Wellingborough Open Meeting

Wellinborough Track Wellingborough web site

The 2009 1/24 season kicked off at Wellingborough on 31 January.  Thanks to Mick Kerr for organising such a good meeting, including doing nearly all the race control duties for the week end.

Saloon

Saloon qualifying saw James Cleave over a tenth clear of Martin Ellis and  Ian Barker.   The Woodies qualified near the bottom, apparently they had a football match to watch in the afternoon so needed an early get away.

The C final started out with Ben Woodward leading from his dad, until a trip into the wall bent the rear of Graham's Titan chassis, leaving him with an even earlier finish than he wanted.  So Ben won the C by 6 laps from Mike Read. 

John Wells took an early lead in the B final, initially Franz was in contention but that faded with car troubles.  Ross Grogan recovered from a slow start to take second, and only John and Ross beat Ben's C final time.

In the A final  James Cleave looked quicker than anybody else, and pulled away from Richard Mack who was pretty comfortably in second.  James lost a braid about half a minute from the end, but was so far ahead he didn't bother to put it back in, thus his winning margin was only 22 laps.  Richard was second with 9 laps up on Ian Barker, who in turn was 9 up on Chris Thomas.

Below - the winning car as it finished (with a braid missing)   James was of the opinion the JK chassis was the way to go, several of the other top runners used JKs.

JK X24 James car

POS DRIVER Q  Q time Final RUN 1 RUN 2 SUB
TOTAL
RUN 3 SUB
TOTAL
RUN 4 SUB
TOTAL
RUN 5 SUB
TOTAL
RUN 6 TOTAL
1 JAMES CLEAVE 1 4.217 A Y 53 Bk 55 108 Bl 52 160 G 54 214 R 54 268 W 46.45 314.45
2 RICHARD MACK 5 4.628 A Bl 51 G 49 100 R 48 148 W 48 196 Y 48 244 Bk 48.60 292.60
3 IAN BARKER 3 4.412 A G 49 R 41 90 W 48 138 Y 46 184 Bk 48 232 Bl 51.45 283.45
4 CHRIS THOMAS 4 4.555 A R 45 W 46 91 Y 45 136 Bk 44 180 Bl 48 228 G 44.96 272.96
5 JOHN WELLS 9 4.776 B G 46 R 46 92 W 43 135 Y 46 181 Bk 44 225 Bl 47.09 272.09
6 ROSS GROGAN 8 4.746 B R 40 W 44 84 Y 47 131 Bk 43 174 Bl 46 220 G 48.97 268.97
7 BEN WOODWARD 16 8.658 C Y 44 Bk 42 86 Bl 47 133 G 42 175 R 43 218 W 46.62 264.62
8 NEIL GROGAN 10 4.973 B W 43 Y 42 85 Bk 43 128 Bl 46 174 G 46 220 R 42.30 262.30
9 ANDY BROWN-SEARLE 7 4.716 B Bk 40 Bl 44 84 G 45 129 R 44 173 W 45 218 Y 43.43 261.43
10 MIKE READ 12 5.231 C R 41 W 43 84 Y 42 126 Bk 42 168 Bl 45 213 G 43.69 256.69
11 CHRIS FROST 11 5.209 C Bk 39 Bl 42 81 G 42 123 R 40 163 W 41 204 Y 42.93 246.93
12 CHAS KEELING 15 5.820 C W 36 Y 39 75 Bk 40 115 Bl 33 148 G 40 188 R 40.64 228.64
13 FRANZ BARILARO 6 4.660 B Y 46 Bk 39 85 Bl 47 132 G 48 180 R 30 210 W 1.15 211.15
14 DAVE HOMER 13 5.347 C Bl 40 G 41 81 R 40 121 W 22 143 Y 39 182 Bk 3.99 185.99
15 MARTIN ELLIS 2 4.378 A Bk 43 Bl 47 90 G 49 139 R 24 163 W 0 163 Y 0.00 163.00
16 GRAHAM WOODWARD 14 5.566 C G 42 R 43 85 W 45 130 Y 15 145 Bk 0 145 Bl 0.00 145.00

Open Group 12

OG12 A final

Mick Kerr on race control , Franz in a relaxing marshalling position and A finalists Ross Grogan, Ian Barker, Richard Mack. John Wells and James Cleave

 

Open group 12 qualifying saw James Cleave top, with Richard Mack joining him in the 3.7s. Ross Grogan was the quickest of the 3.8s  ahead of Ian Barker and John Wells, while 3.855 was only good enough to put Martin Ellis top of the B final.

Andy Brown Searle, Casimir and Neil Grogan took turns at leading the C final.  Andy closed with a fast pair of segments to win from Cas and Neil.

Ian Fisher was the early B final leader, but  rapid 3rd segment (58) gave Ben Woodward the lead at half way. Ian was back on the lead lap with a segment to go, but Ben did another 58 on white to win from Ian, Martin Ellis and Woody senior.

The A  started with James leading Richard, but Ross was soon challenging James for the lead. James turned in a 58 in segment 3 to take a clear 5 lap half distance lead.  Richard reduced that lead a little while Ross faded a little.   At the end James won by 5 laps from Richard while Ross finished with 61 the fastest segment of the class, but it didn't lift him out of third.  Ian Barker just piped Ben for fourth.

Below  - the winning car - heading a 1-2-3 for Mack chassis.  The motor was the third one he tried after blowing 2 in practice, apparently the can is over 10 years old having been used at the Silverstone Nats!

James Cleave's chassis James Cleave's car James Cleave's chassis underside

 

POS DRIVER Q  Q time Final RUN 1 RUN 2 SUB
TOTAL
RUN 3 SUB
TOTAL
RUN 4 SUB
TOTAL
RUN 5 SUB
TOTAL
RUN 6 TOTAL
1 JAMES CLEAVE 1 3.720 A Y 56 Bk 55 111 Bl 58 169 G 57 226 R 54 280 W 56.82 336.82
2 RICHARD MACK 2 3.747 A W 56 Y 53 109 Bk 53 162 Bl 58 220 G 56 276 R 55.30 331.30
3 ROSS GROGAN 3 3.803 A R 53 W 58 111 Y 52 163 Bk 52 215 Bl 51 266 G 61.61 327.61
4 IAN BARKER 4 3.834 A G 51 R 50 101 W 59 160 Y 55 215 Bk 49 264 Bl 57.11 321.11
5 BEN WOODWARD 8 3.925 B Y 50 Bk 53 103 Bl 58 161 G 51 212 R 50 262 W 58.12 320.12
6 IAN FISHER 10 3.983 B Bl 53 G 54 107 R 51 158 W 53 211 Y 51 262 Bk 52.23 314.23
7 MARTIN ELLIS 6 3.855 B Bk 45 Bl 52 97 G 55 152 R 55 207 W 54 261 Y 47.37 308.37
8 GRAHAM WOODWARD 7 3.901 B R 48 W 55 103 Y 48 151 Bk 49 200 Bl 54 254 G 51.54 305.54
9 FRANZ BARILARO 11 4.209 B W 52 Y 52 104 Bk 50 154 Bl 51 205 G 49 254 R 49.56 303.56
10 ANDY BROWN-SEARLE 13 4.287 C Bk 40 Bl 53 93 G 51 144 R 51 195 W 53 248 Y 53.36 301.36
11 MIKE READ 9 3.950 B G 47 R 47 94 W 50 144 Y 48 192 Bk 47 239 Bl 55.30 294.30
12 CASIMIR IWASZKIEWICZ 14 4.351 C Bl 45 G 50 95 R 48 143 W 51 194 Y 50 244 Bk 47.63 291.63
13 NEIL GROGAN 12 4.216 C Y 46 Bk 47 93 Bl 52 145 G 48 193 R 45 238 W 52.62 290.62
14 CHRIS FROST 16 4.500 C R 45 W 50 95 Y 47 142 Bk 46 188 Bl 49 237 G 48.57 285.57
15 CHAS KEELING 17 4.875 C W 43 Y 47 90 Bk 43 133 Bl 49 182 G 46 228 R 43.80 271.80
16 DAVE HOMER 15 4.475 C G 42 R 42 84 W 44 128 Y 42 170 Bk 40 210 Bl 48.82 258.82
17 JOHN WELLS 5 3.838 A Bl 52 G 46 98 R 49 147 W 14 161 Y 48 209 Bk 48.60 257.60

Continued >> on Page 2

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