tommyd Posted March 17, 2014 Report Posted March 17, 2014 Congratulations to the Winners at this rough and ready track for some top quality racing all night long Results: Heat 1: 276 112 73 981 238 246 180 244 641 52 474 221 356 Heat 2: 262 848 488 39 691 329 8 394 380 236 599 21 167 Heat 3: 73 8 112 180 488 39 276 244 246 394 641 691 21 474 Heat 4: 236 52 238 356 342 380 329 262 981 167 221 848 285 599 Consi 1: 394 641 167 285 21 599 474 221 A-Final: 981 73 52 112 236 238 342 329 246 380 39 8 641 276 167 262 848 488 356 394 180 691 285 244 GN 1: 73 180 276 238 236 52 380 167 394 262 21 342 285 GN 2: 8 39 848 112 691 488 356 246 641 221 599 981 Points: 46 pts 73 teamtickle 38 pts 112 Tom D 31 pts 52 HHUNTER 31 pts 238 Kane_M 29 pts 981 MartinB 29 pts 236 DanSkin 23 pts 8 pinken 22 pts 276 tyzer 21 pts 39 LeeK 20 pts 180 wardieee 19 pts 488 Dave 17 pts 848 bully jnr 15 pts 329 Tsjalle 14 pts 342 heatrick 14 pts 262 Harmen 14 pts 246 Stox 13 pts 380 Liam Powell 12 pts 691 Jakeeey 11 pts 356 Mitch Wells 6 pts 244 Toff 6 pts 394 PaulE 4 pts 641 Mav 4 pts 167 CB 1 pts 221 Spike 0 pts 45 AndrewP 0 pts 474 BeesFanDanny 0 pts 599 Harold 0 pts 21 LouisH 0 pts 285 Mav_Jnr Replays are here!
Mav Posted March 18, 2014 Report Posted March 18, 2014 After my F1 experience at Stoke last year (Ask Grasser!) I wasn't to worried about missing this meeting. With Jnr wanting to race, I thought I had better try and sort a setup out for him so that he wouldn't be the talking point come the end of the evening. I loaded 4 other shale track setups and chose one and set off. Having used all four, there wasn't too much between them, but settled for Coventry's. As I practiced I started to enjoy it (I do prefer shale to tarmac) and in consequence decided to give the meeting a try. Conversely Jnr's PC wouldn't play ball once again, meaning that he hadn't completed a single lap and he actually missed his first heat too. This was after I was trying to sort him out with a setup for most of the evening! As for the meeting, I knew I wasn't capable of fighting the blues so decided to let them go, trouble was no sooner they were past the reds were there too, so it wasn't long before I was at the back. I'm fine trundling around on my own but it does rely on others failing for me to pick up places; as Stoke is one of those tracks that everyone is of a similar pace so catching and passing isn't easy. Having passed a couple of whites and yellows who had fallen by the wayside in heat 1, I was in 9th and following Toff #244. We had many a lap with me trying to get past cleanly (hate to be the cause of someone crashing out after trying their hardest to stay in the race); but I wasn't able to and Toff stayed ahead, and credit to him he drove well and deserved it. My second heat and again I lost out early on and couldn't make up the ground. Not many drivers went out in this one so I failed to make the top ten. In failing to do so, I was disappointed not to have made the final direct, but then how could I, when it was my choice to drop back and take the fight from the back! Shocked to find there was a Consi, but when the rolling lap was on, I suddenly thought "How many qualify?" - I may have missed it but it probably helped as I drove the nuts off the car, especially after being taken out and going from 4th to last. It was a great feeling lap after lap catching the cars in front and found myself in 4th chasing Jnr. Jnr & I were convinced it was top two that went through and when CB #167 spun, we saw a chance to get that 2nd place. Jnr went in on CB on the last bend but I held back. I kept tight and managed to power round before they did and was happy in 2nd knowing I had made the final. Once we lined up for the final, I thought - Just stick in there and give it a go. I did, but not for long. Once again I lost out due to others and found myself at the back anyway! This time though cars were spinning out left right and centre and it was hard to navigate them all, but I picked up some 10 places by race end. Happy with my drive but disappointed not to have been in the top 10. Grand National was frustrating and I was ready to pack up for the night. Not sure how I got relegated to the back, but again I was forced to fly around the track just to keep up and it wasn't until a few laps from the end that I made my way into the top ten. A lot of hard work is needed to race this track and when there is little reward its hard to be enthusiastic about the evening. Little errors cause big problems but that's the nature of Stock Car Racing! Feeling exhausted already, I wasn't too bothered about Belle Vue, especially not having had any practice and actually not having the right track installed to begin with didn't help either! Congratulations to MartinB #981 for his Final win, but my point is proven about its hard to catch up as Martin was last in the Grand National after starting a lap down.
Recommended Posts