'B' Final win at STCC Round 3 - Maritime - 25 / 05 / 05

The past weekend saw us competing in the third round of the STCC Championship at the Maritime RC track. Leaving early on saturday we drove through awful weather for most of the journey and were pleasantly suprised to arrive at a dry track at around 1 o'clock in the afternoon.

So after having a quick look at the track it was out for first practise in the dry but very windy conditions. It was apparent the set-up wasn't suited to the track so we headed back to the pits to make some adjustments, starting with placing a normal front diff in and raising the gearing. The car was now improved but still not good so a number of other adjustments were made over the next few practise runs, anti-roll bars, camber, gearing and toe all being changed and we left the track later that afternoon with a relativley sound set-up.

After a relaxing evening at the campsite (including watching the Eurovision song contest - 13 points - we were robbed!) and a good nights sleep we were up and at the track at just gone 7am - far too early ;)

Practise

As ever sunday morning practise could at best be described as 'busy' so we went out for just the one run to check our new Demon Motor was working okay then retired to the pits for bacon baps and a good laugh at the people pitting next to us attempting to put up their gazebo - seemed like a much better idea than fighting for a place in practise ;)

Dad gets his priorities right on sunday morning and gets breakfast underway ;)

Qualifying

We were in the third qualifying heat of four for the Stock 27T class - this being the drivers occupting 11th to 20th in the drivers championship after the first two rounds, and being 15th in the championship before the meeting we were car 5 in this heat. Thing went well from the start and I soon moved upto 4th and then 3rd with a couple good moves. The leading pair had escaped by this point but I was happy to finish third in my heat which gave us 7th overall after the first round of qualifying had finished.

Onto round 2 and I was hopeful of going faster this time in the warmer conditions. The first few laps didn't go well though as I dropped back to 5th as the car didn't seem as planted as it had done earlier. Fortunatly things started getting better throughout the race and I finished 4th in the heat, with a 6 second improvement over my first run and ninth place in the overall rankings.

I was hopeful of going faster and keeping my 'A' Final place in the third and final qualifier but things got off to a bad start as I had a bit of a moment into the fast chicane at the end of the main staright and dropped myself a second or 2 and 2 places. As in the previous race things got better the longer the race went on and I recovered one place and went a further 2 seconds faster than my previous best run but it wasn't enough and i dropped to 12th overall, 5.5 seconds off 10th and the A Final. Still - 2nd on the grid for the 'B' Final was far better than i'd managed at West London or Southend so the target now was to win the 'B' Final

Is it 10 people fishing? No! It's the Stock 'B' Final drivers in deep concentration! ;)

Finals

So then, the finals were up next and it made a refreshing change to be on the front row of the 'B' Final as opposed to the back row as I was at West London and Southend! ;) Things got off to the worst possible start in leg 1 though as I misjudged the first turn and got wide onto the kerbing and spun to the outside of the track. Having to wait till all the other cars had gone through the corner to rejoin was extremley irritating and I was practically kicking myself for making such a stupid mistake! It was difficult to make progress from 10th through the tightly bunched field for the first minute of the race but after that people started stringing out and I began to pick them off one by one, 8th, then 6th a few laps later and I could see the leading bunch of three hadn't escaped too far. Pulling move after move at my favourite overtaking spots I was soon upto third and when the front two breifly tangled at the hairpin I was perfectly placed to slide through into the lead! Awesome! I just had to keep it tidy up front for the last minute or so to take the win and give us an excellent chance of taking the overall win after legs 2 and 3.

Ross looks up the inside of the 5 car of Stuart Thurtle on his charge through the field			Ross on his way to a front row 'B' Final start in qualifying

Into leg 2 then and this time my start was even worse. I followed the pole man into the chicane at a sensible speed only to be completley driven through by Colin which again dropped me to last. The charge through the field was harder this time and I again got turned around in a racing incident this time mid race. I was closing on the 6th pace car during the final laps but a sudden stab of interference sent me spinning into the chicane backwards and meant I had to settle for 7th - it was all going to go down to the 3rd leg.

Off the grid in leg three then and I made a good initial start, again following poleman Glen into the chicane but once again Colin drove into the back of me, not so hard this time though and I was just able to gather it up and keep 2nd place. I knew I couldn't afford to sit in second behind Glen so I began looking for a way past and it soon became a three way fight for the lead as Colin joined the group. It was great fun racing so close for the lead and hearing the commentator covering it. I made it past Glen into the hairpin one lap but his wider line on to the straight gave him the speed to get back through before we braked for the chicane. I tried going round the outside in the hairpin the next lap but we touched which slowed us both and allowed Colin through into the lead with me still in second. I set after Colin this time but it wasn't long before he made a mistake and I was through into a comfortable lead. I thought it would be an easy cruise to the line to take the win but on the penultimate lap I again got interference, this time in the middle of the right handed hairpin which sent my car left and off to the side of the track. Fortuntaly the marshal was on hand to turn the car round and the interference cleared but I had dropped to second. I was now doing quick math to work out if second was enough and yes it was. I still closed in on the leader but had to settle for second at the end which was still enough for the 'B' Final win after dropping my worst final leg result which was 7th in leg 2.

So some very controversial finals then but it was great to come out of it with a win and we really hope to get into the 'A' Final next time. However, we're not exactly sure when 'next time' will be as we may have to miss Round 4 at Snetterton as Dad races Northampton on the same day. We've just put in for a Snetterton entry but do not have a guaranteed place yet being the 43rd entry and thus 3rd reserve. Here's hoping the entry is once again increased to 50!

Thanks to Barry Hughes for the excellent photos of my car, it almost made up for him beating me to the last 'A' Final spot ;)

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