Monday would be another
day of racing into a headwind. I wouldn't say the wind was strong,
but I watched a pigeon lay the same egg four times. With the threat
of rain heading in mid-afternoon, the qualifiers were done with a
degree of alacrity rarely seen in NSCC circles, with Ian Walley back
on top with 10.6 at 127mph, and Russ snapping at his heels with a
10.8 at 121mph. The rest of the qualifying tree was much the same as
Sunday's (cue Fluff Freeman's “At The Sign Of The Swinging Cymbals”
theme tune) but up two places to number five was Paul Hughes, getting
a handle on the blown Fox for a 13.3. Dec and Kevin had swapped
places, Dec now ahead by four thousandths, and everybody else below
that having shaved a few tenths off their Sunday times. In all, after
Sunday's drop-outs, we had 16 qualifiers which made for a lovely,
neat ladder.
With that rain getting
ever closer, we couldn't afford to fart about, which is a shame, as
it's what we do best. In fact, some of us have spent years honing our
skills, and the only thing that's prevented us turning professional
in the high-pressure public sector world of politics is the hope of
being selected to fart about for Team GB in the 2016 Olympics in Rio
de Janeiro.
Mark Presland was the
first victim, falling to Russ's 10.8, shortly followed by his twin
brother Scott falling to Ian's 10.55. The battle of the Foxes saw
Paul's white one trounce Dave's red/black/brown one, after which Shaun
bested a struggling Andy in the TVR – clearly he has fallen from
favour with the almighty. Nigel put paid to Dec's hopes, James ended
Nad's progress, then things started to go a bit runny – Kev beat
Billy and Mark beat Nigel Henderson, both on apparent red-lights in
the left-hand lane caused by the competitors rolling out of stage. It
was all rather questionable, the start line marshals claiming that
the wind was blowing the cars out of the staging beams, but Billy and
Nigel were far too British and sportsmanlike to ask for a rematch.
Stiff upper lips, gents!
In round two, Shaun
lost out to Ian, while another battle of the Foxes saw Mark take the
win over Paul, Paul's 13.0 promising more to come. Kev's good luck in
the first round evaporated in the second with a red light against
James, whose 12.2 pointed the way back to previous form, while Russ
took another win to set up the semis.
The semis went
according to the form book, with the yellow perils setting up another
ten second final, but with dark clouds all around there was no time
to waste. In fact, as Ian and Russ made their way to the line the
rain was beginning to make its presence felt, and with spots starting
to appear on windscreens, the final may have been a case of who was
the bravest/daftest and who would keep it in a straight line the
longest. That would be Ian, who managed an 11.2 against Russ's 11.4,
and hats off to the pair of them for having the conkers to give it
that much on a dampening track.
Two days of maximum
points and a big welcome back for Ian Walley, runner-up and a
gauntlet down for Russ, and a mighty fine weekend of racing for
everyone concerned. We're back at York just a scant fortnight later
for rounds three and four, and things are already starting to heat
up. See you there.
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