The Worthing HO Racing website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported License (except where otherwise noted) 2012-
Formula One -
Race Report
There were just seventeen racers on the grid for the end-
We had a number of championships up for grabs, although a couple were decided before
racing started. With Ned ill in bed and Hannah staying home in Hastings, the junior
F1 title was Ned's. And with Andrew also not making the trip to West Sussex, Andy
had his first WHO title -
Andy was in pole position for the Club Championship with current champ John having to win the race tonight to have any chance of retaining his crown for a fourth straight year.
Mike also needed to win the race to beat Clive to retain his F1 crown. There was a lot at stake and there were also other racers like Gareth and Dave who certainly had the cars and the ability to win the race...
We ran the same track as last December, but going round in the opposite direction. That made yellow a tricky lane, but the other three were all quite evenly matched.
On the track, there was close racing and some extremely close battles for the all important A final berths.
At half way, Mike was already five laps ahead of the pack, with Clive second, Andy third and Gareth fourth.
With just the last heat to run, Mike had pulled away even more and Gareth had jumped Andy by just a tenth of a lap. Then Dave put in two superb heats to put himself above Gareth. Third to fifth were separated by just four tenths of a lap!
Finals
In a very competitive set of heats, Ash had ended up bottom of the pile and on his
own in the E final. However, he was joined by Jon, Dave and Mike -
The D final saw an incredibly close battle between Jonah and Duncan, with youth just
about triumphing over experience. The gap at the end was less than a fifth of a lap
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We had another epic battle in the C final with Richard and Jon's duel lasting right
up to the chequered flag. Richard closed out another tight final win -
The only final without a battle for the win was the B final. Andy disappeared up
the road from the start and won by a comfortable couple of laps. With John failing
to make the A final, Andy had already won the 2013 WHO Club Championship -
That just left the A final and the battle for the 2013 Formula One title. Mike had
picked white lane -
Mike blasted off into a healthy early lead, but Clive hung on and went to the front after about 20 seconds when Mike came off the track. Shaken by his error, Mike seemed unable to close the gap to Clive and they stayed about two thirds of a lap apart for what seemed like ages.
Then both crashed in quick succession with just over 30 seconds to go, leaving Mike just under a lap behind.
Whether it was Clive becoming cautious after his off, or Mike throwing caution to the wind, the gap suddenly started coming down in large chunks. Lapping in just over three and a half seconds, Mike was taking several tenths every lap and with ten seconds to go was within striking distance of his rival. It was all or nothing for the race win and the title...
But it ended up to be nothing for Mike. Two offs in the closing seconds undid all
the great work of the previous half a minute. Clive had held his nerve under enormous
pressure and won an incredibly exciting season-
With three wins in three trips to the Barn, Clive rightfully follows Dave, John and
Mike as WHO F1 champion -
Another great end to a WHO season was rounded off with the presentation of the F1,
Club and rookie trophies. Our main prize-
Until then, have a great Christmas and I hope Santa is generous with his slot car gifts.
The 2014 WHO season starts at the Barn on Wednesday 8 January.
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Heats
Finals
Race Results