August 17^th 2003 Halifax(2)

Andy Wallis is Champion

Round 7 of the Scale Rubber series saw a return to Halifax. After two weeks of the hottest August weather since 1976, many were wondering how we would survive the heat. Well Saturday was certainly hot and sunny, but Sunday dawned overcast and cooler, so the track temperature stayed the right side to 35 degrees and no-one was seen to be suffering from sun stroke!

At the first Halifax round in May just one driver was able to hit a 17 lap run in qualifying. This time the weather was hotter and the track was showing all the promising signs of giving good grip right from the off. When Nigel and I arrived at around 7 on the Friday evening, there was already a very good rubber line around the track, by the end of Sunday the track had so much rubber on it it was sticky to walk across. The result, no doubt, of all that dry weather and the Large Scale meeting run on the track the previous weekend.

Being a summer round it was no surprise to see attendance down a little on the May round. 81 Drivers were booked in for the meeting, but we had a few no shows and so just 64 drivers took part. Notable absentees were the Team Yokomo squad, who had obviously decided to join the F1 teams on their summer break!

Qualifying

Round 1 saw local racer Paul Knapton set a time with his Yokomo GT4 just under 3 seconds off the magic 17 lapper, closely followed by champion elect Andy Wallis, but there were new names in the top 10 already. Andy's only challenger for the title, Steven Lander, was stuck down in the C with a DNF and only 14 laps!

1	Paul Knapton	16/302.74
2	Andy Wallis	16/304.26
3	John Holmes	16/307.97
4	Steven Hayes	16/308.65
5	Mark Gilliland	16/309.52
6	Luke Sanders	16/309.64
7	Bruce Thompson	16/313.53
8	Steve Concanon	16/313.79
9	John Hall	16/316.14
10	Richard Spencer	16/317.60

Round 2 and the early morning sun had warmed the ground enough to bring out the best from the track. All bar 2 of the new top 10 set their times in this round, and 4 drivers broke the 17 lap barrier.

1	Marc Neale	17/314.05	R2
2	Eugene Galley	17/314.97	R2
3	Paul Knapton	17/315.91	R2
4	Wayne Lander	17/319.04	R2
5	Mark Christopher	16/301.64	R2
6	Luke Sanders	16/301.88	R2
7	Andy Wallis	16/304.26	R1
8	Daniel Thorpe	16/304.73	R2
9	Peter Craig	16/305.52	R2
10	John Holmes	16/307.97	R1

Round 3 and Champion elect Andy Wallis stamps his authority with a very fast and clean run to set what was to become the fastest run of the day with a 17/312.87.

1	Andy Wallis	17/312.87	R3
2	Marc Neale	17/314.05	R2
3	Eugene Galley	17/314.97	R2
4	Paul Knapton	17/315.91	R2
5	Steven Hayes	17/316.90	R3
6	Wayne Lander	17/319.04	R2
7	Mark Christopher	16/301.64	R2
8	Luke Sanders	16/301.88	R2
9	Simon Wood	16/302.51	R3
10	John Holmes	16/303.27	R3

Round 4 saw only Luke Sanders improve his time, but not his position, so the Top ten was unchanged.

1	Andy Wallis	17/312.87	R3
2	Marc Neale	17/314.05	R2
3	Eugene Galley	17/314.97	R2
4	Paul Knapton	17/315.91	R2
5	Steven Hayes	17/316.90	R3
6	Wayne Lander	17/319.04	R2
7	Mark Christopher	16/301.64	R2
8	Luke Sanders	16/301.71	R4
9	Simon Wood	16/302.51	R3
10	John Holmes	16/303.27	R3

In fact only 18 drivers in the whole field improved in this round, so I suppose we could say the track had peaked by round 3 and everyone was running out of ideas! The full FTD list can be seen here: FTD

So a great performance by Andy Wallis, who took FTD and ensured the championship was his and no-one else's. Honourable mention to John Holmes, Simon Wood, Mark Christopher and Steven Hayes, who I believe made their first ever A Finals at a 1/10th Scale Rubber National.

Andy select his tyres for the A Final

Finals

The full list of the results of all finals can be found here: Results

The A final got under way and Andy Wallis led away showing good early pace. Then the race seemed to get a bit untidy. Andy was off the track with a broken wing, to soon return with another body only to suffer more problems later. Marc Neale had several engine cuts and Mark Christopher had his glow plug blow out of the engine, a rare event that fooled his pit man for a while!

By half distance Wayne 'the other brother' Lander was in the lead and looking strong with his Mugen MTX3. Paul Knapton was close behind in second with his Yokomo GT4, with Eugene Galley keeping Schumacher spirits high in third. As the clock ran down it looked to be settled, but then Wayne's car was down on speed but very much up on revs at the end of the long straight. With only first gear he fought on, but Paul was closing in. As they approached the loop with 20 seconds or so to go, Wayne moved inside to protect his position but overdid it and went on to the grass. Paul sped on, but Wayne's car cut anyway as it was out of fuel. Those last few laps stuck in first had drained the tank dry. So a well deserved win for Paul on his home track, and he instantly became a local hero! Wayne had done enough to secure second place and Eugene Galley was third a lap behind Wayne.

The lucky winners all received their trophies, especially the FTD winner Andy Wallis, our new National Champion. Thanks to the 'Scale Rubber Babes' for this extra special photo moment!