Evesham Autograss Club 21/04/19

On Sunday over the glorious Easter weekend I attended Evesham Autograss Club, who will be host to the Men’s National Autograss Championships in August. The meeting was the first national qualifier for the MAP league, Evesham and Radford, but there were also visitors from Cambridge, Concord Essex, Forest of Dean, Hereford, Invicta Kent, North Shropshire, Spalding, South Somerset, Star, Wessex and Yate and Sodbury with a total of 139 drivers signed on.

Once again there was plenty of close competitive racing, and although there were a lot of reruns in the finals, there was still some great racing as there were throughout the heats. Here are just a couple of finals highlights.

One of the stand out finals for me and a great example of clean wheel-to-wheel racing was that of the Junior Specials. From the first turn James Dorsett (NS292) and James Pinches (R1) ran side-by-side. Going into the first turn it looked like Dorsett had the upper hand but Pinches had taken the lead on the exit and was the one with his nose in front up until the last lap where Dorsett was able to pass and take the win. They weren’t the only ones in the race who were racing side-by-side, the battle for third was also just as close, between the two Invicta Kent boys, Reece Wetherick (IK99) and Luke Stiles (IK30), and James Wallis (E260). It was Wetherick who had the upper hand throughout the race to take the position ahead of Stiles and Wallis.

Class six was a class just of the league cars and we saw how close their national qualifying is going to be with four cars fighting for the win in the final. It was Mark Gilder (R161) who took the lead going into turn one with Dave Houghton (R27) and Barry Holloway (E6) hot on his heels. Gilder, however, dropped back with Houghton taking over the lead, however, Holloway was trying hard to find a way past although while allowing Micky Manning (E5) to close down on them. Houghton continued to take the win from Holloway, Manning was third ahead of Gilder.

Below is a list of the full final results. These results are unofficial.

Final results
Class 1
1st E100 2nd NS157 3rd R137 4th E1 5th R193 6th IK187 7th R209 8th R78
Class 3
1st E34 2nd R169 3rd CA1 4th R515 5th R168
Class 5
1st WS1 2nd WS23 3rd IK72 4th R19 5th E10 6th E9 7th E51
Class 7
1st E152 2nd R421 3rd E7 4th E122 5th R5
Class 9
1st SS81 2nd E26 3rd R252
Junior Saloons
1st WS255 2nd E1 3rd E86 4th R176 5th H60
Junior Specials
1st NS292 2nd R1 3rd IK99 4th IK30 5th E260 6th E? 7th E57 8th E223
Class 2
1st E219 2nd R3 3rd R2 4th WS222 5th E126 6th R82 7th R171
Class 4
1st E220 2nd R47
Class 6
1st R27 2nd E6 3rd E5 4th R161 5th R190 6th E19
Stock Hatch
1st R80 2nd R115
Class 8
1st R411 2nd E93 3rd CA44 4th R35 5th E25 6th E2 7th R62
Class 10
1st E230 2nd E111 3rd R7 4th R200
Ladies 1
1st R78 2nd R209 3rd R178
Ladies 2
1st E219
Ladies 3
1st CA1 2nd E214 3rd R168
Ladies 5
1st E10
Ladies 6
1st R771
Ladies SH
1st R80 2nd R115
Ladies 7
1st E122 2nd CA12 3rd R10
Ladies 8
1st 8F 2nd C21E
Ladies 9
1st E26
Ladies 10
1st E111 2nd E777

Cambridge Autograss Club 14/04/19

Cambridge 14/04/19

The second outing of the Autograss season was a trip to Cambridge Autograss Club for the first meeting for the East Anglian league. This meeting was a national qualifier both for the East Anglian league and the Essex league, with visitors from Invicta Kent, Nottingham, Radford, South Somerset and Spalding and a total of 135 drivers signed on.

With a busy day set the racing was not dampened by the freezing cold weather and a dusty fun day was had by all. With no major incidents throughout the day there was plenty of clean wheel-to-wheel racing.

As expected from a well-attended meeting there was some great races and here are a few highlights from the finals.

There was just one grid of class three’s and throughout the heats it was Adam Saint (CA1) who had the upper hand taking the two wins, but with a constant challenge from Anthony Teather (C7E). In the rerun of the final it was Saint who led the way going into the first turn, Teather however took the lead coming out of the turn with the two running side-by-side going into the bottom bend with Teather just able to keep his nose in front. Behind the leading duo there was a three car battle for third. The leaders pulled away from the fight for third and after a drag to the line Teather held on to take the win from Saint. The battle for third continued all the way to flag with Dave George (SN269) taking the place coming out of the final turn. Andrew Empson (SN208) took fourth place from Kevin Gabriel (CA16). Recovering from a first lap mistake was Richard Spavins (SN351) to take sixth ahead of Russ Tillson (SN96) and Paul Buckmaster (C50E).

Once again in class two the two leaders pulled away from the battling pack, this time with a five car fight for third behind. Daniel Robins (SN34) made the best start to take the lead at turn one with Sam Barrett (SP19) second. For the first half of the race it was Chris Parsons (SN31) who had the edge in the battle for third but in the later stages of the race dropped back. Robins was able to hold on to take the win from Barrett. Gary Wickham (IK13) broke away from the rest of the pack to take a comfortable third, ahead of Dave Robins (SN7) and Chris Barrett (SP9). It was a close call for the sixth place but Dan Owen (SN15) looked to just pip Parsons to the line. Not on his earlier pace Bradley Thomas (IK55) rounded out the order.

The class eight final was a fantastic example of fast clean wheel-to-wheel racing. The two Invicta Kent drivers, Sam Matthews (IK427) and Mitch Wells (IK356), fought at the front from the start of the race until Wells made a small mistake on the penultimate lap to drop him back from the Matthews. In the end Matthews took a comfortable win from Wells who was almost caught but Chris Pope (SP8), with Pope having to settle for third. Dan Mackenzie (CA44) got the battle of the East Anglian battle taking fourth from Ashley Howard (SN2) and Victor Marjoram (CA543). Barry Hathaway took seventh ahead of Anthony Phillips (SN711).

Below is a list of the full final results.

Final results
Class 1
1st SN164 2nd SN124 3rd SN195 4th SP402 5th SN32 6th SN828
Class 3
1st C7E 2nd CA1 3rd SN268 4th SN208 5th CA16 6th SN351 7th SN96 8th C50E
Class 5
1st IK2 2nd C20E 3rd CA10 4th SN23 5th SN123 6th CA35
Class 7
1st CA12 2nd SP82 3rd SN272 4th C18E 5th CA98
Class 9
1st CA4 2nd CA43 3rd CA14 4th SN3
Junior Saloons
1st SN143 2nd SN141 3rd SN16 4th SN37 5th IK98 6th CA42
Class 2
1st SN34 2nd SP19 3rd IK13 4th SN7 5th SP9 6th SN15 7th SN31 8th IK55
Class 4
1st CA133 2nd CA242
Class 6
1st C535E 2nd SN76 3rd SN263 4th C27E 5th CA118
Stock Hatch
1st CA97 2nd SP17 3rd CA120 4th CA45 5th SP551
Class 8
1st IK427 2nd IK356 3rd SP8 4th CA44 5th SN2 6th CA543 7th C83E 8th SN711
Class 10
1st CA5 2nd IK77
Ladies 11
1st SN10 2nd SN41 3rd SN64 4th SN224
Ladies 12
1st C535E 2nd CA333
Ladies 13
1st C7E 2nd CA12
Ladies 14
1st IK427