South Downs 23/24 January
The 2016 BOC season got off to an excellent start with the South Downs Open Meeting. Thanks to Ant for giving us all such a good week end’s racing.
There was a lot of racing to get through with 1 minute qualifying followed by 8 x
3 min segmented racing for everybody in all 3 classes. The good entry could have
been larger but a couple of people dropped out due to illness -
Saloon
After best presented judging, the qualifying for Saloon got under way. James Cleave came out top on 5.302 seconds, followed by Dave Harvey on 5.326.
The racing commenced with the 8 man C final. David Sargent’s car looked much better than in qualifying, and he won with a score that would eventually put him in the top 6 overall. Behind him there was some very close racing with 5 cars on the same lap in mid race.
The B final saw another area 2 driver exceeding their qualifying pace, Paul Shepherd
won with a score just half a lap faster than David’s. Scott Francis in his first
1/32 BOC was well in touch with Shep throughout, and finished a couple of laps behind.
The A final saw James Cleave, Gavin Wills, Dave Harvey and Martin Ellis take the top 4 spots overall.
1/32 BOC 2016 British Open Championship
|
Saloon |
|
|
|
F1 |
|
|
|
Sports |
|
1 |
James Cleave |
247.76 |
|
1 |
James Cleave |
246.17 |
|
1 |
Paul Shepherd |
282.78 |
2 |
Gavin Wills |
240.12 |
|
2 |
Paul Shepherd |
242.96 |
|
2 |
Gavin Wills |
278.97 |
3 |
Dave Harvey |
233.68 |
|
3 |
Gavin Wills |
235.07 |
|
3 |
James Cleave |
277.69 |
4 |
Martin Ellis |
230.71 |
|
4 |
Martin Ellis |
229.42 |
|
4 |
Dave Harvey |
263.80 |
5 |
Paul Shepherd |
226.96 |
|
5 |
Keith Gibson |
227.25 |
|
5 |
Steve Sargent |
260.25 |
6 |
David Sargent |
226.59 |
|
6 |
Steve Sargent |
221.90 |
|
6 |
Chris Aldridge |
252.09 |
7 |
Scott Francis |
224.09 |
|
7 |
Vince Lee |
221.56 |
|
7 |
Mike Read |
249.21 |
8 |
Chris Aldridge |
220.78 |
|
8 |
Greg Harwood |
212.30 |
|
8 |
David Sargent |
245.07 |
9 |
Greg Harwood |
219.20 |
|
9 |
Mark Witham |
211.95 |
|
9 |
Bob Budge |
243.74 |
10 |
Steve Sargent |
218.09 |
|
10 |
Mick Metcalfe |
210.79 |
|
10 |
Mick Metcalfe |
237.58 |
11 |
Bob Budge |
216.19 |
|
11 |
Bob Budge |
208.18 |
|
11 |
Phil Hemsley |
235.97 |
12 |
Mike Read |
210.36 |
|
12 |
Phil Hemsley |
207.25 |
|
12 |
Greg Harwood |
228.60 |
13 |
Mark Witham |
209.15 |
|
13 |
Mike Read |
204.31 |
|
13 |
Mark Witham |
228.01 |
14 |
Chris Frost |
206.09 |
|
14 |
Richard Mack |
203.70 |
|
14 |
Chris Frost |
223.22 |
15 |
Peter Donely |
205.44 |
|
15 |
Chris Frost |
191.79 |
|
15 |
Peter Donely |
222.22 |
16 |
Phil Hemsley |
204.89 |
|
16 |
Paul Jennings |
186.76 |
|
16 |
Harry Shepherd |
212.58 |
17 |
Mick Metcalfe |
199.74 |
|
17 |
David Sargent |
179.16 |
|
17 |
Paul Jennings |
200.59 |
18 |
Vince Lee |
195.75 |
|
18 |
Harry Shepherd |
173.60 |
|
18 |
Keith Gibson |
161.37 |
19 |
Richard Mack |
193.79 |
|
19 |
Peter Donely |
159.19 |
|
19 |
Scott Francis |
56 |
20 |
Paul Jennings |
187.59 |
|
20 |
Chris Aldridge |
67 |
|
20 |
Martin Ellis |
26 |
21 |
Harry Shepherd |
184.07 |
|
21 |
Scott Francis |
65 |
|
21 |
Vince Lee |
17 |
22 |
Keith Gibson |
59 |
|
22 |
Dave Harvey |
15 |
|
22 |
Richard Mack |
13 |
Best Presented Body
The winner was the F1 Toro Rosso by Gavin Wills.
Saloon A final cars and drivers
Steve Sargent, Chris Aldridge, Vince Lee, Martin Ellis, Gavin Wills, Dave Harvey, James Cleave
F1
F1 qualifying again saw James in top spot, this time with a 5.582 second lap followed by Gavin Wills on 5.651 and Steve Sargent on 5.698.
The C final again produced a very clear winner, this time Mark Witham set a score that would put him 9th overall. That put Mark top clubman driver for the second class in a row.
Keith Gibson won the B final to take 5th overall, with Greg Harwood also beating Mark’s score.
The A final saw James Cleave, Paul Shepherd, Gavin Wills, and Martin Ellis take the top 4 spots overall. Congratulations to James, that second win gives him a maximum championship score. Martin is now back in main grade, but a pair of 4th places looked more like a premier performance!
Curiously the winning F1 total averages about a quarter of a second slower the qualifying time, where as in saloon it was half a second off. Maybe F1 was less delayed by accidents?
Sports
Inevitably sports was the fastest class. Although not inevitable, it wasn’t a great shock see James complete the clean sweep of top spots, with a 4.522 second lap followed by Gavin Wills on 4.637 and Richard Mack on 4.779.
The C final again produced a clear winner this time it was Mick Metcalfe. This was Mick’s second top 10 finish of the day, and this time he finished ahead of Mark for top clubman.
Chris Aldridge won the B final with 6th overall and topped main grade. He was followed by Mike Read, David Sargent and Bob Budge.
The A final produced something a little different -
Thanks to K Slot and Won O Won for supporting the meeting.
Don’t forget round 2 of the 1/32 BOC at Blackpool in March.
Chris
The winning chassis from James Cleave -
Shep’s sorts winning chassis Gordon Dickson sports chassis
Copyright © 2016 British Slot Car Racing Association Photos copyright C.Frost All rights reserved