1/24 BOC  2014    British Open Championship

Round 1 MILLSTREAM RACEWAY FEBRUARY 15/16TH 2014

Raceway web site

The 2014 1/24 season kicked off at Millstream Raceway in Ringwood. Thanks to Dave Wright and everybody at Millstream , they made us very welcome, and it was a very well run meeting.

Racing started with saloon, the 1 min qualifying seeded the entry into 3 groups.   The C final was won by Murray Tucker with 274 laps.  Jack Taylor, Joe Morgans and Martin Ellis topped that in the B, Jack’s 294 laps set the target for the fastest qualifiers.    The season opened just as the last season closed, with a first time BOC winner.  Bob Henderson led most of the way to score 306 laps, James Cleave was second on 300, followed by Lee Parsons on 297.   Jack was 4th overall with his B final time.   The next A finalists were the two Daves in close company, Dave Wright under a lap ahead of Dave Harvey on 292 and 291.  Then came Joe, Martin and Murray with their times from earlier finals.

Well done Bob!

Bob Henderson                                                            Bob’s winning saloon car

Saloon winner

The Saloon A final

James, Bob, Dave Wright, Mick Davies ,  Franz, Lee and Dave Harvey

The Open Group 12  A final

James, Gavin, Lee, Richy, Joe and Dave

  Open Group 12

There was a larger entry for Sunday’s racing, so the Open Group 12 was split into 4 groups.

Coming into the A final, the leader was Dave Wright on 333, followed by Ian Barker on 327, Vince Lee on 326 and Simon Francis on 324.

James Cleave led the A final from the start, and  everybody was running fast enough to take the top 6 places.  As the race ran on, Gavin Wills took a clear second, while Richy Kettleson, Joe Morgans, Dave Harvey and Lee Parsons were in close company.  Just when we seemed to he heading for a clear 1-2, the leader’s car stated making strange noises.  James diagnosed the motor’s drive end ball race had come un soldered, and a  quick repair got him back in the race.  That left Gavin clear winner on 363, with Richy second (354), Mr Won O Won third (352) followed by Joe on 350 and Lee on 348 some 15 laps ahead of the earlier finals scores.  James recovered to 7th overall with 327.

Gavin’s OG12 winning chassis

Gavin Wills

Open Group 12 winner

EUROSPORT

Eurosport

For the fastest class the entry was split into 3 groups, the first two running 9 man rotations.

The first group was won by Murray Tucker on 363.  The middle group was won by Simon Francis on 380 followed by Ian Barker on 377 and Mike Read on 374 in what was not a trouble free race

As in the previous class, James Cleave and Gavin Wills established themselves in 1-2.   Unlike the previous class James had a trouble free run and won with 424 to Gavin’s 419. Dave Harvey was third some 22 laps in arrears with Lee Parsons 4th just a lap ahead of Simon’s B final time.    Bob Henderson was next up in the A, taking 8th overall with 370, leaving Murray 9th and Stan Alton completing the top 10 with 361.  The other A finalists surcomed to various car maladies.

Congratulations to Bob - first time BOC winner, and to joint championship leaders Gavin and James.

We now look forward to the next round at Pinewood in April

Chris

The Eurosport winning chassis

James Cleave    - Eurosports winner                        Dave Wright presents Dave Harvey                       Richy Kettleson, 2nd in OG12
                                                                                        with his two 3rd place trophies

Lee Parsons, 3rd in saloon

Copyright ©  2014 British Slot Car Racing Association  Photos copyright C.Frost   All rights reserved

The Eurosport A final

James, Gavin, Bob, Vince, Richy, Martin, Dave  and Lee with Simon marshaling