Race Report - Forest Edge S4 Rd2
My first ever visit to this venue coincided with one of the biggest ever entries for the organising club, some 266 drivers plying their trade over 44 races on the day.
The weather played it’s part as well, with dry conditions on the Sunday tempered by a stiff breeze disguising the effects of the sun
Tyres continue to be a talking point with some more knowledge gained over the intervening weeks since round 1. This will be shared with the series organisers and perhaps a way forward agreed to counteract what appears to be localised premature wear patterns on the tyres.
A bonus point was that the starts had improved markedly since round 1. Rumours abounded that we were going to revert to rolling starts for this venue, but the start procedure was explained again in the morning brief and there were no problems on starts all day from the drivers.
ABkC 125 KZ2
Back to three heats here with wins going to Joe Charlton, Dafydd Iles (on a brand new Energy after his Rissi shunt) and James Glenister. Heat three had gone to Tom Witts on the road, but he incurred a penalty for contact early in the race and this dropped him to 9th. Dan Borton had pole from Iles, with Richard Palmer and James Mudd on the second row from Jason Edgar and Josh Mulholland on the third.
Iles made the better start and led Borton up the hill as the pack screamed behind them, Mudd slotting into 2nd from Palmer and Edgar. Matt Isherwood had suffered what appeared to be an oiled plug on the out lap and barely made the start before limping into the pits on the first tour, whilst Matt Dittman had some other issues to contend with which prevented him taking the start.
The third lap saw a change for the lead as Borton drafted up past Iles and seemed set to make it a win double for the first two rounds. However, the plume of dust from the top end of the circuit indicated that something had gone awry and reports came back of contact between Iles and Borton. The latter rejoined dead last and set about some damage limitation, setting the fastest lap in the process.
Taking advantage of the melee was Glenister, nipping up a couple of places and soon using the tow to good effect as he picked off the leaders one by one before breezing past Dafydd at half distance. Iles had a go at defending, but his tyres were beginning to show signs of overwork and he would start dropping back the odd place as the race wore on.
The second half of the race was pretty much like high speed chess as the new top four battled for supremacy, but without any great advantage over the rest. There were passing moves aplenty further down the field, but nothing which was able to stick or promote the driver further up the order. Great to watch, though!
Glenister hung on to take the win by a tenth from Mudd, with a last lap scrum putting Palmer and Tom Moore very close together for third and 4th, Tom on a Tony for the first time. Iles just held on to 5th from Edgar with Witts, Liam Morley, Charlton and Will Miller completing the top ten.
Borton was 21st in the end, but refused to blame Iles for his early demise in the post race inquiry, reckoning that he had made the mistake himself and not wanting any punishment for Iles.
So we move on to Fulbeck at the end of June, another quick and technical track, well known to all the drivers. It should be good!
Result
1st James Glenister Kosmic/TM
2nd James Mudd Energy/TM
3rd Richard Palmer Gillard/TM
4th Tom Moore Tony/TM
5th Dafydd Iles Energy/TM
6th Jason Edgar Tony/TM
ABkC 250
Heat wins again to Ian Thomson, James Hassall and Lee Stamp – an exact repeat of the winners from Rissi. That put Stamp on pole from Hassall, Thomson and Nick Willcox on two, with the third going to Chris Morris and Alex Burrows.
The starts this time were OK, but one heat saw a bit of a glitch when the lights came on as green rather than red, which caused some momentary confusion. It didn’t happen again, though, so all was good in the end.
Hassall made the best start this time, with Stamp and Thomson in pretty close order behind as they snarled their way up the hill, the chasing Stamp and Thomson looking pretty racy and seemingly angling for a way past the Hoff (Hassall-Hoff, geddit!).
Thomson got a wonder tow up the hill on the second lap and was revelling in the speed when he missed his braking point and ended up parked on Stamp. After many profuse apologies and a bit of pulling and pushing, Thomson was free and restarting a lap down, but Stamp was out and the prospect of a great race was gone.
Hassall was never really threatened after that and he basically cruised to his win, whilst Willcox put a shift in to catch and pass the flying Morris for the runner up spot and reduce the gap to the leader, banging in the fastest lap as he went.
Morris was to drop further back by the flag as Burrows chased him down and got past at 2/3 distance, but he recovered to keep the gap at a couple of tenths but maintaining his two second gap over 5th placed man, Steve Pipes.
The top six was completed by Tim Wood, with the remaining runners on the same lap rounded out by Martin Smith, Ron Stamp and Matt Fox.
A very sheepish Thomson was excluded after the race for his savaging of Stamp early in the race.
Result
1st James Hassall Jade/Honda
2nd Nick Willcox Jade/Honda
3rd Alex Burrows Jade/Honda
4th Chris Morris Jade/Honda
5th Steve Pipes Anderson/Honda
6th Tim Wood Raider/Honda
Report by Iain Blair
