Race Report
The Nascar class at WHO has become a real favourite, with some great-looking cars
and the excitement and demands of oval racing. Getting Nascar fanatic Keith on board
to help organise the championship has vastly improved the variety and realism of
the ovals.
This time out we went short-track racing - the bread and butter of the North American
stock car scene. The twenty-six foot oval with nine foot straights looked tiny in
the middle of the Barn, but it really packed a punch. Get it right, and a few drivers
managed to lap in one and a half seconds. Get it wrong, and an off would cost a couple
of laps - even if the marshals were lightning quick...
Twenty-two racers took up the challenge, including an HO debut for three-time WHO/digital
medal-winner Jonathon. Before the racing, there was the business of presenting certificates
to the 2016 WHO top dogs - the first three in all the 2016 championship and all the
junior champion winners. Our printers had certainly been busy. Well done to all the
recipients.
We also had time to look over the new AFX Endurance Champions set, fresh from Sussex
Model Centre in Worthing, plus a couple of Auto World Indy Cars, now stocked by Slot
Cars Direct in Derby. Then it was back to the racing...
The heats were quick and sometimes chaotically scrappy. The big run-off areas did
help the marshals and so wreckage-free clean runs were more common than anticipated
with the short track length. There was a big difference between each lane, with breaking
points and therefore the rhythm subtly different. Most people found the inside yellow
lane just a little too tight, but then Mike D threw down a 71 lap score, the second
highest of the night in any lane and one of only three scores over seventy laps.
At the half way stage, it was no surprise that Mike D was top of the pile, followed
by John, Andy Player and Keith. Aaron had put in a couple of cracking opening heats
and was comfortably top junior. Not much changed at the top after the second pair
of heats, however in the battle for the junior medal, Ned recovered well to beat
Aaron's aggregate heat score by half a lap.
Finals
After winning the WHO Mod race last time out, Corey found himself dead last and in
the G final with Jonathon, Aiden and Deborah. All had struggled in the heats but
they now had the opportunity to put things right. Corey crashed at the first corner
and that summed up his night with the Mega-G. It was Deborah and Jonathon who lead
the way, lapping closely and consistently. Aiden dropped back with too many offs,
and then Deborah did the same, leaving Jonathon to pull out a decent gap. Try all
she could, Deborah could not make up the ground and it was Jonathon who took a confident
and mature win.
Up in the F final, it was a case of déjà vu, as a close battle between red and white
lanes ensued. This time is was Mike McCann in the outer white lane and Rick in red.
It was good to see Rick's quick Mega-G+ on an oval for the first time and he worked
hard to keep up with Mike's Super-G+. However, it was Mike who kept it clean and
pulled out a gap over Rick by the end. Behind them, Hayley's short-wheelbase (non-Gen6)
Mega-G+ beat Jonathon to third.
There was a nice variety of cars in the E final - Alex's Life Like, Neil's Mega-G,
Mike McCann's Super-G+ and Ash with the blue Mega-G+ club car. This was another very
tight battle that had an epic finish. The start was pretty good too, as all four
drivers lapped within inches of each other. Alex was the first to fall in the inside
yellow lane. Neil led the way in white, followed by Ash in blue and Mike in red.
There were crashes for all and it was Ash who held the lead going into the second
minute. Then we all watched, transfixed as Neil slowly ate into Ash's modest advantage
- and not many noticed that Mike was gaining on both of them.
As the clock ran down, Neil just eased into the lead, only for Ash to pass back again.
Out of the blue, an off in Turn Four ended Neil's chances. Ash crossed the line the
winner, with Neil a lap and a half back and just half a lap ahead of Mike. Alex's
score in yellow was a good one, but only enough for fourth.
After all that excitement, the D final looked a straightforward win for Aaron to
give him a shot against Ned to win the junior medal. His Super-G+ was quick and he
was driving well and he left Andy Phillips, Jamie and Ash in his tyre tracks. By
halfway he was nine laps up and he had stretched that to over ten laps when he had
an innocuous off in Turn Two. The body popped off but that was no problem with such
a lead. However it was more complicated, with the body clip askew and the three pieces
- clip, chassis and body - refusing to fit back together.
Aaron's lead swiftly evaporated as the marshals struggled with the car. By the time
he was back on track, both Ash and Andy had slipped past and there was no time to
catch them. That was massive bad luck on a day when Aaron has really found some potential
medal-winning form. Everyone was gutted for Aaron, but Ash - rather apologetically
- took an excellent win in yellow lane for a second step-up.
It was back to some extremely close racing in the C final. This time Ash couldn't
stay with the other three, who were lapping very quickly and reasonably error-free.
The race settled down to Ned's Super-G+ and Tony's Mega-G+ lapping within inches
of each other and Simon just sitting back a little and waiting. It was mesmeric stuff
and incredible that they could keep it up for almost the full two minutes.
With not long to go, Ned and Tony came together, were marshalled beautifully and
were back at it, with a hopeful Simon just a little bit closer. Perhaps Ned got back
into his rhythm quicker or suddenly found a little more pace. Either way, he finished
almost the length of the back straight ahead of Tony - a massive lead of eight feet
in a race where the lead had rarely been more than eight inches. A cracking two minutes
of short-track oval action.
The B final was another enthralling race. Stephen headed off into an early lead,
with his Super-G+ holding a two lap advantage after thirty seconds of racing over
Keith's Mega-G+ and Duncan's Life Like. Keith fought back to within inches of Stephen's
car, before an off dropped him behind Duncan. That's how close it was. Behind them,
Ned was struggling in yellow lane. As the race reached halfway, Stephen had re-established
his two lap lead over the chasing duo, Duncan one second ahead of Keith.
With half a minute to go, the gap was the same, but now Keith was leading the challenge.
The pressure was getting to everyone, Stephen pulling out a couple more laps before
he had a late off in Turn One, which could have proved very costly. The marshals
did their job and Stephen held his nerve, giving him a well-deserved win and the
much-prized step-up to the A final.
Stephen moved up to yellow lane in the A final, with pole-sitter Mike D in blue,
John in red and Andy's lone Mega-G+ in white. It was another rapid start and some
breath-taking formation flying - until Stephen crashed and Mike and John's Super-Gs
gradually pulled out a gap on Andy. Then it all got a bit crashy for a while, giving
the lead briefly to Andy, John taking over when Andy crashed, followed by more offs
for Mike, one taking out John. At halfway, it was Andy who had a small lead of about
a lap, ahead of a fast-charging Mike.
All his errors had got to Mike. Past experience suggested he would either get his
act together or fall apart. Andy was hoping for the latter, but the club champion
was on a charge that would be fast and error-free to the chequered flag. In that
form, Mike is unstoppable. Behind, John still thought he had a chance and closed
right up on Andy. That battle got scrappy, John taking out Andy's car in Turn Three.
That was almost enough to get back on terms, but the gap was a lap and a half at
the flag. Ahead, Mike's six lap winning margin showed what a stunning second half
of the race he put together.
Huge congratulations to Mike on his win - and to Ned for winning another junior medal,
Alex as top under-11, Jonathon as top rookie and Andy Player for his Gen6 Cup win.
A big thanks to everyone who came along, raced so hard and made it a very enjoyable
night on the short-track oval. Special thanks goes to Stephen for running race control
so well and to everyone who came early to set up and stayed late to pack away.
The ovals will get bigger this season, but I think the short-track definitely gets
the thumbs-up for a return in 2018.
- Andy P
