Fastrax Summer Series 2011

Round two came upon us a lot quicker than I expected. The weather had been bad all week but a dry day was predicted for Sunday. I got up peeping through the curtain with some trepidation and was very surprised to see no rain at all, lots of cloud but no rain. I set off for Stoke Nitro still a little sceptical but hopeful of a least some racing. Truggy Dry weather greeted the first round for the truggy boys with the early man to beat being Kev Mac with a quick seven lapper just three seconds off an eight! Second place went to Sean Bailey six seconds behind Kev, with third spot occupied by the ever present Stuart McKeller. Round two saw the only improvement from John Clay as the rain fell very lightly but just enough to grease up the track. Third and final round was run in the dry (some might even call it sunshine) and everyone in this class improved. Top honours and pole for the day was Sean Bailey with Kev in second only four seconds behind and Stuart taking third three seconds further back. The top five split by just twenty seconds so anyone with a good consistent final could take the honours. Main A The usual pile up at the start saw some damage to Sean?s car and his race was over by the sixth lap as try as he might the front end just gave up. First lap leader was Kev Mack with Stuart getting clear of the pile up first, but fifteen seconds behind Kev. He had twenty four more minutes to catch him and that he did but he just could not get past. As one made a slight mistake so did the other and the gap went from just point four of a second to eight then down to four then up to nine then back down to four again. Both men drove well and with the jitters in equal amounts. Kev came in four seconds clear of course from Stuart so well done to the both drivers. The battle for third was a right old ding-dong between John Clay and Steve Taylor who swapped the lead three times and were never very far apart for the full twenty five minutes. It was John who clinched it being the steadier of the two with only two or three small errors in the whole race. No mistakes means no marshalling which means in this case third place, well done mate. Buggy Team Hobao turned up for the meeting and star driver John Howells was the first to show with the first eight lapper of the day. Adrian Dean of Steve Webb Models was second but thirty two seconds behind with Mark Redmond taking third spot four hundredth?s behind Adrian. Round two saw no improvement from John but new team Hobao driver young Ashlee Owen posting the second eight lapper of the day a mere twelve behind John?s first round time with another Hobao driver snatching third from Mark in the form of Darren Wood. The dry and sunny third round saw much time improvement from most of the top ten. John took pole with the quickest time of the day some eleven seconds ahead of his previous best with Mark regaining a top three spot with second place only six behind John, and Ashlee continuing his impressive start with Hobao holding down third from Phil Turner and his very quick Associated RC8B. Top seven split by twenty seconds again just like the truggys. Buggy D Buggy D final was won by Becky Hughes with a very quick drive with CML southern rep Jason Huntley taking second and the remaining bump up spot to the next final. These two finished two laps up on the rest of the field. Special mention again to Jason who was piloting (of sorts) the new RTR buggy from RB and it looks to be a very quick car. It is only his second ever rallycross meet proving the car MUST be easy to drive. Buggy C Darren Moult won the C final and led from start to finish with Paul Hide just nicking the second bump up from John Clay by eight seconds. The top three finishing on the same lap after a twenty three minute final. Buggy B Jim Davis took top honours in the b final. He led from the off and was never in trouble finishing a lap ahead of second placed Jamie Brown, with both drivers moving up to join the big boys in the A Main. A Main Lloyd Pitt with another Hyper Star was the first to show in the main final with pole man John Howells relegated to last after the first corner pile up. Mark Redmond crossing the line second Ashlee Owen over in third. Lloyd fell away quite sharply on lap ten going from first to fifth in two laps allowing the chasing John to go the opposite way and take the lead from sixth place. The track is so fast that John had taken advantage of Lloyd?s crash and moved past four cars in one go to gain the lead and never looked back again, winning the final by one lap, very impressive from last on lap one! The battle for second spot raged all final, with no less than five Hyper Stars in the top eleven they all wanted to be in the places, only Mark Redmond was amongst them and the 'lead' for second swapped nine times over the course of the twenty five minutes changing for the last time when Ashlee nicked it four minutes from time of Mark who held on for third despite team Hobao?s best efforts to get past. In all a great day?s racing with the Hyper Star taking five of the top six places, a car to be reckoned with methinks in the future. Many thanks as always to Jared and the team at Stoke Nitro who put on an excellent meeting every time. A great place to race that is friendly and more importantly fun for everyone, beginner or a rising star, just ask Jason Huntley who is still babbling on about his bump up some four days later. Hope to see you there next time. Iain McCallum