Fastrax Nitro Summer Series - Rnd 5
The Stoke Nitro Racing Club was once again host to the Fastrax and CML sposored Summer series.
The buggy class was a hotly contested round with several top drivers from the UK attending. Initial bragging rights and TQ for the first round went to CML sponsored John "Howler" Howells with his Reedy powered, Byron fuelled Hyper 9. He posted a eight lapper some thirteen seconds ahead of last years second placed national man Graham "Sloppy" Alsop with his RB powered machine. Graham and John being the only two drivers to post eight laps in round one.
In round two four people managed eight lappers with John again taking TQ but Elliot Taylor sneeking in for second with Graham third and the Reedy powerd "Tricky" Taylor fourth.
Round three saw Graham nick TQ for the meeting by three seconds with John second, Richard Taylor moving up to third, and Elliot in fourth. This set up a close looking race was promised for the final with eight seconds only covering the top four!
The final was an epic battle with these four dominating preceedings. Everyone got away well as you would expect for drivers of this quality. Tricky was into the first corner ahead of Graham in second with John in third. Between laps ten and twenty two these three swapped the lead no fewer than seven times with no one driver able to dominate. It was good close and above all very clean racing with no "take outs" on show at all.
Richard Taylor was ahead in the battle for first and was one second ahead of Graham when with one minute to go disaster struck! Richard's engine losened up and he had to retire leaving Graham to take the win with John second and Richard limping in third after his cut.
The winners in the buggy class.
A special mention goes to CML Team driver John Howells who spent countless hours getting eight to ten clubmen going with the new Reedy engine. John gave up valuable tuning time on his car to provide advice, proving that being a team driver is not just about winning on the track but helping off it as well. All drivers posting better times once the "Howler" had worked his magic!
There was only one heat in the truggy class but the action was intense right from the start. First qualifier saw Mick Butler TQ with Stuart Quinn second and CML sponored Roy Tou in third. Everyone improved in round two but the order remained the same and as no one improved in round three that was the top three for the day.
In the final both Mick and Roy got off two a flyer, both avoiding the usual first corner pile up to race away from the field. Third placed Stuart Quinn suffered clutch trouble which would stay with him for the rest of the race so the mantle of chasing down the leading two was left to Andy Beaumont with his RB powered ride.
In the early stages the lead changed no less than three times between Mick and Roy until back marker trouble for Roy caused Mick to open up a considerable lead eventually winning from Roy's Byron fuelled Associated RC8T by some twenty seconds.
The winners in the truggy class.
The winners in the buggy class.
A special mention goes to CML Team driver John Howells who spent countless hours getting eight to ten clubmen going with the new Reedy engine. John gave up valuable tuning time on his car to provide advice, proving that being a team driver is not just about winning on the track but helping off it as well. All drivers posting better times once the "Howler" had worked his magic!
There was only one heat in the truggy class but the action was intense right from the start. First qualifier saw Mick Butler TQ with Stuart Quinn second and CML sponored Roy Tou in third. Everyone improved in round two but the order remained the same and as no one improved in round three that was the top three for the day.
In the final both Mick and Roy got off two a flyer, both avoiding the usual first corner pile up to race away from the field. Third placed Stuart Quinn suffered clutch trouble which would stay with him for the rest of the race so the mantle of chasing down the leading two was left to Andy Beaumont with his RB powered ride.
In the early stages the lead changed no less than three times between Mick and Roy until back marker trouble for Roy caused Mick to open up a considerable lead eventually winning from Roy's Byron fuelled Associated RC8T by some twenty seconds.
The winners in the truggy class.
