Round 7 was the sections second visit to North Ings in 2024 and the weather forecast played true to form with a dry day on Saturday and a wet day on Sunday.
In all 3 classes, qualifying was decided on Saturday with Ian Oddie, Dave Ashton and Oliver Whittleston all taking TQ in SC, 4WD and 2WD respectively.
After a full day of dry running on Saturday the drivers prepared for Sunday finals with mixed weather reports. 4WD C Final was up first and Simon Vowles drove an exceptional race from 8th on the grid to take the win with Kevin Sexton crossing the line 2nd and Graham King 3rd to all earn bump up positions to the B final. After a difficult quaffing Neil Young took the B Final win from 8th on the grid with Paul Wadman and Josey Schifano all earning bump ups to the Main A Final. In the main final Dave Ashton lined up in P1 knowing a win was critical to keep the championship alive. Dave’s championship contender, Tommy Chung unfortunately had to retire after 18 mins leaving the door open for Dave. After a close battle with Dave Parish, Mr Ashton was able to cross the line in P1 and maintain his title challenge into R8. Craig Orman completed the podium.
In 2WD, Dean Coulson lined up on pole in the B final, but it was P3 lady Kayleigh Knight who took the win with a very consistent drive. Dean crossed the line second and Kev Churchill who started P6 due to only running Sunday secured the final bump up spot to the main final. As has been the case all season Oliver started on pole and initially got away well but a couple of mistakes let Karl Norris and Andy Blackburn challenge for the lead in the early minutes. Then the rain came, and with all cars on dry set ups, the next 25 mins were going to prove a real challenge. Craig Chilvers and Oliver showed the most composure in difficult conditions building a gap to the pack and it was Craig who crossed the line first just ahead of Oliver to secure his 1st National win and top step on the podium. Andy Blackburn completed the podium.
In SC, European Champion Tayler Letchford found himself out of position in the C final after some mechanical issues during qualifying but with a horn to flag drive in the C final he progressed to the B final along with Martin Corbett and Paul Gresty. B Final Pole sitter Zach Whittleston also found himself out of position after some mechanical issues also in qualifying but showed his ability with a horn to flag drive with Tayler moving from 8thto 2nd and challenging Zach for the lead for the last 5 mins. Andy Spence secured the last bump up to the main final. Onto the main final and with pole sitter Ian Oddie knowing a podium would secure the National Title he set his stall out well showing excellent pace in the first half of the race to build a gap to his title contender Alfie-Jack Shilcock and Jack Keatley in third. Further down the grid, Zach was moving through the field after starting from 8th on the grid and when Jack retired due to a blown tyre, Zach moved into third. Unfortunately, he also had a blown tyre but managed to nurse the car home for the final podium spot behind Ian and Alfie. Congratulations Ian Oddie on his national title and to Andrew Stephenson who crossed the line in P6 and top clubman to secure the SC 2024 Clubman title.
Full results from this round and every round of the 2024 season are available on the BRCA LSOR MyRCM site
The final round of the season will see us visit a new track at North West Nitro which is also a dirt track, the first-time racing on dirt for a few years in LSOR. With the SC and 2WD titles all decided all eyes will be on the 4WD titles. Can Dave beat Tommy and can Josey hold off the charge from Ian Gardiner in the clubman championship? Don’t miss it, get booked in today at https://www.brca.org/events/lsor-nationals