| Round 19 - Shelsey Walsh 20th Sept 2009 |
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The last few rounds of the championship are always littered with drama and anomalies and it is these that make our series so compelling; our event at Shelsley Walsh was no exception. It was a warm and sunny Cotswolds day and although practice was brisk and good-natured I sensed an end-of-term determination from certain quarters to optimise this opportunity for points. My impression was soon confirmed: after practice, at the top of Class B both Paul Edwards and Matt Oakley were within a couple of tenths of the course record, and in Class A Geoff Stallard was within 4 tenths of his own class record. There were other skirmishes evident in the practice leaderboard too; the green chimps of Captain "Chaos" Everett and Alan Hugh Davies were within a quarter of a handicap second as usual. (These two have met 4 times in the championship this year and each has beaten the other twice and on each occasion it was only by a small fraction of a handicap second). Pete Watson, John Carter and leading novice Martin Cockcroft were having their own private dust up, and in the ladies championship, Tina Hawkes and Jo Briars were double driving Tina's Chimaera because Jo's 350i was doing sterling service elsewhere this weekend. Tina knows this tricky hill well and Jo was happy to take Tina's sage advice on her first outing here. So, nice day, nice people, nice weather, lots of classic machinery to look at, what could possibly go wrong? I don't know if it was the heady, aromatic mix of burnt rubber and Castrol-R, but the afternoon session kicked off with some enthusiasm. Geoff Stallard was first out and his first run of 37.01 was over a second faster than his own hill record for Class A. Second car up was Captain Everett's 4 litre Chimaera – Mark's a little like Mr Firth on his day, very fast, totally committed and understands the tricky balance between risk and reward – on this occasion though his total commitment through "Crossing" proved a smidge too much and the risk/reward balance needle lurched angrily towards risk. Shelsley is a narrow track and as Mark's car moved into oversteer, the rear came into contact with the grassy bank, which then punted him forwards into the bank on the opposite side. Mark's wife was quickly at his side both to console him, but also to remind him that if the damage were too extensive it would preclude the building of the new conservatory and the Chimaera would have to go… The debris was soon cleared though, and timed runs resumed. Both Tina and Jo sheared off goodly amounts of time and Tina shinned 4 places up the leaderboard. Jeff Allan continues to make good progress this season and on handicap had moved into the space occupied by Pete Watson and Martin Cockcroft. John Carter however, wasn't having a great day and I shared his concern about the top of the hill where the blind, steep, final turn into the esses requires more than a little faith - especially if you are planning to drive your car home afterwards. At the top of the leaderboard though, it was Edwards and Oakley still chipping away at the tenths, neither one content with second place. In the absence of Everett, third place was occupied by his old adversary Alan Hugh Davies who may or may not have been aware of the frantic activity in the Everett pit garage. By the time the final runs came around we were losing track temperature and some of the later times were slower. Stallard had run first, but immediately after him the Chaos that is Mark Everett was back on track to the amazement of the crowd and the commentators. Mark's second run was only marginally less frantic than the first, thus enabling him to take home 5th place and 23.13 points. The fact that Alan Hugh Davies came in two places above with 23.99 points won't have escaped his notice though and they'll have to sort it out once and for all at Castle Combe in a couple of weeks. But, who won I hear you shouting? Unbelievably, we had a tie for first place. Both Matthew and Paul translated their best times into handicap times of 32.19 so both take away 25 points to add to their totals. Tina and Jo had a fun day sharing Tina's Chimaera - Jo goes back to the top of the ladies leaderboard with two rounds to go. Two new records as well. Paul Edwards takes the Class B record away from Matthew with a superb 32.14. Matthew also beat his own record from last year (32.69) with an excellent 32.56. In class A, Geoff Stallard trashed his own 2008 record of 38.12 with a sprightly 37.01 - to take a whole second off a class record is no mean feat. Only Debden and Castle Combe to go now and many prizes still up for grabs. Steve Cox |
