FYLDE OPEN  sponsored by Betta & KSlotcar
 Round 1 of the 1/32nd Scale British Open Championship 29/30 January 2022




After a 2 year lay-off it was very uncertain how well attended a BOC meeting was going to be. So it was very pleasing to see it returned at the level we saw in 2020 with 17 racers participating at the 2022 Fylde BOC. It was also good to see a wide spectrum of race abilities & kit represented with 2 racers opting to run the restricted performance cars.


There certainly seemed to be an upbeat feel that racing was properly back this year with a great spirit prevailing throughout the weekend. Racers also complied very well to the covid precautions which helped to provide a safe environment to race.


We managed to run the ‘traditional’ qualifying of 2 x 3 min heats in Saloon to help drivers to dial into racing before contesting  4 x 3 min Finals.  F1 & Sports were run with one 3 min practice session for all racers between classes  followed by 1 min qualy & the same length of finals. At this entry volume it seems about the most can be achieved with a respectable finish time which is important to some racers participating.  


The meeting marked the return after a 4 year absence to James Cleave planning to contest the series title. Will Stemman had put in some very fast practice laps in saloon but come qualifying James just managed to take top spot by 5 feet. He then proceeded to win the class by 4 laps with Will 2nd & Martin Ellis just behind him in 3rd. Ant Hawkes headed the Main Grade Runners with Sam Smith putting in a very solid run to finish 9th just feet ahead of Dad Andy. David Ensor won the Restricted battle less than a lap ahead of Nick Cunningham.  


Fi qualy was an equally close affair with James shading it by 0.04 from Will, both with very impressive scores in the 4.5’s. Will lost 3 laps to James in the 1st segment of the Finals

Leaving Josh Bryant to take up the challenge. Josh was only a lap down after 3 segments but a slower last segment by him meant James won by 4 laps. Ant again headed the Main Grade runners in 6th. Ian Fitzpatrick, racing in his 1st BOC for some time was progressing up the order with each class to finish 8th just ahead of Sam who just pipped his dad again! David Ensor took honours again in Restricted.


James had looked very impressive in Sports practice & duly Tq’d ahead of Greg Harwood  Will & Josh who were all very close. An accident by James early in the race meant he was 6 laps down on leader Greg after 1 segment. Greg retained a 1 lap lead on Josh for 2 segments but at ¾ stage they were on the same lap & in the last segment Josh pushed on to take the win by over a lap. Meanwhile James just managed to overhaul Will for 3rd. Without Martin running in Sports Ant managed 5th to again take main grade honours with Ian Fitz getting better again in 6th. Andy manged to beat Sam in this one while Nick beat David for Restricted honours. Also on the up was Ian Howard who took 10th.


A very big thank you to all the racers who supported the meeting. I hope you all enjoyed the day & will be back for more at the other rounds.


Finally a big thank you to Ian Fitzpatrick from Betta & Keith Gibson from KSlotcar for their sponsorship with prizes which is greatly appreciated.


Steve Sargent








Copyright ©  2022  British Slot Car Racing Association  All rights reserved

After a 2 year lay-off it was very uncertain how well attended a BOC meeting was going to be. So it was very pleasing to see it returned at the level we saw in 2020 with 17 racers participating at the 2022 Fylde BOC. It was also good to see a wide spectrum of race abilities & kit represented with 2 racers opting to run the restricted performance cars.


There certainly seemed to be an upbeat feel that racing was properly back this year with a great spirit prevailing throughout the weekend. Racers also complied very well to the covid precautions which helped to provide a safe environment to race.


We managed to run the ‘traditional’ qualifying of 2 x 3 min heats in Saloon to help drivers to dial into racing before contesting  4 x 3 min Finals.  F1 & Sports were run with one 3 min practice session for all racers between classes  followed by 1 min qualy & the same length of finals. At this entry volume it seems about the most can be achieved with a respectable finish time which is important to some racers participating.  


The meeting marked the return after a 4 year absence to James Cleave planning to contest the series title. Will Stemman had put in some very fast practice laps in saloon but come qualifying James just managed to take top spot by 5 feet. He then proceeded to win the class by 4 laps with Will 2nd & Martin Ellis just behind him in 3rd. Ant Hawkes headed the Main Grade Runners with Sam Smith putting in a very solid run to finish 9th just feet ahead of Dad Andy. David Ensor won the Restricted battle less than a lap ahead of Nick Cunningham.  


Fi qualy was an equally close affair with James shading it by 0.04 from Will, both with very impressive scores in the 4.5’s. Will lost 3 laps to James in the 1st segment of the Finals

Leaving Josh Bryant to take up the challenge. Josh was only a lap down after 3 segments but a slower last segment by him meant James won by 4 laps. Ant again headed the Main Grade runners in 6th. Ian Fitzpatrick, racing in his 1st BOC for some time was progressing up the order with each class to finish 8th just ahead of Sam who just pipped his dad again! David Ensor took honours again in Restricted.


James had looked very impressive in Sports practice & duly Tq’d ahead of Greg Harwood  Will & Josh who were all very close. An accident by James early in the race meant he was 6 laps down on leader Greg after 1 segment. Greg retained a 1 lap lead on Josh for 2 segments but at ¾ stage they were on the same lap & in the last segment Josh pushed on to take the win by over a lap. Meanwhile James just managed to overhaul Will for 3rd. Without Martin running in Sports Ant managed 5th to again take main grade honours with Ian Fitz getting better again in 6th. Andy manged to beat Sam in this one while Nick beat David for Restricted honours. Also on the up was Ian Howard who took 10th.


A very big thank you to all the racers who supported the meeting. I hope you all enjoyed the day & will be back for more at the other rounds.


Finally a big thank you to Ian Fitzpatrick from Betta & Keith Gibson from KSlotcar for their sponsorship with prizes which is greatly appreciated.


Steve Sargent

Results

Saloon

Qual

Finals


F1

Qual

Finals


Sports

Qual

Finals

1

James Cleave

37.61

150.77


1

James Cleave

4.552

145.92


1

Josh Bryant

3.976

165.77

2

Will Stemman

37.66

146.8


2

Josh Bryant

4.704

141.66


2

Greg Harwood

3.949

164.1

3

Martin Ellis

36.67

146.17


3

Will Stemman

4.59

136.19


3

James Cleave

3.823

155.94

4

Josh Bryant

36.36

141.94


4

Martin Ellis

4.964

135.73


4

Will Stemman

3.962

154.27

5

Greg Harwood

36.63

140.09


5

Greg Harwood

4.841

133.72


5

Ant Hawkes

4.308

149.22

6

Graham Woodward

33.4

137.54


6

Ant Hawkes

5.076

133


6

Ian Fitzpatrick

4.373

144.52

7

Ant Hawkes

34.54

134.67


7

Graham Woodward

5.04

130.72


7

Graham Woodward

3.992

144.05

8

Mick Metcalfe

33.21

134.06


8

Ian Fitzpatrick

5.297

125.71


8

Andy Smith

4.417

143.53

9

Sam Smith

32.13

130.94


9

Sam Smith

5.154

125.16


9

Pat Skene

4.178

143.11

10

Andy Smith

32.09

130.67


10

Andy Smith

5.409

124.97


10

Ian Howard

4.805

138.46

11

Ian Fitzpatrick

33.5

126.22


11

Keith Gibson

5.187

123.81


11

Mick Metcalfe

4.274

137.86

12

Ian Howard

32.2

124.75


12

Mick Metcalfe

5.325

123.56


12

Sam Smith

4.659

136.63

13

Pat Skene

31.72

122.1


13

Ian Howard

5.891

112.8


13

Keith Gibson

4.587

135.17

14

Keith Gibson

26.77

120.11


14

David Ensor

6.097

110.13


14

Nick Cunningham

5.706

118.78

15

David Ensor

30.65

115.33


15

Colin Jackson

6.023

109.93


15

David Ensor

5.551

117.33

16

Nick Cunningham

27.44

114.36


16

Nick Cunningham

5.738

104.81


16

Colin Jackson

5.112

75

17

Colin Jackson

29.23

113.66


17

Pat Skene

5.047

48.76






James Cleave wins Saloon and F1

Josh Bryant wins sports

Main Grade winner Ant Hawkes

Ian Fitzpatrick -
2
nd in Main Grade

James Cleave’s winning saloon chassis

It has a S&K Group 12 armature

Thanks to Pete Clarkson for the photos of the presentations and to James Cleave for the photo of his chassis


Copyright ©  2022  British Slot Car Racing Association  Photos copyright P,Clarkson and J.Cleave    All rights reserved



1/32 BOC 2022   British Open Championship