2007 Round 4 Wombwell

If the last round at Tibshelf had seen us racing in monsoon conditions, the weather certainly made up for it at round four of the championship held at the big fast Wombwell circuit in South Yorkshire. By mid afternoon on Saturday ever one present had started turning a bright red under the mercilessly sun. It was just as hot on the track as not for the first time this season there were more than enough drivers with cars that looked capable of running at a pace that would get them in to the “A” main final. Running the extension loop alongside race control at Wombwell adds considerably to the circuits length and anyone capable of running consistently in or around the 17 seconds a lap bracket would I’m sure feel confident of there chances come race day. Weather wise Sunday was just the same as Saturday but with a local forecast of the possibility of light rain later in the afternoon/evening race director for the weekend Babs Kersey was determined to push the meeting along.

The circuit was in great condition as was the weather

Just to show how tight qualifying was going to be Mark (16/316) and Paul (16/317) Field showed just what was expected in heat one. Heat two saw Trevor Kersey coming to terms with a 1/8^th car whilst Andrew Hastings in heat three with a 16/306 showed how it was done. Jason Frost with 16/302 in heat four was even quicker whilst Mark Green raised the bar even further in heat five with 17/301, although Richard Hicklin and Andy North in the same heat were into the slow 17’s. Mark Field improved by two seconds in heat one, whilst a quick 14 was the best on offer in heat two, Andrew Hastings was quickest in heat three but a second off his personal best. Chris Heath’s 17/316 looked good enough in heat four, whilst Neil Diver, Dave Dixon, and Pete Hastings17’s all looked good enough. Not much improvement in the first two heats whilst Andrew Hastings’s 16/305 would leave him short of the A final. Chris Heath put in another 17 in heat four, and John Carr’s SOB run of 16/301 would lift him to 8^th. Five drivers in the last heat managed 17’s but as they had all qualified they were racing for grid position. Yet again with qualifying so tight a couple of scant seconds could easily lift you five or six places.

The finals were on the road early and resulted in wins for John Russell in the “D”, Andy Mollett in the “C”, and Jason Frost in the “B”. Mark Green led the “A” final away and began to slowly pull away from the rest of the field. The race behind him was always fast and furious with drivers moving up and down the order depending upon there luck or sometimes lack of luck. Richard Hicklin was in with a shout of a podium, as was Neil Diver until they hit problems. Andy North looked to have second place until a blow plug cost him dear. In the end we had Mark home in first on 99 laps, Pete Hastings second on 96 laps and Tim Wood third on 95 laps. A great final that saw six drivers finish with average lap times over the half hour final (including pit stops) of under 20 seconds a lap, and that at Wombwell with it’s slow pits entry isn’t hanging around.

Pete Hastings (2nd) Mark Green (1st) Tim Wood (3rd)

The next round is on the weekend of the 23 and 24 June, book in early and be there.

Phil Carr - PRO