Fastrax Summer Series - Rnd 4

I woke up this morning wondering if the weather was going to hold out for the day as the forecast for the area was dry for the morning with scattered showers for the afternoon. On arrival at the track the first thing we noticed was the extended rostrum which had been erected for the UK Endurance Masters race which is due to take place in October. The rostrum has doubled in size and now comes fitted with a roof, which will offer protection for the drivers of this event as they will be up there on and off for six hours! This might come in very useful if the weather for the day turns wet. At least the drivers and transmitters will have some protection from the elements if nothing else. The weather looked overcast but dry and the track was in its usual well maintained condition. With everybody booked on at race control it was decided that there would be four rounds, 3 round of buggies and a round of truggies. With a total entry level of 42 this worked out to approximately ten cars per round so a balanced event was about to unfold. Throughout the course of the morning four heats of each round were run and the lap time on the whole were very consistent. Round 1 Truggies: After four heats the fastest lap time went to Stewart Quinn 38.45 with Carl Dixon in a close second fastest time of 38.90 third fastest was Sean Bailey with 38.96. The rest of the field were completing lap times between 39 and 44 second laps so there was only a spread of 5 seconds between all of the truggies lap times so the final was going to be very close indeed. Rounds 1, 2 & 3 Buggies: Again very consistent lap times across the board with the fastest qualifying lap being set by Mark Redmond with a 37.33 but Adrian Dean and Scott Francis were hot on the pace with Adrian putting in a 37.51 and Scott a 37.75. So less than half a second between the fastest laps the final is going to be close! Final Truggies: 22 minutes and two fuel stops ten truggies full throttle into the first corner! After the usual hang ups and comings together the field finally spread out and settled down into the race pace. Sean Bailey set the fastest lap of the final 38.20 with others in hot persuit like Carl Dixon with a 39.27,Phil Turner with a 39.57 and Kev mac with a 39.75 so not much in it on the time front it was going to be down to who drove the most consistently for the win. Out of the ten truggies 9 made the start of the final after 21 minutes 9 truggies were still running the first truggy to come across the line was Carl Dixon with Sean bailey 2 seconds behind and Kev Mac came in 3rd 24 second s behind Carl. Well done Lads! C Final Buggies: A good race with no major dramas only 2 retirements and the winner was Neil Francis with Mick Hailsworth coming 2nd both were bumped up to the B final. B Final Buggies: Another good race here close and four retirements. Adam Dunley put in a 36.75 according to the timing this is the fastest lap of the day! Well Done Adam. Kev Mac came in first with Ashley Haynes 30 seconds behind, third place went to Mike Waugh. Kev and Ashley got the bump up into the A. A Final Buggies: The grand finale! All buggies off the line and into the race pace within the a lap or two. The race had a good pace with all drivers putting in good times as the race went on there was three buggies that were starting to break away from the rest of the field. Mark Redmond , Dennis Holding and Adrian Deane began to pull away little by little slowly but surely they were making a break for it. A small mistake from Adrian Deane on lap 14 created a gap and Mark and Dennis were nose to tail for most of the final. That was how the race continued with Mark Redmond taking the win with Dennis Holding 2 seconds behind, Adrian Deane came home third 15 seconds behind following up. Overall it was a good day the weather stayed dry and everybody enjoyed a well organised days racing. I would like to say thanks to all at SNRC for another quality meeting and it all attention to round five now. Iain McCallum