Round 3 Report 2008

Pro / Fac Mod Class

An exciting qualifying session saw John Bradshaw run a succession of quick times, and Steve Whittaker was back in contention, showing his Supra was coming back on form, despite having a few problems in the pits, missing a qualifying session. Chris Impey ran an impressive mid-9 and Geoff Rance was pleased with the progress of his new RX8. Leon Green’s new Supra looked stunning, but only managed one check-out pass in qualifying before missing two rounds of qualifying with a broken fuel pump. Gary Gooding was confident his car was ready to run well, but in the event, he was unable to make a qualifying run due to more technical difficulties.

Pro / Fac Mod Round 1

A massive upset in round one occurred when John Bradshaw failed to hold his car in stage on the startline. John was on a bye, and could have just rolled through at leisure, but he was keen to be the first in Europe to get the elusive 7, but a brake problem meant the Skyline could not hold still on the startline at launch RPM, and John threw the race away!

Chris Impey suffered from a broken diferential to let Geoff Rance through- Geoff getting increasingly good times from his new car.

Leon Green’s first pass in anger resulted in a good terminal speed, but Steve Whittaker pulled a massive launch to clock an astonishing 7.7! This was the first 7 by a Jap car in Europe, and it easily won him the first eliminator against Leon.

Pro / Fac Mod Class Semi Finals

Both semis resulted in bye-runs, but neither driver took it easy! Geoff ran an excellent 9.6, and Steve ran yet another 7, in the process re-setting the backed-up record for a Jap car to 7.904!

Pro / Fac Mod Class Final

The smart money was of course on Steve Whittaker for the finals, but Geoff Rance was running strongly, and the terminal speeds tell the story of Geoff rapidly catching Steve towards the finish line- Steve’s car seemingly having suffered some kind of mechanical fault around the 1,000 ft mark. However, Steve had a very strong start that put him far enough ahead of Geoff to ensure victory for the finals.

Pro Class Winner: Steve Whittaker

Street Class

Qualifying for the Street class was a very competitive affair, despite the relatively low turnout by racers. Championship contender Kev Huntley was unable to make the race due to a breakage, but Johnny McKeon once again topped the tables with a superb 10.1. Gary Passingham was running strongly, as was his customer David Greenhalgh. Roy Ashby’s MR2 was running very strongly, and Malcolm Thomas was also going well, on the brink of 10’s. Jeff Ludgate was struggling to get to grips with his stunning-looking new car, bogging down on each launch. James Willday suffered rotten luck with yet another broken drivetrain on his first qualifier, and Steve Mann was disqualified for a technical infringement.

Street Class Round 1

Round 1 was marred by computer errors that meant some races needed to be re-run, but Johnny’s 10.0 saw off an improving Jeff Ludgate, and Gary Passingham stood a whole second above Malcolm for his win. David Greenhalgh took a convincing win against Roy Ashby who suffered a turbo fault to see him crawl across the line.

Street Class Semi Finals

Johnny could have taken it easy, having worked hard to earn a bye-run into the finals, but instead he took the opportunity to wind the power of the Skyline right up to run a remarkable 9.7 at a huge 147mph! In the other semi, Gary Passingham had to run a good time against David Greenhalgh, who was banking on beating Gary on the lights. Luckily for Gary, his reactions weren’t too shabby either, and he was able to power into the finals.

Street Class Finals

The finals consisted of two cars capable of running 9’s and two experienced drivers. Johnny was going into the finals off the back of a 9.7 which should have really put the frighteners on Gary. In addition, Johnny’s reaction times have historically been better. As the lights went green, Johnny broke traction, but quickly managed to find grip again and stay ahead of Gary. Gathering an extra 10mph over Gary at the finish line helped keep him ahead for the win.

Street Class Winner: Johnny McKeon

FWD Class

Once again, the FWD class was a little short on competitors, but there was no shortage of exciting action, and all drivers achieved excellent improvements in performance at Rotorstock.

FWD Class Semi Finals

Guy managed a superb 10.4 with a  huge 141mph terminal speed to cleanly dispatch Ian Page, despite Ian’s excellent personal best of 11.89. Both cars surging strongly to the 8th before the sheer power of Guy’s car stretched out a lead.

Douggie Gemmell and Neil Knight had an astonishingly close race, with Neil getting off the line slightly faster, but Douggie was able to drive past him and pip him at the line by what must have been just inches.

FWD Class Finals

Guy took the FWD class to the next level with an incredible 10.2 in the finals with a MASSIVE 143mph terminal speed. Douggie didn’t really stand a chance of matching that, and his decent 12.1 just wasn’t going to be enough for the win, which Guy comfortable claimed.

FWD Class Winner: Guy Chamberlain

2008 Round 3 Points:

The season standings table is on the main 2008 Points page.