BOBBY BRACES HIMSELF AS BURGOYNE TAKES OPENING COWDIE
A somewhat disappointing turnout for World Final venue, Cowdenbeath's season opener, as the expected bounce that it usually brings failed to materilize with a woeful 18 cars. 2 travellers from South of Hadrian's Wall, Bobby Griffin (866) and John Broatch (722), who both capitalized on the cancelled Stoke to go racing. Indeed it was Griffin who got the show of to a rousing start, with a superb last bender on one G. Moodie Esq (7). Such blasphemic actions saw Griffin disqualified due to the fact that in the incident, his wheelguard came adrift. Team England didn't lose out, as Broatch took the win. Heat 2 saw no such problem for Gordon, who took the win from Griffin. The Final was an attritional race, with Moodie getting caught up with Griffin in an incident early on. This allowed Chris Burgoyne (647) to open his race win account in 2014. The National was taken by Gregor Turner (391)
GREEN TAKES CHEQUERED AT NIR
Ben Aimson (749) and Jay Goodwin crashed early in the opening BriSCA F2 encounter with leader Brett Constable(91) pulling off under caution handing Ryan Morgan(48) the advantage but handling problems stymied the yellow top and let Mark Gibbs (578) through for his first win of 2014. Heat two began with a pile-up which saw Drew Lammas (341) almost roll, the second attempt led by Darren Phillips (844) until a final lap stoppage for a three-car tangle meant a one-lap sprint for the line, Mike Green (115) bumpering past Phillips to win it. The Final saw opening lap leader Courtney Finnikin (55) tangle with Morgan and come to a halt in the middle of the back straight, the yellows flying but too late for Kelvyn Whalley (101) who ploughed into the Ministox graduate who was luckily not seriously hurt. Phillips was leading but Green and Tom Adcroft (768) took over and the former completed his double, the battle for third a highlight with Adam Rubery (700) winning out just ahead of Jack Aldridge (921) and Luke Wrench (560). The GN was briefly halted for a turn three tangle which was sparked when Ben Bate (242) spun and claimed Adcroft and Aldridge, Riggall taking the first win for his ex-Richard Bowyer bolide on the restart. Dave Goddard
GORDON BACK AT BARFORD
The Moodster took a near on faultless display at Barford, taking both all in heats and also taking the final. The dual surface Paul Prest (49) took the GN.
TIGER TAMES TAUNTON BUT MINI TAKER TAKES TWO
Glorious sunshine befell the Devon Countryside as Smeatharpe had a rather pleasant day. With the cheque presentation meant that myself, Stef and Nat and Alana, who was on trophies, leading the Grand Parade. First time for a lap of honour for me...all that was missing was a spot of Sempre Fidelis and a chequered flag...
In the pits, new paint and new cars not yet shown at any of the practice days, including the Bradbury steed
Enough of the showboating an on with the racing. Steve Gilbert (542), "The Apprentice" sped away to a huge lead, helped by a pair of scrapping stars, as Neil Hooper (676) came under assualt from the James Rygor (783) bumper. One hit from the The Tiger made the 783 car jump out of gear, but even a last bend assualt couldn't shift Hooper.
The second heat saw Ryan Hoskin (991) speed away in his revamped Higman.
The Consolation was a lower grade affair. The rapidly improving Andy Walker (328) and Shane Hector (528) led away the pack. Hector took the win from Chris Rowe (76) with Walker a close third.
The final on the other hand, took a long time to get going. 3 early incidents saw nearly half the field wiped out. 2 complete restarts, a yellow flag, and all manner of chaos. Once things got going, it was white tops that sped away. Marc Rowe (526) led them away and drove away. However a yellow flag for the stricken Matt Linfield (464) saw the pack close up. First of the reds in the line was Chris Mikulla (522), then Hooper and Rygor, with Bradbury a little further back as he was caught up in the Linfield incident. Mikulla then spun, allowing Hooper to swoop and pass Rowe, as Rygor played cat and mouse with Hooper, as the gap closer one lap, then wider the next. The race looked to have calmed down, but like George Macmillan (100) at the world final, the one lap board was in site, as Hooper's diff expired, leaving a forlawn Motorworld with no drive stranded by the start finish line. Rygor took the win, for the 2nd time he had won the MDP Services trophy, the first time, as a plucky white top in 2009, and now at the very top of the sport. As Mike Priddle (14) was the meeting sponsor you could expect champagne high jinx. Needless to say, Alana and daughter Sophie did not get involved, having already done a runner. Rygor took the win from Bradbury and Mikulla with Jay Tomkins (290) taking 4th after a night off as his Stoke was called off.
The National saw another win for Gilbert, who certainly learnt from his father that the "pick on the first car you see and watch em scatter" certainly paid off. An excellent opening meeting, bodes well for 2014!
POINTS OF ORDER
After crashing once more, a little frustration from Nathan Maidment (935) seen him monikered with a new nickname - "The Angry Child"
After the fun sweepstake was a bit of a damp squib last weekend, Richie Mead (596) suffered a fuel starvation problem on his RCE, meaning he didn't get many laps under his belt, but the national saw that he was a bit happier with it all.
The man flu ridden Dale Moon (302) was off his chips, and his previously mocking father Mark, now also was snot ridden.
A terrible day for the Rowes. Liam (605) hadn't finished his car, and had to tow his returning brother, Ross (105) in the race transit. Which decided to have a melt down and proceeded to crawl towards Smeatharpe. Then once off the trailer and on the track. Ross did a few laps of heat 1, got broadside down the start finish line and got collected. Car wrecked, game over. Fair to say the boys Rowe have had better days!
Our good friends at Her Majesty's Vehicle Inspectoate welcomed race fans by pulling people in for dip tests, trailer tests and the like. Cue numerous teasy racers a few with nice big fines. Easy pickings for jobsworths....
See ya next time...might have some words about THAT banger documentary...
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