Pontefract 17 April
Pontefract once again hosted the opening round of this year’s BSL series with 22 drivers attending from as far away as Highland Slot Car Club in the north of Scotland.
1/32nd Production
Heats
After a few hiccups with cars being over height and or width, the first round of heats opened with Matthew Siddall setting the early pace on 26.34. Graham Burke was hot on his heels with 26.30 and these 2 held the top spots until heat 4 when Geoff Snaith and Chris Morton took top spots with 27.30 and 27.29 respectively. Geoff and Chris also race together in the team event, so this level of pace and consistency acted as a warning shot for the forthcoming team event. They occupied first and second until heat 6 when they were overhauled by Steve Sargent, Martin Ellis and Paul Shepherd on 27.81, 28.35 and 29.38 respectively.
Most people managed to go a little faster in the second round of heats (not me though!), with Steve Siddall joining the 28 club with 28.08 on yellow. Shep extended his lead with a 29.53 on red with Martin keeping the pressure on with 28.48 on green.
The third round didn’t see that many people improve on their second round times but Geoff Snaith added a couple of feet to his best time and both Shep and Martin improved with 29.86 and 29.28.
F Final
Mike Ogden took the win in the F final with 40 laps from Pete Donely on 39 and Harry Shepherd on 35.
E Final
Norman Fawcett won the E final with 42 laps from local driver Ryan Dransfield on 40 and Paul WEvans on 36 laps.
D Final
The D final was taken by local driver Paul Bucknell on 42 laps, 2 laps ahead of Paul Jennings who led Sandy Wedderburn by 3 laps and Chas Keeling a further 5 laps down.
C Final
Richard Wallace and Graham Burke slugged it out in the C final with Richard getting the verdict with 43.95 by about half a lap from Graham in second, Pete Clarkson was a further lap down on 41 laps and David Sargent on 40 laps in 4th.
B Final
Geoff Snaith took the A final on 45 laps with Matthew Siddall in second on 44.91. Chris Morton was 3rd on 44.85 and Glenn Atterton 4th on 39 laps. Geoff was also the winning Falcon driver.
A Final
Shep dominated the heats, but it was Martin who won the final on 49 laps with Shep on 48, Steve Sargent 3rd and Steve Siddall 4th
Results:
Driver Final Laps Position
Martin Ellis A 49.00 1
Paul Shepherd A 48.00 2
Steve Sargent A 43.00 3
Steve Siddall A 42.00 4
Geoff Snaith B 45.00 5
Matthew Siddall B 44.91 6
Chris Morton B 44.85 7
Glenn Atterton B 39.00 8
Richard Wallace C 43.95 9
Graham Burke C 43.38 10
Pete Clarkson C 41.00 11
David Sargent C 40.00 12
Paul Bucknell D 42.00 13
Paul Jennings D 40.00 14
Sandy Wedderburn D 37.00 15
Chas Keeling D 32.00 16
Norman Fawcett E 42.00 17
Ryan Dransfield E 40.00 18
Paul Evans E 36.00 19
Mike Ogden F 40.00 20
Pete Donely F 39.00 21
Harry Shepherd F 35.00 22
Team Race
11 teams meant we opted to run 10 minute segments for the team race.
After the first round, Woteva (Geoff Snaith and Chris Morton) led the way with 97.60 from Fylde 1 (Steve Sargent and Paul Evans) on 97.04, Young Guns (Martin Ellis and Paul Jennings) on 96.80, BST (David Sargent and Pete Donely) on 95.90, Team 131 (Pete Clarkson and Norman Fawcett) 94.97, Big Al Stickers (Paul Bucknell and Graham Burke) on 90.92, SCD (Chas Keeling and Ryan Dransfield) on 88.73, TSCC (Glenn Atterton and Mike Ogden) on 87.51, the oddly named We Hate Burnley (Steve and Matthew Siddall) on 86.98 and team Shep (Paul and Harry Shepherd) on 81.
In the second round of runs, Young Guns set a searing pace to grab the lead with a run of 103 laps. Fylde 1 held onto second from Team 131 and Big Al Stickers who put in a run just under 100 laps. Woteva dropped to 5th, less than a lap don on Big Al and BST were 6th, R&M were 7th, We Hate Burnley 8th, SCD 9th, TSCC 10th and Team Shep 11th.
Young Guns pulled away in run 3 with Woteva settling into 2nd place 12 laps down from Fylde 1 in 3rd who were being caught by Big Al in 4th, Team 131, R&M Racing, We Hate Burnley, SCD, BST, TSCC and Team Shep.
In the final segment, Young Guns slowed slightly to finish on 390.24 but kept ahead of Woteva on 381.17 a hard charging Big Al Stickers on 379.57, Team 131 were next on 372.39, R&M Racing on 367.13, We Hate Burnley on 363.73, SCD on 347.85, BST on 340.79 TSCC just behind them on 340.02 and Team Shep on 307.27 after Harry suffered with controller problems.
Team Drivers Run 1 Run 2 Total 2 Run 3 Total 3 Run 4 Total
Young Guns Martin Ellis, Paul Jennings 96.8 103.07 199.87 99.7 299.57 90.67 390.24
Woteva Geoff Snaith , Chris Morton 97.6 92.05 189.65 97.51 287.16 94.01 381.17
Big Al Stickers Paul Bucknell, Graham Burke 90.92 99.83 190.75 90.96 281.71 97.86 379.57
Team 131 Norman Fawcett, Pete Clarkson 94.97 97.9 192.87 86.82 279.69 92.96 372.65
Fylde 1 Steve Sargent, Paul Evans 97.04 99.31 196.35 86.74 283.09 89.3 372.39
R&M Racing Richard Wallace, Sandy Wedderburn 95.44 81.36 176.8 95.3 272.1 95.03 367.13
We hate Burnley Steve Siddall, Matthew Siddall 86.98 87.3 174.28 93.53 267.81 95.92 363.73
SCD Chas Keeling, Ryan Dransfield 88.73 83.345 172.075 91.42 263.495 84.36 347.855
BST David Sargent, Pete Donely 95.9 87.05 182.95 73 255.95 84.84 340.79
TSCC Glenn Atterton, Mike Ogden 87.51 81.03 168.54 85.07 253.61 86.41 340.02
Team Shep Paul Shepherd, Harry Shepherd 81 79.04 160.04 89.57 249.61 57.66 307.27
It was an excellent days racing throughout and we look forward to the rest of this years series and hosting a round next year.
Paul Bucknell
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BSL 2016 British Slotracing League