Sparkling form for pole and win at SWS Round 11 - 14 / 03 / 05

Round 11 of the South West Winter Series was held yesterday in Plymouth where Ross kept alive his thin chances (according to Russel's mathmatics) of taking third in the series with a pole and win.

The day started badly with a fairly poor handling car in practise but by round 2 of qualifying car and driver were up to speed after a dreadful performance in Round 1. Starting third Ross passed Sean on lap 2 and then set after race leader Michael Doody. A gap of around 3 seconds had already been buiilt up and the gap stayed relativley steady until the third minute of the race when Michael ran into some difficulties and some barriers. Ross took the lead and went on to set provisional pole time while Tim Brooker moved into second in front of Michael and Sean.

For Round 3 the newly arrived Demon Stock motor was installed and was very quick straight from the go. Ross was off into the distance from the start and wasn't to be seen again as he moved pole time further out of the oppositions reach. The new motor was on average 2 to 3 tanths per lap faster than the old one whilst also running cooler and pulling less amps, so a win win situation and thanks must go to Demon Products for such an excellent motor.

The final round of qualifying saw Ross improve pole time by a further 8 tenths of a second while Michael moved into second on the grid ahead of Tim, Sean, John and Jason.

Onto the final then and Ross' task was made significantly easier when Michael caught a barrier in the second turn and dropped himself down the field. Ross was left to ease out a gap at the front from Tim who was now coming under pressure from Michael. Michael was to retire with car filure soon after though. So, Ross took the win ahead of Tim by a comfortable margin to complete a great days racing.

After the final the new Mazda 6 shell was also run to allow Ross to compare its handling characteristics to his existing Dodge Stratus 2. The car handled fairly similarly with both shells, maybe a hint more front end with the Mazda but only a minimal amount of difference.

So, everything looks good for the first round of the Clubmans Cup next week (expect an update regarding this in the next few days) before Ross returns to Torquay for the 12th and final round of the South West Series on the 27th of March.

Also note from now on Ross will be equipped with his camera at all meetings so polish up those shells and you might find yourself on the site in these race reports!

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