Round 4 of the 2024 season was the first of 2 visits to the fantastic facility of North Ings Raceway. Without a doubt a racers favourite with the longest straight and hardest breaking zone of the season. Unfortunately, the British weather played a significant role over the weekend with lots of showers, keeping the track wet or damp until the very last finals on Sunday when it was starting to dry out and the top runners finally got to put some dry tyres on their cars.
Practice on Saturday was certainly a mixed bag as drivers looked to find any relatively dry running, they could, although with the showers getting more frequent as the afternoon went on, perhaps some wet practice wasn’t a bad idea!
Onto qualifying with the usual 2 rounds on Saturday and one Sunday morning. With 4WD boasting the largest class at this round, they started proceedings with 3 heats. At the end of Saturday, it was Dave Ashton and his MCD RR5 who had secured TQ with two 1st in round with Craig Orman and Dave Parish, who switched classes from Short Course after Round 3, fighting it out for P2. Sunday morning saw Dave Ashton take another 1st in round to cement TQ and with Dave Parish deciding not to run, that ensured Craig Orman took P2 with Dave Parish settling for P3. Andy Knight and Tommy Chung completed the top 5
Short Course qualifying played out very similar to 4WD buggy with Ian Oddie and his Losi 5ive-T securing TQ on Saturday with Tayler Letchford, Zach Whittleston and Jack Keatley battling for the places just behind. Sunday morning came and with a wet track, Tayler decided to sit the final qualifying out, could this be a mistake? If Jack or Zach took 1st in round that would bump them up to P2. In the end, Ian took 1st again and Tayler stayed in P2 with Zach P3 and Jack P4. Ross Bruce completed the top 5 with 3 solid runs.
2WD was a battle of the Elcon’s! Oliver Whittleston took TQ with his Traxx 2.0 just like Dave Ashton and Ian Oddie in the other classes with 3 1st in rounds. Behind him the fight between Karl Norris, Andy Blackburn and Craig Chilvers was swapping positions after each round. In the end Craig pipped them all to P2 with Karl P3 and Andy. Mark Higgins rounded up the top 5
After a quick lunchbreak where the burger truck and ice cream van did a roaring trade, it was time for the finals. The weather was improving, and the track was drying, but for the early finals, it was still a wet tyre and set up needed.
SC ¼ first up and Jake Faulkner, who had car issues all qualifying lined up in P2 and drove a blinding race to take the win from Martin Corbett in P2. James Clark was classified P3 but only managed 9 mins before he had to retire his car. Could he repair it for the ½ final?
4WD ¼ was a extremely close race with 5 cars all battling for the top 3 bump up places. In the end Adam Lea held on for a lights to flag win. Les Darby and Shaun Mellett completed the top 3 to bump up to the ½ final.
With 19 drivers in 2WD, the race director decided to run a 12 car ½ final and with a packed grid of very equally matched drivers it was surely going to be a great final. And it didn’t disappoint. After 5 mins the top 7 cars were separated by just 11 seconds. With places changing every lap, those who could keep the car on 4 wheels on a drying damp track would surely come out on top. In the end Mindaugas Klenauskas took the win from pole with Dean Coulson and Mick Auty, who started 7th finishing P2 and P3 respectively to earn their places in the main final.
Short Course ½ final time. James Clark unfortunately wouldn’t start due to engine issues so 9 drivers lined up. Local lad Luke Milne drove a faultless drive from P1 to take the win by a lap on the field and Junior Jake Faulkner climbed from P8 on the grid to take P2 and another bump up. Paul Scrase rounded out the top 3 and the final bump up position.
Another local lad, Roger Smith took the win from P2 in the 4WD ½ final with a very close battle behind him for 2nd and 3rd between John Bell and Josey Schifano. In the end, John took P2 by just under 5 seconds. The top 3 all one lap up on the rest of the finishers.
Onto the main finals, and 2WD was up first. The track continuing to dry out made the tyre choice a difficult one, but all 10 cars opted for a dry tyre, would they have the grip? The top 5 drivers got away cleanly, and grip was certainly hard to come by but it was improving all the time. Oliver Whittleston built a lead of a full lap after 18 mins and look certain for the win but a loose wheel and unbolted engine brought an abrupt end to his race and retired after 22 mins. That left the door open for those behind with Karl and Craig battling for it out for P1. In the end Karl managed to pull out a gap to P2 and win by a lap from P3 on the grid with Craig Chilvers P2 and Andy Blackburn completing the podium. Congratulations to Mick Auty who came home in P8 and take top clubman.
2 finals left, the tack was drying even more and now it was the time of the Short Course trucks. Ian Oddie led the pack of the grid and was being challenged closely by Tayler Letchford in the opening laps. Zach Whittleston and Jack Keatley were battling it out for P3. After 3 mins, Ian Oddie made an unexpected pit stop for a disconnected steering rod which gave Taylor the lead and now Zach and Jack battling for P2. Ian was however on a mission and with some of the fastest laps of the weekend was climbing his way back through the field. The fight for P2 ended after 6 mins when Zach had to retire with a poorly engine giving Tayler and Jack a clean run to the finish, but the drama wasn’t over. Ian managed to catch Jack for P2 before Jack had to retire the car due to a damaged wishbone. Could Ian catch Tayler? Simple answer, no. Another pit stop was needed to reconnect the steering linkage again which ensured Tayler took the win with a very consistent drive, Ian in P2 and Andrew Stephenson in P3 and his first national podium and 1st place clubman.
Last final of the day, 4WD buggy. The track was certainly dry now, could this change the performance of some of the drivers and cars? Dave Ashton lined up on pole and got away well, leading for almost 15 mins, before Tommy Chung who had started P6 managed to pass Dave to take the lead after climbing through the field. As the track dried further Dave Parish was able to take P2 from Dave Ashton after a mistake with just 6 mins to go. That’s how they cross the line with Tommy taking P1 meaning Elcon Models won all three classes, Dave Parish in P2 and Dave Ashton P3. Well done to Josey Schifano who came home in P7 to take top clubman.
With just 1 more round before our summer break for the European Championships, where Team GB are taking a team of 35 drivers, we hope to see everyone trackside at Pickering RC track for Round 5. Booking is now open at https://www.brca.org/events/lsor-nationals
