Race Report
The festive lights may still have been twinkling in the Barn but the racers of WHO
have sloughed off 2019’s season like an old skin and were fresh and raring for the
start of 2020’s racing, particularly the drivers clutching new Vipers of which I
counted at least six and there were probably more.
Simon had designed us a monster track with two monster straights, a double switchback
which caught every driver multiple times and a boot shape stadium section.
Twenty six drivers were on the grid. It was an absolute pleasure to see John, Alex
and Aiden returning and we welcomed Gary, Laurence and Waseem for their first races.
Alex was the first driver to catch the eye in the heats with a very fast but oh so
fragile car. Fortunately the Ferrigno pits wouldn’t have disgraced a full size race
team (I have pitbox envy!) and John was able to keep him on the road. Following him
Mike D, Oliver, Matthew, Keith and Andy were raising the bar ever higher with some
huge scores.
After the first round of heats it was Andy leading the way with a very tight group
of Jerome, Matthew and John behind him. Simon was top Tuner with what looked to
be a very quick Lifelike. Jerome was top Junior but Oliver had a quick car and was
hopeful of reeling him in.
The Player Power continued through the second batch of heats with 3 top scores, Jerome
grabbing the other as he cemented 2nd on the grid. Keith bumped Matthew back into
the B Final by just under a lap while John equalled Matthew’s score. The gaps remained
tight throughout the field with Deborah in 6th down to Peter in 10th separated by
just 2 laps.
Simon took Tuners pole position and Duncan would have to beat a pair of Vipers in
his final to have a chance of winning Tuners.
Finals
I Final - Jack stayed with us for the finals this time and took on his brother in
a duel. Max immediately crashed into Turn 1 and was a lap down by the end of 30
seconds. Both were clearly enjoying having their own brand new cars and exploring
their limits. Jack stretched his lead to 2 laps by the end of a minute and the gap
remained like that to the end, Max though took the fastest lap.
H Final - Waseem lead away from pole but with Oliver providing some expert driver
coaching, it was Dylan who was soon into the lead as he struggled to get on top of
his new Viper. Jack suffered a huge accident onto the back straight at the 30 second
mark with axle, body and chassis all making separate dives to the floor. Dylan and
Waseem continued to tussle at the front with Waseem being consistent and Dylan erratic
but fast. Into the final 30 seconds the junior finally eked out a 2 lap lead and
happily took his first win. Gary struggled to hang onto the top 2 but comfortably
beat Jack in 3rd place.
G Final - Simon R was another driver with a shiny new Viper and he led from pole
with some style. Dylan immediately lost his axle in a crash while Steve also fell
away meaning it was Ash in his Tuner chasing Simon. Steve and Dylan got back on
the pace during the race and the two of them clawed back Ash, all three of them were
neck and neck with 30 seconds to go and with 10 seconds to go it was heartbreak for
Ash as they both got past him but all three finished a long way back from Simon.
F Final - This was a cracker of a race. From lights out it was Mike M in blue battling
with Duncan in red, Simon in white and Laurence in yellow. Duncan was working miracles
with his Super G to remain neck and neck with Mike’s Viper but sadly it couldn’t
last and he crashed to the back of the field. It remained super close between all
four drivers but after a minute it was Laurence who had vaulted from 3rd to the lead
just ahead of Mike. Simon and Duncan were just a lap behind. Laurence held a slim
1.95 second lead with 30 seconds to go but the gap grew to 2 laps in the end to Mike
while behind him Simon managed to fend off Duncan by around half a lap.
E Final - Simon was confirmed Tuners winner by Duncan’s result in the F final and
bagged the 21 points before the E Final even got underway. And he was facing a very
stiff challenge indeed. Aiden has long had one of the most rapid but hardest to
control Vipers in the club and it shows how strong the field was that he was back
in the E Final. Perhaps a little race rusty too after a long absence. That rust
was quickly shaken off though as he zoomed to a lap lead in just 30 seconds while
Ryan, Laurence and Simon followed in that order and all on the same lap. Ryan’s
car had not performed properly in the heats but an arm change had him back to a very
respectable pace. He managed to get back on the lead lap after a minute as Simon’s
challenge ebbed away somewhat, Laurence continued to hang onto just a lap deficit.
90 seconds in and everyone was a lap apart which become two laps for Aiden’s lead
as he completed a flawless run. Ryan did very well to only have the one crash while
Laurence can be hugely satisfied with top Rookie honours.
D Final - To truly understand just how competitive this Modified field is right now,
you just had to look at the D Final. Mike D, Alex F and Peter with the stepping up
Aiden. Mike had made some changes to his car after the heats and unlocked a lot
of pace. He was immediately embroiled in a battle with Aiden who was looking for
a double step up. These two had stretched their lead over Alex and Peter to a little
under 2 laps in just 30 seconds. Aiden crashed in the final corner at the minute
mark but quickly overtook Mike to regain the lead. Alex wasn’t out of the picture
either as he was lapping at the fastest pace of anyone in the race. With 10 seconds
to go Aiden was leading Mike by less than a second and before the power had cut,
Mike was through and snuck the win! Alex had closed to under a lap behind Aiden
too putting him just 0.9 off of the win to boot. Peter had no answer for these three
and trailed home 3 laps down.
C Final - Mike stepped up into yellow lane and immediately got in between Gareth
and Oliver who had been enjoying a private duel all evening through the heats and
now the final as well with Terry bringing up the rear. A crash for Mike let Oliver
back into 2nd before all the cars crashed at Turn 2. Then the race turned weird.
Gareth crashed 3 times in rapid succession on his own to drop to the back and then
hit a marshal which dislodged the body and sent him into retirement. Terry meanwhile
had lost his axle and the lengthy repairs cost him over half the race and he was
able to manage just one more lap at the end, good enough to get past Gareth though.
Oliver’s body was loose and going through the Boot he somehow tripped over his own
bodyshell and crashed. All of this mayhem meant Mike was able to win by 2 laps
from Oliver in what was the lowest scoring final since the F.
B Final - Matthew had seemed to be nailed on for the A Final throughout the heats
but Keith had narrowly sent him back to pole on the B final. But it was Mike who
led them away from Matthew, Deborah and John. Mike crashed which sent Deborah to
the front which she held for the first half of the race but the gap to Matthew was
just 0.3 seconds. It was super close throughout the field with less than a lap separating
the 4 cars. 30 seconds later, Matthew had overtaken and opened up a 1 lap gap to
Deborah. Then Mike had a big car issue with just seconds to go and his race appeared
to be run. John was lapping 1/10th of a second quicker per lap than Deborah but
neither had an answer for Matthew who finished on exactly 25 laps and with the fastest
lap of the evening so far.
A Final - The intensity went up a notch for the A final. Andy led them away from
pole and it was Jerome who blinked and crashed in Turn 2. That meant that Matthew
was up to 2nd place but already 2 seconds down on Andy in just 10 seconds of racing.
30 seconds in and Keith was very close behind Matthew while Andy continued to pace
himself out front and had opened up a 1 lap lead over the rest of the field after
a minute. Keith got past Matthew into 2nd as it continued to be a super tight race
for 2nd between all the drivers not called Andy. Then Keith crashed into Turn 2
and his axle popped. Jerome was now banging in the fast laps and matched Matthew’s
B Final fastest lap time to share the accolade. He swept into 3rd and then 2nd
place in the final 20 seconds. It took the power being cut to separate Matthew and
Jerome though as the gap was a scant 25 parts of a lap come the end of the race.
None of them though could do anything about Andy. A monster 26.2 laps saw him complete
a remarkable hat trick of January Modified wins. Get to your local bookmakers now
for the odds on him winning January Mod next year!
So congratulations to our winner Andy, Junior winner Jerome, Tuners winner Simon
and Rookie Laurence. Thanks to the set up and break down crews and our race control
team of Ash and Ryan.
Finally, just a quick note to say that I am now bringing an additional box to races.
If you have a body repair or other work you need me to get done for you, bag up
and label your car with what you want doing and pop it in there. I’ll have it back
to you for the next race. I don’t charge but I do ask that you cover the cost of
any parts required.
- Gareth W
The championship tables are on the 2020 season page
