Adur Valley World Championship :
Rounds 3 and 4 : 30 May and 13 June 2010.
Regular readers of this report will know that it has been missing for a couple of races. This is basically due to idleness although holidays have meant that no-one has been available to pick it up from the bus shelter where the ghost writer leaves it.
To quickly bring you upto date Mick Holmes won Round 3 to continue his winning ways. This was not the main event as we had the final sign that Summer was approaching when Dez Earl turned up in his shorts as temperatures were rumoured to be approaching 28 degC. He was soon back to his old ways and came in second ahead of Nick Smith. A new driver was also welcomed into the Inner Sanctum of 1/10 RTR drivers as Damien Thomas (Scootmien) turned up.
For Round 4 Mick Holmes was off on a lad’s jolly with Nick (Toilet) Herridge but Ray Hinkins returned. With Mick away the racing was always going to be closer. After being headed by Tim Hamilton and Nick Smith who both drove very well in the heats it was Ray that just took the final win after a very good battle with Carl Osborne and Nick Smith. Carl retired late on but Nick came in a very close second with Dez Earl in third. Dez had speeded up by 2 laps from the final of Round 3. The highlight of the day was that Nick’s wife turned up to add a bit of glamour to the pit area. We would print her name if we could remember and spell it but we understand it is of Swedish extraction. Her main contribution to the day was that after racing had finished she promptly spanked the oval circuit barrier with Nick’s car. If she had done it before the race it would have saved Ray some very hard work.
Round 5 : 4 July 2010.
The main contenders were all back in action for this round and the drivers on the day were Mick Holmes, Nick Smith, Dez Earl, Carl Osborne, Ray hinkins, Tim Hamilton and Nathan Smith.
When they turned up the sun was shining and it wasn’t raining so they pitted together out in the open where they could keep a close eye on each other. After a while they all got fired up, wished each other good luck and off they went to race with thoughts of winning but their memories are short and they forgot about the results from earlier rounds.
The First, Second, Third and Fourth Heats.
Winning immediately went out of the window for six drivers as Mick dominated the heats and registered 15 laps on three occasions. Nick did manage to struggle a win when Mick hit trouble but it was Mick’s day as this was the first time that an RTR car had registered 15 laps of the Full Monty track layout at Adur. However, it is not the place of this report to praise the good but it is our responsibility to dwell on the poor, the embarrassing and the simply laughable.
Carl was running much better than usual and held onto second place for the final grid. This was due to him playing with his monster truck during the breaks which meant that he couldn’t fiddle with the settings on his race car which is usually his ultimate downfall. Ray took third place for the final. After a couple of good early runs he started to have problems with his car and he would struggle for the rest of the day. These were not the only problems that would come his way as the day unfolded. Dez was again quietly getting the job done and would end up fourth on the grid ahead of Tim. It was at about this time that Tim was telling everyone that would listen about how he was the fastest driver on the track. Somebody must soon break it to him that races last 5 mins and therefore you have to have fuel in the tank after 4 mins 7 secs. You must also be in the lead at the end of 5 mins to be the fastest on the track. The brothers Smith were not having a good day. Nick may have won a heat but their poor form was put down to the fact that Nick’s wife was not there to go over the garage to get the food and do all the other fetching and carrying.
The Lunch Break.
Following his domination of the heats, Mick was reported to the scrutineers but his car was found to be legal. However, drugs in sport reared it’s ugly head as he was found to have an unacceptably high level of Cornish Pasty in his blood stream. We wait to see if he will be penalised for his actions.
At about this time an official announcement was made to the effect that Ray would now be the butt of all jokes from the drivers in the RTR class plus Chris McLeavery. It would appear that drivers in the other classes can also join in if they so wish.
The Final.
After the usual frantic start, Mick set off and was only seen again as he lapped the field. That was a very good demonstration and it upsets the rest of us greatly that he now has 3 wins from 3 starts. Ray was 3 laps down with his troubled car but he just held onto second place ahead of Dez. He again got quietly on with the job and again he had speeded up a couple of laps on his result from Round 4.
It has to be seen that the podium was therefore filled with the more mature drivers (some are more mature than others) as they triumphed over the young upstarts.
Carl came in fourth but Tim and the Smiths did not have a good run. Nathan was heard to loudly apologise to everyone in turn as he played bumper cars around the track. These apologies were quickly accepted as he treated everyone equally and he didn’t have any particular colour, make of car or driver that he was aiming at.
After the racing was finished.
Ray returned to his car to find that for some reason he had left the ignition on and the battery was flat. What did the other drivers do…..well of course they had a good laugh as Ray is the butt of all jokes. After this it has to be said that Dez and Chris got him going and they are owed a big thankyou even though they will keep on about it for about the next 2 years at least.
This was not the end of it for Ray as he took Carl to drop him off in Broadbridge Heath where his Mum picks him up. As they approached the drop off point they got behind his Mum who was in a horsebox with her mate. But his Mum had forgotten about Carl and didn’t stop. There followed about
a 5 mile chase through the lanes towards Cranleigh until cars between them turned off and then flashing lights and horns sounding brought them to a halt. Some were heard to say that his Mum had got her horses and was making a bid for freedom while Carl was out for the day. Carl could have become an orphan there and then but Ray did not fancy adopting him which is why he was so determined to stop the runaway Mum.
Was that the end for Ray. No. Carl left his controller in the back of the car so then there was a 50 mile round trip to return it.
Things got better on Monday though as Ray learned that he had a good chance of winning the big prize in a Readers Digest prize draw if he would just return the enclosed form.
So that was it. A good day’s racing that was enjoyed by all even though we didn’t get a sniff at winning. Although it hurts we have to say very well done to Mick but of course we know that it is the car that does it and not his driving. Plans are now being hatched to get him at the next Round.
Please note that due to holidays there will be no Report after Round 6 that is to be run on 25 July 2010.
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