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WHO Nascar -
Race Report
Ten years is a long time and any club or society that manages to keep going for that length of time deserves to celebrate. So it was last Wednesday as WHO Racing celebrated 10 years of racing at the first Nascar round of 2020.
Keith had designed a time machine track as we were to race on an HO version of Trenton Speedway, notable for having a right hand turn on the oval to get round an old lady’s house.
Worthing Town Crier, Bob Smytherman, kicked the racing off with a rousing speech and then it was time for the bumper 32 strong field to get driving. It was an absolute delight to say hello to some of our drivers from across the years including Neil, Corey, Darren, Andrew, Oscar and Zoe as well as welcoming Katie and Bob to the grid. And of course to see our founder Robin pop along once again as well.
A 40 plus lap run was a very good score indeed with Alex, Jerome, Terry, Darren, John, Gareth, Keith and Andy all getting at least one. But it was Darren with his “just pulled my old car out of a damp shed” Reeces machine who grabbed a very convincing pole position with Jerome and Terry the other two automatic A final qualifiers.
During the heats there was also a prize draw with prizes donated by very generous companies and individuals. Plus an excellent spread of cakes to banish those January health kick dreams!
Finals
With Katie having to leave before the finals the first final was the J Final between Corey, Dylan, Gary and Zoe. Dylan led the early exchanges before a string of errors saw him slip behind Corey who drove consistently to the flag. Behind those two Gary was able to open up a gap to Zoe who came in fourth.
I Final. This was a close battle between Neil, Simon, Bob and Corey. Neil and Simon were the leaders throughout and it was nip and tuck as to who would get the win but Neil grabbed it. Behind them Corey was on their pace but didn’t find white to his liking and fell behind Bob at the finish. Only 10 seconds covered the field so it was a close race.
H Final. Daniel had to leave for Rustington before the race so Neil only had to face Laurence and Oscar. A change of tyre height had brought some much needed grip to Laurence’s new car as he charged into the lead and onto the win. Despite doing more laps than his win in the previous race, Neil couldn’t find an answer but he did enough to leave Oscar in his wake in 3rd.
G Final. Laurence was into the unflavoured blue lane and despite a spectacular catch of his own car mid race (see video) was unable to replicate his form. Meanwhile Deborah’s Super G had found another gear and become one of the outright fastest cars of the night. But it was a handful to drive and she was unable to bring that speed to her opponents. Which meant that it was Matthew with one of the other fast but hard to drive Super Gs of the club that dominated the race beating Steve by 6 laps at the close.
F Final. Matthew was clearly loving his car as switching to white lane just made him even more consistent as he smashed past Ash, Ned and Andrew in style. Ash drove an impressive club car race for 2nd in Gen 6, Ned and Andrew perhaps were feeling a bit race rusty compared to their former glory days.
E Final. Matthew was now in yellow lane and was looking for the triple step up but the tight lane got the better of him and he could only finish 3rd but a lap clear of Mike M whose headphone music maybe couldn’t give him the rhythm of the layout. Stop playing the Backstreet Boys Mike! Up front though was all about Pete who took the long road round in white lane to the chequered flag. Behind him was Ryan who had been doing great things with his MG+ all night and was justifiably delighted with winning Gen6 and booking his place in the November Shootout.
D Final. Pete, Waseem and Duncan had a great tight race in the D final and it was nice to see Duncan’s Lifelike holding its own with the pair of Super Gs. Waseem had been looking quick all night even when driving an identically bodied car to Terry in the heats which must have been tricky. None of them had answer for Mike D though who simply dominated as he roared to an astonishing 44 laps. That’s why he is a multiple champ and has although medals! Do find the photo of Ned and Mike posing with their winners medals. It was an impressive sight.
C Final. Alex and Oliver lined up with identical Bud liveried cars in the centre lanes, alarming considering both are juniors! Alex stalled on the line but was able to recover to 3rd while Oliver struggled with a misbehaving car and was unable to make his mark on the race and slumped to 4th.
Up front though we were treated to a belter between Mike and Keith. Mike was leading but Keith was never far behind and in the dying seconds Mike crashed and you could tell he thought the race was lost but Keith crashed behind him and with a lead of just 15 parts of a lap, Mike had won it. Agony for Keith but jubilation for Mike.
B Final. John led from pole in red lane with Mike the earlier challenger until he crashed. Then it was Gareth on the attack and into the lead before crashing. Both Mike and Gareth suffered multiple trips to the floor to remove themselves from the running and it was Andy was able to find the pace from the white lane to pile on the pressure and get through John’s defence to take the win.
A Final. Darren had been super-
None of this excellent trio of drivers though could do anything about the quiet but determined driver next to them in yellow lane. Jerome struggled with Nascar last year but this year he clearly has a new car and new focus. A massive 43 laps saw him comfortably beat all to take the win once again and the lead in the Club Championship. Amazing driving and his favoured F1 class is still to come!
So a massive Happy Birthday to WHO, thank you to all the people who celebrated with us and who have contributed to the club by racing with us over the years. We will always be indebted to Andy and Robin for their vision in creating the club and Andy for all his hard work keeping us going every year but without other people to turn up and race, it wouldn’t have made it this far and I can’t wait to get racing for another 10 years more.
Well done again to our winners Jerome and Ryan, thanks to the track crew, marshals, bakers and prize givers.
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There are pictures of the evening on SlotRacer Online.
The championship tables are on the 2020 season page
Heats
Finals
Race Results
