Fastrax Summer Series

A very good turnout greeted my arrival at the Stoke Nitro Car Club venue and home of the Fastrax Summer Series. I had turned up to race this weekend as I had seen the enjoyment had by all for the whole series and wanted "some of that" for myself. I used the Associated RC8T truggy and the new Boost engine from Picco. On to the racing then! Buggy Class Technically any one of three drivers could win the series. Realistically only two were in with a shout as the gap between 2nd and 3rd meant that as all three drivers were present. First placed Mark Redmond and second placed Dennis Holding would both have to qualify in the B final to give Adrian Dean a chance of winning. There were only three points separating Mark and Dennis. First blood went to Mark in the form of top qualifier (TQ) with 2nd spot to Dennis, by just two seconds, and Adrian coming in 3rd. Mick Butler, Darren Wood and Jason Fowler all posted quick eight lappers to give the top six a split of just fifteen seconds. Round two saw a great improvement from all drivers with Mark holding on to top spot going two seconds quicker. Adrian Dean nicked second with a very good time just two seconds off Mark?s pace. A further (you guessed it) two seconds behind Adrian was Dennis, with Mick retaining 4th. Round three and all change again. The ever reliable Mark kept pole with a time three seconds better than his last. Dennis regained 2nd spot with guess what?a time two seconds behind Mark. Adrian dropped to 3rd, with an improved time, but not enough to keep 2nd place. Jason Fowler entered the top four with his HoBao Hyper 9. As the meeting had gone so well it was announced that an extra round of qualifying was to be completed by all racers. So into round four, although really there was no need as no one inside the top ten improved. So, it was as you were for the finals. The C final was dominated by ?Clay?s Corner? pairing of John Clay and Kev Mac. Battling with Dean Haynes, they swapped the lead eight times between them in the 22 minute final, with John coming out the winner for the second meeting running beating his ?oppo? Kev into second place. The B final was won by James Bullivant after a thrilling battle between James, Andy Friar and Phil Turner. Pole Man Steve Carrington had crashed out on lap nineteen to leave it a three horse race. The A main started with pole man Mark getting pegged on the first corner allowing 2nd place driver Dennis to charge over the line first. It took Mark until lap sixteen to catch Dennis and then some exciting racing followed for twelve laps with Mark keeping just under one second away from Dennis until eventually getting the break and passing on lap twenty eight. Just before the last fuel stop disaster struck in Mark?s camp when his engine blew a plug! His pitman bravely tried to get the car going and he eventually rejoined the race in 5th place, working his way up to 4th by the hooter. A comfortable win for Dennis then with an excellent drive by Darren Wood to take 2nd and Andy Friar with the star drive of the final coming from 11th to a podium finish 3rd. All this made for an interesting tot up for the overall positions for the series. Dennis was overall champion by a single point from Mark leaving him to rue the blown plug. Adrian Dean claimed third. All the top three were split by just seven points! Well done lads and in particular Dennis who finished all rounds in the top three?a well deserved champion in my opinion. Truggy Class As I have stated I decided to run this fun class myself for the meeting and was shown the way home by Sean Bailey and Kev Mac in round one putting the excellent RC8T into 3rd on its first run. Round two saw no improvement from Sean or Kev but Stuart McKellar pushed yours truly down to 4th as he flew round for 3rd spot. Round three saw me get my act together to move to 2nd place just eight seconds behind Sean who?s first round time was still holding pole. Kev Mac dropped to third with Stuart down to fourth. The final round again saw no improvement from pole man Sean with myself just four seconds behind him now. No other improvement from the top eight left the grid as it had started in round three. I decided that it would be a little unfair to run the final as it would have taken points from a driver who might have need them for the overall series positions. Sean, Kev, Stuart and Darren Hughes were all trying to gain second in the series with Carl Dixon having already secured the win in the previous round (which was just as well because he had had problems all day). All got away safely in the final with Carl the first to show from Darren Hughes and Sean Bailey down from pole to 3rd. Carl made a mistake on lap thirteen to let Darren into the lead but he could only hold on for eight or so laps when a loss of concentration let Carl back in. Carl maintained his lead, all be it very narrowly until the warble, beating Darren by just ten seconds after the twenty two minute final. Sean Bailey was unable to find his qualifying pace in the final and came in an untroubled 3rd with Graham Grice nicking 4th of Stuart on the last lap. Overall champion was Carl with Sean taking 2nd in his first proper season in RC car racing. Darren Hughes claimed the third podium slot from Stuart who would have taken it had it not been for the last lap mistake (unlucky mate). So it?s all over for another year then and I?m already well looking forward to the 2011 series which I will take part in. It was a very well run set of meetings that are a huge amount of fun. A big thanks to Jarred, Mick and Paul who have run the series professionally and with a lot of humour making it very enjoyable for all. Here?s to next year? Iain McCallum