Round 5 1/2 October-
Meeting Sponsors SCD, Betta & Classic , and Big Al
The BOC circus returned to the new premises at Pontefract for the first time since the Covid pandemic with the biggest entry the club has seen for a few years. 15 drivers came to race with a number of drivers making their first visit to the track and some making their first appearances in the BOC. There were 10 or so drivers there on the Saturday with another 4 of 5 turning up on the Sunday.
Pontefract BOC regulars, James Cleave, Ant Hawkes, Martin Ellis Keith Gibson, Graham Woodward, Steve Sargent and Pete Clarkson made a welcome return. Josh Bryant, Mick Metcalfe and Steve Kearey returned for their second BOC at the track with Will Stemman and Ian Howard making their first visit to the track (If I’ve got that wrong guysI apologise!). BOC first timers at Pontefract were David Ensor, Nick Cunningham and Chris Anderson, with this being Chris’s first ever BOC. These 3 drivers also elected to run Genesis intro cars in Saloon and Sports and F2 cars in Formula 1.
SALOON
Saloon was first up and due to the larger entry, it was decided to run 1 minute qualifying for all drives and then sort into finals based on their qualy runs.
Ant was the first runner and set the early pace with 6.118 seconds. This remained fastest until James stepped up and did a 5.214. Josh, Keith Martin and Will all managed to get into the 5 second bracket, but none of them could beat James’ time. Some drivers seemed to be struggling with pick up, but managed to sort things out for the heats. Of the Intro runners, David Ensor was quickest from Nick Cunningham and Chris Anderson.
D Final
Ian Howard drove a consistent race to stay ahead of Nick Cunningham and Chris Anderson. Ian winning by 6 laps from Nick who was 3 laps ahead of Chris.
C Final
Woody won the C final with a time that saw him beat all but one in the B final. He finished up 4 laps ahead of Mick who was a further 6 laps down on Mick. Pete had a torrid time throughout most of the race and was 9 laps behind David at the end. David’s time won the prize for Intro runners.
B Final
Keith won the B final comfortably from Steve Kearey with Steve Sargent finishing 3rd. Ant had a number of problems and never really got a run that reflected his pace finishing 4th in the final and 14th overall.
A Final
The A finalists proved why they had qualified so high by finishing in the first 4 places overall. James ran out the winner, 4 laps clear of Martin who was just 16 feet ahed of will after a close battle that lasted the whole race. Josh was 4th 6 laps down on Will.
1/32 BOC 2022 British Open Championship
Formula 1
Nick was the first into the 7.1 range with 7.194. David the went to the head of the Formula 2 runners with 7.172. The next few runners were in the 6 second bracket until Steve Sargent did a 5.991. The next few runs were back into the 6s until Martin, Josh and Will went to the front, all going faster than Steve. Last of all World Champion James Cleave stepped up top take pole with 5.387.
D Final
Ian took the win by 5 laps from Nick who was 3 laps up on Chris. This meant that Nick was the F2 leader at thi stage.
C Final
Keith went into the lead at the start and never relinquished it. Pete and Mick were battling it out for second for the first 2 sements until Pete ran into trouble in the 3rd, this allowed David to catch him by the end of segment 3. In the final segment, David overhauled Pete to take 3rd and in the process won the F2 prize. Keith’s winning time was enough to place him 5th overall.
B Final
Steve Kearey hit gear trouble in the warm up and had to replace his main gear. There must have been another issue as his new gear lasted only 6 laps. Woody grabbed the lead in segment 1 and extended his lead throughout the rest of the race eventually claiming 4th overall.. Ant finished second, 6 laps behind Woody and Steve Sargent was another 3 laps behind Ant.
A Final
Will led after segment 1 from James Martin and Josh who seemed to be having problems. James cut into Will’s lead in segment 2 with Martin extending his lead over Josh. Segment 3 saw Will and Josh maintain station and Martin put another 2 laps onto his lead over Josh. We were all set for a last segment showdown with Will 1 lap ahead and about to start his run on red lane with James on Blue. James quickly overhauled Will in the final segment and then just stayed ahead of him running out as winner by 74 feet. Martin was 3rd, 17 laps behind with Josh a further 9 laps down, dropping him to 6th overall.
Sports/GT
Steve Kearey set the early pace with 5.051which remained unbeaten until Mick managed a 4.896. After this the times started to tumble in earnest with Josh, Keith, Graham and Martin all joining the sub 5 second club. Martin practiced a brushless car, but elected to use a conventional motor. Will them set a blistering 4.396 to claim pole and James was only .031 behind him with a 4.427. It looked like the finals were going to be close and exciting.
D Final
Not surprisingly, all the runners in this final were using Intro kit, but the final was really close with about 1 ½ laps separating 1st to 3rd. Chris drove beautifully after being 2 laps down at the end of the 1st segement, drawing level by the end of segment 3 and then pulling away to with by 81 feet from David. Nick was less than a lap down on David in 3rd. This was Chris’ 1st BOC and his first class win.
C Final
Steve Sargent was flying right from the start and won by 12 laps from Ian and Ant. Steve’s winning time got him into 3rd overall. Ant and Ian ahd a great battle in 2nd and 3rd with Ian hauling back a 3 lap deficit in segment 2 to finish 33 feet ahead of Ant. Pete’s car swallowed it’s body in segment 1 and he never really recovered.
B Final
Keith and Steve K. set the early pace until Mick caught and passed them both to win in the final segment.Mick’s winning margin was just 78 feet after a great drive. Steve K was 2nd, Woody was 3rd after Keith ran into problems in the final segment.
A Final
Jame and Will were in a class of their own on the first segment with 37 and 36 laps respectively. Will hit problems in segments 2, 3 and 4 with only Josh able to maintain pace with James. In segment 3, James beat the minimum lap time that had been set for the race so simply concentrated on getting the win. Josh was 2nd 9 laps down with Martin coming in 3rd 30 laps dow. Which dropped him to 9th Overall. Will was 4th, but his problems saw him drop down the order to 11th.
All in all, it was a great day’s racing and was good humoured throughout. There were trophies and prizes for the podium places and class winners and everyone got a set of wheel stickersas a receipt for their entry fees (I was too lazy to write receipts out!). I’d like to thank all the club members who assisted in running the meeting over the 2 days and last but by no means least, I’d like to thanks our sponsors, SCD, Betta & Classis and Big Al who generously supplied the goodies.
See you at the next BOC at Pontefract.
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