Corny 391 Posted May 11, 2022 Report Posted May 11, 2022 Stoke - Thursday 5th May 2022 The ninth meeting of the UK-Dirt F1 2022 season saw nineteen brave competitors take to this Staffordshire track - and if the likes of (Sir Lewis) Hamilton, Russell, Leclerc and Verstappen in the FIA's other F1 series thought their porpoising issues were anything to write home about, perhaps they ought to have booked into this one for a real eye opener on the bouncing front, as well as a test of skills, nerve and sheer grit that must surely rank amongst the tougher offerings in today's eSports scene?! With the second re-gradings of the year also having kicked in prior to the event, giving the grid a little 'shake up' of their own, let's take a very brief look back at some of the sights and noteworthy happenings... fast track (527) had quite a moment down the back straight on the third lap of Heat Two, dropping back to fifteenth as a result. Clearly not too flustered by the tumble however he was soon on his way again - a recovery to ninth place by the end, in a nineteen car field, a creditable effort. CB (167) overhauled leader NielsR (184) at the end of lap twelve in this Heat Two, to take his second UK-Dirt F1 win of 2022 (and first on shale, with the other having come at Baarlo a few weeks previous). NielsR then went on to take his own second success of the season in the very next race, Heat Three, adding to the B-Final he won at Belle Vue back on 10th March. The roller in motion for the evening's main event - and that mischievous NobbyClarke (108), far left, does his best to make the cameraman's job difficult! He'd missed the first Heat after apparently trying to power his big block Chevy with a 5V USB phone charger, rather than the designated car battery it ought to have been connected to... As the Grand Final got underway, Frans (454) led ASHNFFC (125) off turn four, over those fearsome bumps and into turn one for the first time - the driver of the 125 machine having earlier taken Heat One and naturally keen to double up here. The order stayed that way until Frans cracked at the end of lap four, clipping a marker tyre as he rounded turn four which flicked the car wide. ASHNFFC needed no invite to go through, then kept it together into turn one far enough ahead to prevent any immediate challenge from Frans. Out of turn two the gap between the pair was already sufficient to allow a race-winning lead to be built and maintained. Nobody would be getting anywhere near that 125 back bumper for the remainder of the twenty lap distance! ASHNFFC onto the final lap. Second and third-placed Tsjalle (229) and CB respectively are still clearly well up for the chase but time is very much up, and there were to be no unexpected dramas for the leader between here and the wave of the chequered. As the cars file over the start-finish and onto the last lap of the Final, and BenChambers (800) has a brief two-wheeled experience... ...seconds later and having been up to 8th place, disaster struck for National Points leader Cammy (143), powerless to avoid a recovering NielsR. Had this been earlier in the race no doubt Cammy would have carried on, but knowing this crucial time lost in being half spun to the infield had dropped him from the points paying places, and with little to no chance in the remaining 2/3rds lap of rectifying that, he retired the car. Remarkably this was the first time in the nine 2022 UK-Dirt F1 Finals thus far in which 143 had failed to score. Having led from 'pole' in the Grand National I (391) managed to stay at the front for all but 0.75 of those sixteen racing laps - Nobmeister (435) not quite managing to displace myself in the closing stages, before Tsjalle made his move on the pair of us as we headed into turn one for the last time! Kane_M (238) and BraderzzCooper (468) were also well in the mix as the bumpers flew into the first bend of this the final lap of the night. Half a lap later though it was reigning National Points and British Champion Tsjalle holding off Nobmeister round the last bend and heading for the finish line to win, as the rest of us settled the podium places! A brilliant first win of 2022 for driver 229 - rounding off a fine performance of such high consistency all night after 7th, 6th and 8th in the Heats and that 2nd in the Final, adding up to a 77pt haul and that coveted 'top scorer' spot. Must say a much belated thanks and massive well done to MoR137 for creating such a fantastic track here! Its initial release was right around the time I was stopping racing in mid 2013 so had actually never tried it until the pre-meeting practice for this. A great challenge, really extracts the best from these F1 shale cars I think, as well as demanding nothing less than full-on concentration and upmost skills from the people trying to navigate them around the place. And of course visually stunningly lifelike to how the real thing was. Cannot speak highly enough of it Had to re-jig how these images are embedded into this post and display them direct from Discord, but permanent links to these images as also uploaded elsewhere in case ever needed are as follows: Heat 2 - the 527 roll! Heat 2 - CB takes the lead Final - GRID Final - 125 leads early on Final - 125 last lap Final - 800 on two wheels Final - Cammy out Grand National - Finish! Cheers, Corny
Mav Posted May 11, 2022 Report Posted May 11, 2022 Top stuff once again Corny! Not my night until the GN, but it certainly was worth having a go!
Recommended Posts