Wellingborough Open Meeting
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.

| 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

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!

| 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 |
Copyright © 2009 British Slot Car Racing Association Photographs copyright Chris Frost All rights reserved