2000 HPI Challenge UK
11 June 2000
Round Five - Bedworth
The
HPI series headed of towards the Midlands, the Bedworth track to be precise….
Now those of you who know the Bedworth track realise that when
I say precise, I mean precise, because daft as it sounds to go quick round
Bedworth you need to be able to run consistent, following laps. So let’s
see how everybody went…
First
things first. Where is Bedworth
MCC? Well it’s situated within
the grounds of Bedworth Rugby Club, so as you can imagine catering, toilet
facilities and best of all - a licence bar (obviously only for those that
were not driving!!!) were there for all to use.
Oh and did I forget to mention the fantastic weather.
I think we’re making up for the poor weather we had last year…
As
usual we organised a model shop (Mikes Models) to be on hand all day as
usual had a good supply of spares and accessories for those that needed
them?
Steve
Wheeler won the Concourse competition again with a beautifully painted
Alfa GTV. So for the
umpteenth time this year Steve wins the Concourse – come on guys, we need
some other skilled painters….
Anyway,
off with the racing, we had 13 heats so we predicted a busy and long day
ahead, well we were wrong, because Bob Burr and his merry men ‘raced’
us through the day and we all got home before midnight.
We’ve
notice quite a few racers running the new Sport 2 cars and looking very
competitive too! Infact there
were 3 heats of Electric Sports at Bedworth, we also had a full turn out
of 60 Pro drivers and a load of local drivers turning up.
We also cater for the ladies, with the young talents of Kristy
Rosenberg (8) and Sarah Janes (9) racing in the HPI Challenge - on more
than one occasion these two gave the boys a run for their money…
Qualifying
– Mini
Michael
Creasey took the lead here with 14-305.440 ahead of Thomas Brooks also
on fourteen and Kevin Davies on thirteen laps. This round of the championships
saw last years winner Lee Groves making a come back. By round three all
drivers were on fourteen laps apart from Keith Brooks who was trailing
on twelve. The first three in the final were set to be Michael, Kevin
and Lee with only five seconds separating them all.
Qualifying
– Sport
Dominic
Carter put in an 18-314.880, a time he was unable to improve on all day.
Alan Harrington was a close second, leading a small pack of racers all
on seventeen laps. The only mishap was from yours truly, who due to crystal
failure saw his car fly across the track and into the fence. Round two
saw Ricky Copsey move up to third with 17-301.240, while in round three
Peter Winton took the lead and put in the only other eighteen lapper in
Sport class, on 18-312.270.
Qualifying
– Pro
This
turned out to be a two horse race, with Robin Hammet, 19-301.900, and
Kevin Brunsden, 19-307.410 taking first and second and then staying there
all through qualifying, leaving the others to battle it out between themselves.
In the end Peter Sergeant took third on the grid with 19-309.530 ahead
of Fraser Low, less than half a second behind. The surprising thing was
that with fifty-two drivers in the class, more than half of them were
less than two laps behind! Which meant that the diving was competitive
all day.
Qualifying
– Super Nitro
HPI’s
own Greg Hill was to take an early lead here with a time of 18-302.240
ahead of Nick Bruty and Dominic Carter, both on seventeen laps. Round
two saw no change at the top, but in heat three Dominic was to move ahead
of Nick with a time of 18-314.440. In round three Syd Evens moved up to
take forth place on the grid.
Qualifying
– Nitro Stock
More
than usual in this class which meant more competition for the racers.
Heat one saw Andy Knowlton and John Davie fighting it out for fist place
with just half a second between them, Andy came out on top with a 16-317.690.
In heat two John wasn’t taking this lying down and took the lead with
a time of 16-303.590. Heat three saw no change at the top, so it was to
be Andy Knowlton, John Davie and Matt Colwill in third place.
Qualifying
– Nitro Modified
Here
we saw the top three put in times that were to remain unbeaten all day
throughout qualifying. This meant that Marc Knight 18-317.260, Steven
Brunsden 17-315.980 and Howard Harrison 16-301.780 were to hold on to
the top three places respectively.
Finals
– First Leg
Mini
– A
Lee
Groves moved up from third on the grid to take the win, nearly fifteen
seconds ahead of second place Michael Creasey. Kevin and Mike battled
it out for third with Kevin just taking it in this leg.
Sport
– C
One
for the girls this, Kristy Rosenberg took the win ahead of newcomer Sarah
Janes. Sarah was obviously nervous in her first final, but apart from
a couple of mistakes ran a slow but good run. Graham Godwin had to retire
after just two laps, but at least he’d get the third place.
Sport
– B
Alex
Colins got the win with fifteen laps ahead of Andrew Bowket also on fifteen.
Phillip Brown did well to move up from seventh to take third just in front
of Barry Champion.
Sport
- A
Adam
Read moved from sixth to take first place, with seventeen laps, ahead
of pole man Peter Winton just a second behind. Mathew Truelove came in
third just a second behind Peter and also put in a seventeen lapper. Alan
Harrington dropped from third to sixth after being taken out big time,
while Darren Griffiths moved up from tenth to seventh in his first real
A-Final.
Pro
– F
James
Flaczynski took first here, not difficult as he was the only one in this
heat. Due to awkward numbers of entrants he had actually been running
in the Sport – C Final, but he still got his points for a first place
win.
Pro
– E
Team
CBA, team mates David Lipiatt and Mike Rolinson Battled it out for first
place with Mike just Loosing out and having to put up with second. Dave
Thomas came third just a lap behind and Paul Rosenberg dropped into fourth.
Pro
– D
A
good win here for Pat Piesley on sixteen laps, ahead of David Hall and
Craig Russell both also on sixteen. Andy Lloyd put in a great run to move
from ninth to fourth but couldn’t quite make the top three.
Pro
– C
Jimmy
Maddison took the win with seventeen laps, but the big battle was between
Ian Pullman and Steve Wheeler for second. Ian just got it despite Steve
being less than a quarter of a second behind, fourth place was taken by
Kit Jones who couldn’t quite manage the seventeen lap pace of the top
three.
Pro
– B
Another
close one this, with the battle for first between Matthew Truelove and
Jon Withington, being decided by just one second in Mathew’s favour. Although
Jon had an excellent run considering he started from tenth on the grid.
Third place was to go to Dominic Carter again just a second ahead of his
nearest competitor Stuart Crates in fourth.
Pro
– A
Kevin
Brunsden took the win here with an almost faultless nineteen-lap run.
A few seconds behind but on nineteen as well was Peter Sargeant in second.
The race for third was a lot closer, with Darren Styles taking the win
just three quarters of a second ahead of pole man Robin Hammett, who had
dropped to fourth.
Super
Nitro – A
A
good win here for Greg Hill, two laps clear of the rest, putting in a
time of 18-312.800 (I think we should handicap his car, he wins too often.)
Nick Bruty was second with sixteen laps and James Hart came in third with
fourteen.
Nitro
Stock – A
Pole
man John Davie couldn’t quite hold out against the challenge from Andy
Knowlton who took the win. Matt Colwill started in third and held it till
the end, albeit a lap behind the two leaders.
Nitro
Modified – A
Howard
Harrison had a good run here to move up from third to take the win, ahead
of Steven Brunsden in second place, both of them putting in good sixteen
lap times. Third place went to Keith Knight who moved up from sixth on
the grid, but was a lap down on the pace of the front two.
Finals
– Second Leg
Mini
– A
Lee
Groves won again here a full lap ahead of the rest, proving to the others
why he’d won the title last season. Kevin Davis came second ahead of Mike
Rolinson took third after holding off Thomas Brooks by just half a second.
Sport
– C
A
win here for Graham Godwin, on fourteen laps. Second went to Kristy Rosenberg
ahead of young Sarah Janes. Despite coming last Sarah obviously loved
her first taste of competition, and had the biggest smile of all.
Sport
– B
With
fifteen laps it was a win here for Barry Champion. Phillip Brown took
second place ahead of Roy Rogers, who did very well to move up from eighth
on the grid to take his third place.
Sport
– A
Peter
Winton had a great run managing to hold on to his pole position to the
end giving him the win. Ricky Copsey moved from fourth to second ahead
of Dominic Carter who started in second but dropped a place to finish
in third. Championship leader Alan Harrington couldn’t quite match the
rest today and was only able to take fourth place.
Pro
– F
James
Flaczynski had this one all to himself again, giving him the win and the
points for first.
Pro
– E
A
win here for David Lipiatt on sixteen laps, a lap clear of the rest. Second
was to go to Dave Wright who had moved up from fifth. Meanwhile thanks
to a couple of spin-offs pole man Mike Rolinson could only manage a third
place.
Pro
– D
This
was a close one with the top four being separated by just seconds, but
eventually the win went to Pat Piesley. David Hall took second place and
third went to Barrie Yeend.
Pro
– C
Jimmy
Maddison got the win with seventeen laps ahead of Steven Wheeler who couldn’t
better his second place start. Nick Millet had a tremendous run to move
up from ninth to take the third place spot, just beating Martin Kowalski
by half a second.
Pro
- B
James
Hart put in a good run of eighteen laps to earn himself first place. Dominic
Carter, also on eighteen, took the second place ahead of Stuart Crates
a lap behind, but enough to give him third place ahead of Syd Evans.
Pro
– A
Robin
Hammett showed why he’d earned pole and stayed there till the end to get
the win with a good nineteen-lap time. Second went to Kevin Brunsden who
held on to his second place start, with third going to Fraser Low who
did well to make the move up from fourth.
Super
Nitro – A
Greg
Hill won again here (yawn), but seriously Greg did well and was two full
laps clear of second place man James Hart. Third went to Nick Bruty, despite
being quite a few laps off the pace still managed to hold off the challenge
from Syd Evans.
Nitro
Stock – A
Andy
Knowlton and Lee Groves were the only two to put in twenty-nine laps,
and despite Andy taking the win, Lee was only a few seconds behind and
had obviously got his car troubles sorted out at last. David Wright who
although being a lap down on the others put in a great run and took third
place.
Nitro
Modified – A
Howard
Harrison stormed ahead here and took the win two laps clear of the rest,
putting in a fast thirty-two laps. Second went to Adam Read on thirty
laps and third to Pat Piesley, just two behind Adam.
The
end of another great day's racing, everyone seemed to enjoy themselves,
and that’s exactly what this championship is about. Thanks to Bedworth
for all the hard work they put in on the day. All that remains now is
to pack up, go home and start getting ready for Round 6 – West London.
See you there.
Click
here for the current points standings!