The Won-O Won Sports/GT Championship

Monday’s racing was for the fastest class.

We started with best presented car, the winner was Gordon Dickson.  When the whole car is judged, those such as Gordon who make their own chassis have an advantage.

Inevitably sports qualifying produced the fastest laps of qualifying, what was a surprise was how close the top spots were.  Ross Grogan took his second TQ of the meeting with 4.734, followed by Ben Woodward on 4.744,  Gavin Wills 4.773, Chris Thomas 4.799. James Cleave was 7th, which gave him a desirable starting lane for the heats.  

Richard Mack was again top in main grade.

Nobody matched the 4.695 lap record Vince Lee set in 2015.

1/32   Nationals   2016

Main Grade Final

Pete Clarkson, Richard Mack, Ant Hawkes, David Sargent, Mick Metcalfe, Bob Budge, Mike Davies, Dave Stevenson

Main Grade Final

It was good to see two clubman grade rivers in the final - well done Dave Stevenson and Mick Metcalfe. Looks like they’ll promote themselves to main grade next season - look forward to seeing them both at Gaydon.

The final saw Richard Mack and David Sargent in the lead of half the segments each, but at the end of the segment that really matters ... Congratulations to Richard taking his second 2016 main grade title a lap ahead of David.  Mike Davies and Pete Clarkson were in a similarly close race for third and fourth in the first part of the races, but Mike had a quicker second half to take the final podium spot.  Dave got the better of the clubman battle finishing 5th overall just one lap up on Mick.

Full Results

© Copyright British Slot Car Racing Association 2016, photo copyright C.Frost 2016 All rights reserved

James Cleave and his winning car

Overall Final

Ross Grogan, Gavin Wills, Mark Harwood, Dave Harvey, Chris Thomas, Richy Kettleson. James Cleave,  Paul Harwood

Richard’s Main Grade winning car

Overall Final

Richy Kettleson was in the lead for the first 3 segments. In segment 4 Richy reached  red and at half distance  James Cleave and Gavin Wills had established a Rockingham 1-2 although there was only 2 laps covering the first 3. The second half of the race saw James extend his lead to win by 3 laps,  Gavin and Richy were pretty close at times, but it was Gavin who took second ahead of Richy.

The Harwood brothers were quite closely matched, with Paul having a slight advantage and taking 4th ahead of Mark.  Ross Grogan was ahead of one or both brothers a lot of the way, but a slow final segment gave him 6th.

Congratulations to James on winning all 3 classes, the first time that’s been achieved since 1993.

The heats

Greg Johnstone led much of the first heat, but was passed near the end by Graham Thomas.  Graham  had motor trouble in qualifying and missed the start while it was fixed.  Nick Thrower took the lead so far with 245 laps in the E heat.  That was surpassed in the D by David Sargent (255), Pete Clarkson (254) and Ian Barker (251).  The quickest C finalist were Mike Davies (253) and Bob Budge (250).  In the B heat Richy Kettleson took the lead so far on 258 followed by Harwood brothers with Paul on 257 and Greg on 255.  Six of the eight  A heat runner managed 260 + laps, James Cleave rising to the top on 274 ahead of Gavin Wills on 271 followed by Dave Harvey, Chris Thomas and Ross Grogan all on 262.