Race Report
We had sixteen highly-competitive racers on the grid for our July evening of WHO
Mod and WHO Tuners action. Simon had served up another great Mod track for us - a
big challenge across the four lanes requiring a fine balance between speed and downforce.
The marshals at the kitchen end of the track were certainly kept busy all evening
- from the first heat through to the end of the A final.
Terry defied expectations in the first heat, showing that the gutter lanes could
deliver some big scores, however he was eclipsed by Matthew in the second heat and
Jerome and Andy in the third. In the final group, Peter looked good in the gutter
lanes and John went even better in blue and red - but not quite enough to take provision
pole. At halfway, Andy had a slim lead over John, with Peter and Matthew third and
fourth. Jerome was top junior in fifth and Keith was comfortably top of the hard-bodied
Tuners back in eighth.
The second round of heats showed us whether racers had a gutter lane car, a middle
lane car or a perfect all-rounder. At the top, Andy faltered in the gutters, but
John blitzed them - scoring a massive 25.45 in yellow and snatching pole position.
Andy did just enough to stay ahead of Peter and Jerome finished strongly to leapfrog
Matthew who'd bent an axle on his Viper. The biggest mover was Alex, who leapt from
twelve to seventh. Deborah and Simon closed in on Keith in what was looking a close
battle for the Tuners win.
Finals
The E final was a full house with Daniel the Mod amongst the Tuners. It was Daniel
who led from the start, opening up a five second lead over Simon's Super-G at half
distance - Ash and Rick's Mega-G+s falling back. Despite Simon's best efforts, Daniel
kept things tidy and took the chequered flag exactly one lap ahead. Simon had been
quick though and was disappointed to miss out on a crack at the Tuners win.
Daniel joined Keith, Ryan and Deborah in the D final. Daniel was the first to crash,
but the other three continued circulating in very close formation. Deborah had her
F1 race-winning Mega-G+ chassis under a Nascar body and held the lead over Ryan at
both 30 seconds and a minute, with the gap 5 seconds at half distance. Keith was
right behind Ryan, but he just couldn't get past. The youngster put together some
great laps towards the end of the race, closing the gap to Deborah to a third of
a lap at the end. However, it was Deborah who took the chequered flag and an impressive
WHO Tuners win.
Deborah's Mega-G+ was the last Tuner standing in the C final - up against three rapid
Mod cars. Alex, Oliver and Stephen had got off to a patchy start in the heats, but
were now firing on all cylinders - Alex borrowing his dad's Viper for the finals.
Oliver and Alex swapped the lead in the early stages with Stephen not far behind.
At half way, Alex was really starting to motor and had a 4.5 second lead over Oliver's
BSRT G3. Alex was on fire, setting the fastest lap of the evening - 4.327 seconds
- and a big score of 24.50 laps. Oliver was also on for a big score, but a huge crash
with twenty five seconds to go saw his rear axle pop and he dropped to third behind
Stephen. However, a sub 5-second fastest lap showed his pace.
Alex kept his dad's car for the B final, where he would have a shot at the junior
medal against Jerome. Matthew and Terry had their eyes on a step-up to the A final.
Alex was briefly stranded on the line, giving the others a half lap head-start. At
quarter distance, Jerome had a decent advantage over Matthew, with Terry third. By
halfway, Jerome had pulled out nearly two laps, Matthew still second, but Alex now
third and his sights on second place. Alex was very quick, but the second half of
his race was error-strewn. By three-quarter distance, he had overhauled Matthew,
but was still two laps back from Jerome. Matthew and Terry were on the same lap as
Alex and not far behind. The final fifteen seconds were chaotic - the marshals at
the kitchen end of the track had plenty to do! Jerome kept things together and took
the chequered flag three laps ahead of Matthew, with Alex third and Terry fourth.
Jerome lined up in white lane for the A final, his dad in yellow, Andy in blue and
pole-sitter John choosing red. It was John and Peter who rocketed into an early lead.
John was the first to crash in the 'kitchen section', but he was marshalled quickly,
rejoining in second behind Peter. Stung by his error, John pushed hard to close the
gap and sat just 0.09 of a second behind Peter at quarter distance. Jerome and Andy
ran neck-and-neck about half a lap back. John passed Peter, but it stayed close -
just 0.59 of second at half distance. Andy was 2.8 seconds behind after Jerome had
crashed.
The track caught out Jerome, Andy and Peter in the second half of the race - all
having a couple of offs - but John kept it clean. His lead was almost a lap at three-quarter
distance, with Andy having closed the gap a little and Jerome still hanging on. As
the chequered flag fell, John was nearly a lap and a half up, Peter finishing a quarter
of a lap ahead of Andy, with Jerome finishing on the same lap. Huge congrats to John
on his second win of the season - cheered on by his fan club!
John picked up his twenty-sixth WHO winner's medal, Jerome his tenth junior medal
and Deborah made another appearance on the podium for her Tuners win. However, it
was Alex who set the fastest lap of the finals - and his dad bought him his very
own Viper for next time…
A big thanks to everyone who came along and made it such an enjoyable evening of
racing. Special thanks goes to the set-up crew and to all those who stayed behind
to pack up. I'm sure everyone at WHO would like to send best wishes to Mike McCann
who was taken ill on Wednesday afternoon and rushed to hospital. Mike - we hope you
make a swift and full recovery and you're back racing with us very soon.
- Andy P
