, and good luck to David Hamar who has the uneviable task of trying to make head nor tail of the points system used. A weekend style system is good, and whilst it appears to be a compromise between action and format, becomes a fudge not worthy of the trackside sweetshop. Racers race 2 out of 5 on the Saturday and another heat on the Sunday - making it 3 out of the 8. Quite a simple concept. But confusion comes when
Come the meeting final, there are very few people who actually care and are more influenced by that girl Stella and Kenneth Heine. So is their actually a purpose to having a final? If so, why not add some double points on the old scoreboard for the UK final and give it some gravitas?
A plea to Ms Cooke, the promoteress extraordinaire. Your PA, is old, tired and worn out, and sounds incomphrensible. But enough about Paul Brown, your sound system is patchy in places. Either not heard at all, or distorted, it needs addressing, as it is pointless having a great show from Richard Kaleta if you cannot hear him.
Dykes. Team Janner Motorsport's newest member Alex "Barry" Wills had his Skeg virginity well and truly taken from him. Drunk on the Saturday night trudge back from the track to Simmo's campsite he fell into one of the East Coast's infamous ditches and come out looking like he'd taken on a swamp monster. Remember kids, please drink responsibly...
If ever Alistair Oxby or Steve Linfield fancy a change from commentary, then maybe they could find work on the tannoy at ASDA, giving the amount of public service announcements, seeing as all they seemed to do was to give out car number plates to move. Whether it was poor parking by general numpties, or an over zealous cram them in attitude, it was clear that there was not enough parking spaces. Nothing more annoying (as I have been in the past) by aiming to get away swiftly on a long journey only to be blocked in.
Generally - the stadium is looking very tired. With the onslaught of the wet stuff we had on the Thursday night turned the pits into a slurry. The toilets look antiquated. I know, its not about this when it comes to racing, but surely, the bread and butter, the holiday specials with the stunt shows and the like, with the holiday makers, they expect better.
However, it was Skegvegas, and it is worth noting, that the Saloons certainly added a lot of fans to the party. Brutal and solid racing...I certainly fell in love with the place again...
