Teesside at Batley (Round 4 of 5)

Practise

Woke up at mad o'clock in the morning to travel to Batley, however with bleak weather overhead the rest of the day looked doubtful.
After passing through some very heavy rain, the sky started to open up providing a warm welcome to bumpy Batley. Upon arrival, we were greeted by a vast array of tents and gazebos suggesting a hard race day ahead. After helping clear away last nights bottles I spotted Gary Widdowson hobbling from one end of the field to the other due to a pitch black Teesside football match the night before.
The track looked immense. A fast flowing banked corner with a sandy surface, Astroturf and short grass gave a hard drive for even the top drivers, mixed with large double jumps and hops. Photo's can be seen at Full Throttle and the Oople site.

Once practise had opened a few TRCC drivers ventured out onto the track, with the most common set up being Yellow Minispikes all round coupled with Blue and Silver springs powered by 12x2 up to 10x2 motors.

Qualifying

First round. Unfortunately Gary Waller struggled with problems in Heat 2 achieving only 3 laps, but this was soon to change in later rounds. James Shanley sets an admirable pace with 8 laps on his first visit to Batley Buggy Club, certainly a driver to watch at future competitions. Barry Williams in Heat 3 was plagued by interference achieving just one lap all day, though this ensured him a qualification for the finals subsequently giving him some points. Daniel Widdowson's first ever time racing a buggy, and he gets 6 very consistent laps, although he was another victim of interference. Alex Inglis Jnr sets 7 laps, putting some pressure on his dad. Heat 4, and Alex Inglis Snr puts in a 9 lapper in 333.220 seconds, 30 seconds behind Greg Williams with a quick 9 laps in 303. Mike Pemberton up next, Heat 5. After popping a turnbuckle and loosing half a lap he puts in a 9 lap in 310.170, a mere 7 seconds behind Greg.

Teesside positions after round one:
Greg Williams 9 / 303
Mike Pemberton 9 / 310
Alex Inglis Snr 9 / 333.220
James Shanley 8
Alex Inglis Jnr 7
Daniel Widdowson 6
Gary Waller 3
 

Second round and its all swap for Gary and James, with Gary getting 9 laps in 324.320 seconds and James getting 8 laps. Due to Barry's interference, he got a DNS, Alex Inglis Jnr matched his previous number of laps (7) beating Barry so far! Daniel Widdowson gained an extra lap, giving him 7 laps in round 2. Alex Inglis Snr improved his time by a whooping 23 seconds, while Greg maintained 9 laps in 303seconds. Mike Pemberton makes the opposition eat his dust in round 2, finishing second in the heat achieving 10 laps in 321.720 seconds.

Round three, James Shanley keeps on rollin' with 8 laps, around 30 seconds behind a struggling Mr Waller. Barry got a DNS, again - while Alex Inglis Jnr dropped to just 3 laps. Another drop in results was for Daniel, with 6 laps - one lap slower than his best. Alex Inglis Snr managed to get the same result as the previous round, and Greg... well, 3 laps. Mike Pemberton couldn't improve Teesside streak of bad luck in round 3, only 3 seconds slower than his previous storming round.

Final round, again James achieved 8 laps although very consistent. Gary squeezed 4 seconds off his time giving him 9 laps in 320 seconds, things are now looking up for TRCC. Alex Inglis Jnr moved up to 6 laps, still one lap off his pace. Daniel Widdowson moves up to 8 laps, now on par with James. Alex Inglis Snr unbelievably achieved almost the same result as the previous two rounds, 9 laps / 309s. Greg still not beating his best times which were achieved in round one and two getting 9 / 307. After tussling with some back markers, the final round for Mike went truly "Pete Tong", getting a quick 9 laps (303 seconds).

Overall, TRCC was represented well in qualifying, and hopefully the final positions will reflect the skill of Teesside the drivers present.
 

Finals

Barry qualified 3rd in the H Final, however this final did not run, due to the rest of the drivers dropping out.
G Final, and the battle is on. With three TRCC drivers out on the track together an exciting race unfolded, with James Shanley storming up a position to gain third place - bringing home Teesside's first trophy of the day just 11 seconds off second place. Meanwhile, little Al and Daniel were fighting it out between themselves on the track, but after five minutes Daniel was the victor, getting himself a very cosy 8th place closely followed by Alex Inglis Jnr (9th).
F final, and some bad luck for big Al, putting in only 2 laps giving him 9th position in the race. And then gremlin that attacked Alex's car moved swiftly onto Gary's at lap 7, popping off a turnbuckle like so many drivers had done previously. This put Gary into 8th position, still one higher than he had qualified.
Greg Williams seems to be enjoying getting 9 laps in 303 seconds, because he did it again in the E final. This consistency ensured him a third place on the podium, bringing yet another trophy back for Teesside!
With Mike starting on pole position, he was sure to be involved in a first corner pile up in the D final. However, a tactical move at the start of the race ensured that the cars behind stayed there for enough time so he could roll to victory. But, this was a very very close race, and soon enough the cars behind crept closer and closer. This was a tough one, he needed to stay calm enough and not make mistakes, yet push it to ensure he kept first place - all the while the rest of the drivers moved in for the kill. He managed to not lose first place at any point in the race and cross the line 3 seconds ahead of car 2 and 5 seconds of car 3 (with a very relieved look on his face). Again, more trophies for Teesside! Glen Atterton's amazing performance cannot be overlooked, as he moved from 9th position up to 4th, just three seconds off a third place.
 

All in all, an amazing day for Teesside racers. I would say good luck at the final round however I don't think it is needed with results like that.

WELL DONE!