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Round 3 PINEWOOD RACEWAY  

29/30 June 2013

1/24 BOC  2013    British Open Championship

Best Presented line up

Woody won with the Number 1 car

James Cleave’s Saloon winning car

Pinewood hosted the third round of the 2013 1/24 BOC, the half way point in the championship.   Thanks to Dave, Nigel and everybody at Pinewood for a very enjoyable and well run meeting. Also a special thank you for the catering.

Saloon Racing

Saturday’s racing was for the production saloon class. Racing commenced with 1 minute qualifying runs and Lee Parsons top qualified.  That seeded the drivers for the win from any final 6 x 4 minute segmented finals.

Charlie Gooding and Bob Budge were quickest in the D final,  Charlie winning by just under a lap with Simon Francis 3rd some laps behind.

Bob Henderson led the first half of the C final leader, but was Franz took the lead to win by a lap and a half.  That put Franz third overall behind Charlie and Bob Budge.  Christopher Aldridge took third in the C, also ahead of Simon’s time.

Martin Ellis won the B final, with Pat Skene 4 laps behind in second.  John Gooding and Rob Harris took third and fourth, also beating Charlie’s time.

Top qualifier Lee Parsons led for much of the A final, all be it by a small margin from James Cleave.  Going into the final segment only a few feet separated them, James managed to pull out a lap in the final segment to take the win. Dave Harvey and Gavin Wills were in a close race for third, Dave eventually taking the final podium spot.    Those four A finalists took the top places overall ahead of Martin’s B final time.       Graham Woodward was fifth in the A final, and sixth overall.

Open Group 12

Sunday’s racing commenced with Open Group 12.   Several extra racers turned up for Sunday, meaning most of the racing would be in 7 man heats, with the driver’s taking turns to sit out a segment.  One thing that didn’t change was the top qualifier, Lee taking the honours again.  Lee’s 3.634 second lap was followed by  Dave Harvey on 3.642 and Gavin Wills on 3.789.

Christopher Aldridge won the D final from just over a lap from Ian Barker, with Bob Henderson and Mike Davies third and fourth.

Charlie Gooding and Bob Budge repeated their race of the previous day, this time in the C final with Charlie taking the win by a 3 lap margin with Vince Lee in third  After two of the four finals, Charlie had the overall lead from Bob Budge and Christopher.

Pat Skene won the B final from Franz by just over a lap, they took 1-2 so far, while Woody was third in the B, just behind Charlie’s C final time.

James Cleave led the first segment of the A final, Lee Parsons overtook him in the second segment, then James had a gear strip.   That left Lee leading from Dave Harvey.  Gavin Wills and Richard Mack were in a close contest for fourth. Going into the final segment, Lee had what looked like a sufficient winning margin till motor problems struck.   Eventually Lee’s car needed a push start, and lost most of its power.  Lee just took the win by a quarter of a lap from the fast closing Dave. James was third while Gavin a beat Richard by by just 0.3 laps to take fourth.  That left Pat, Franz , Charlie, Woody and Bob Budge from 6 to 10th overall with their times from their earlier races.

Eurosport

As ever, the fastest class was the last to be run.  Lee Parsons qualified with a 3.203 sec lap to complete his hat trick of TQs, Dave Harvey was again his closest challenger with 3.245 with Vince Lee third on 3.319.

The D final was dominated by Charlie and John Gooding, John would have been closer to his dad had it not been for a chassis repair early in the race. Steve Kelly was third in a race with a high retirement rate.

Ben Woodward had a superb run in the C final to win in a way rather reminiscent of his Nationals result.  Neil Grogan was next up in the C, just behind Charlie’s D final run.   The retirement rate was rather reminiscent of the D final.

The B final saw by far the best finishing rate, Pat Skene and Graham Woodward taking 1-2 in the race but fell some laps short of  Ben’s time. Ian Barker, Mike Davies and Franz also had good B final runs that would put them in the top 10 overall.

The A final started as a 3 way race between James Cleave, Dave Harvey and Lee Parsons.   Lee needed a gear change, leaving him is third.   Jameswent on  to win from Dave by 4 laps, the largest winning margin of the week end.  Gavin Wills recovered from an early gear change to take 4th in the A, but 5th overall as Ben’s run from the C took him to 4th overall.

Thanks again to Pinewood for an excellent meeting - the next round is the biggest event of teh season - th 1/24 nationals at Loughborough - see you all therre.

Chris Frost

Pinewood web site

Lee Parsons’ OG12  winner

James Cleave’s Eurosport winning car

James Cleave, Nigel Barrow, Lee Parsons and the trophies

Eurosport  A final - Lee, Dave, Vince, James. Richard and Gavin

Saloon A final - Lee,  James. Dave, Woody and Gavin