Race Report
We held our first WHO oval race on the eve of the 2010 General Election - the race
was won from blue lane and a lad called Cameron won the junior medal. Five years
on, would another night of turning left successfully predict the outcome of the 2015
election?
It was a windy old night in West Sussex, but we gave a warm WHO welcome to twenty
four racers - including a debut for Neal and first club championship appearances
for Andrew, Ben and Nathaniel.
The track was probably the fastest and smoothest oval ever at the Barn. The straights
were a smidgen over twenty feet long - so not as long as we've had - but the turns
were fast. At the kitchen end we had the on-loan Brad Track routed turns, the tighter
of the two at turn one opening out in turn two. At the church end, there were eighteen-inch
Tomy turns on the outside and fifteen-inch turns on the inside - all with a little
Dadson-designed foam banking.
The speed of the track was apparent from the start of practice through into the heats
- the fastest cars were lapping a few hundredths over three seconds. Of course, a
big score depended on avoiding carnage on the track and ensuring a clean run. Not
many would achieve that in one heat, let alone the three that would count.
As the heat results were dusted down and cars straightened-out for the finals, it
was John who'd grabbed pole with two of the three 39-plus scores seen in the heats,
leap-frogging Mike and Andy - the other two automatic A-final qualifiers.
Stephen was the top junior qualifier in fourth place overall, with Ned just behind
in fifth. Our top Life Like runner was Duncan back in eighth and Neil had the top
Mega-G, qualifying in eleventh.
Finals
The H final saw a pumped-up Corey monster a great 26 laps in red lane. His Mega-G
blew away Hayley and Ben. That straight-forward win for Corey was followed by a feat
of six incredibly close and exciting races - mostly in the centre red and blue lanes.
Bob and Deborah served us up an appetizer with a great tussle over the two minutes
in the G final. As the final seconds ran down, Bob was leading by less than the length
of a straight. Right at the death, his M&Ms Life Like deslotted coming out of turn
three. Deborah just had to stay on the track to take the win, but she binned her
new Aspen Dental #10 car going in to the same corner. Behind them Corey beat Nathaniel
to third, but it was first blood to red...
The F final delivered us an even closer final. Aaron lead Richard through the start-finish
line for what would be the final time. As the chequered flag fell and the power was
cut, the youngsters Ford Super-G stopped dead and Richard's UPS Life Like rolled
past - finishing about six inches in front. Another win for red, by the smallest
margins. Behind the top two, Andrew finished-off an excellent performance with the
club cars by beating Bob to third.
We had a race of two halves in an all-Life Like E final. A great scrap between Ash
and Paul was punctuated by a four-car pile-up on 60 seconds. As the cars got going
again, battle was commenced. It was a scrappy but enthralling second minute, the
lead changing hands and ebbing and flowing. In the end Paul - in red lane - just
hung on when it mattered, beating Ash by less than a quarter of a lap. Neal, having
finally swapped his Nikon for a Parma, rounded off a great debut by beating Richard
for third.
Up in the D final, Neil took an early lead and looked to be controlling the race
from Alan in yellow and a fast-recovering Mike McCann in red. Carnage struck with
barely fifteen seconds to go. Neil ended up on the floor, Alan came off, but Mike
drove through and took the win. The unlucky Neil dropped to third, comfortably ahead
of Paul.
The C final saw Duncan recover from an early crash to stay on the same lap as Tony,
until two crashes in two corners with ten seconds to go wiped out his challenge.
Keith was close behind in third, ahead of Mike. That result made it six wins out
of six from red lane.
Simon bucked that trend in the B final, but it needed a re-start. The first start
saw complete carnage - perhaps the battle for the junior medal and for the final
spot in the A final produced just a little too much adrenaline. With car after car
ending on the floor it was inevitable that tables would get knocked and a track break
stopped the action. The re-run was much cleaner and Ned, Stephen and Simon ran neck-and-neck
for the first half of the race. Crashes for the juniors then put Simon into a small
lead in yellow lane. The youngsters fought back, but a late trip to the floor for
Ned gifted the junior medal to Stephen.
Simon stepped up into the same yellow lane in the A final - would three and a bit
minutes of racing in the B final give him an advantage? After an early off each for
Mike D and Andy, Simon found himself in second behind John. Mike quickly closed the
gap and all four lapped relentlessly without error for the rest of the first minute.
Just as Mike caught and passed John for the lead, he crashed.
Mike's attempts to get back in contention proved disastrous - crash after crash left
him well adrift in fourth. John was imperious out in front, but Andy was slowly reeling
in Simon. He made the pass with less than ten seconds to go, but then disaster struck
as he hit Mike's car, sitting stranded on the start-finish straight, and ended up
on the floor. Simon just needed to round the final bend and he'd snatch back the
runner-up spot - but he binned the car in turn four and it sat tantalisingly on its
roof as the chequered flag fell.
Congratulations to John on a magnificent win - he just got faster and faster as the
night went on. His 41 laps in the A final was the only forty-plus score of the evening.
It was also John's twentieth WHO A final win.
It was a good couple of days for Stephen - his sixteenth birthday on Tuesday and
his seventh WHO junior medal on Wednesday. Well done also to Alan who was top rookie
on the night.
Lastly, back to the WHO oval election prediction. We had a landslide for red lane
tonight - so that means Milliband in number ten on Friday, doesn't it?
- Andy P
