This years Interclub competition, like in previous years was planned to be held at the Harrogate outdoor track, but due to unforeseen circumstances the venue was not available.

Report and photos by Jimmy Storey

Race Data

The day started wet, free practice was run till about 9:30 am giving time to sort the heats out.
By the time of the first heat the track had dried up considerably which thanks to the weather it remained dry all day, with only a short shower around 2:20pm.

The track was a fairly typical Batley layout, the only difference was running a different route through the concrete section, which some cars took well and others had to take slowly or end up on their roof, even worse on the straight facing the wrong way!

The Clay banking had been worked on the day before, and was smooth enough in the morning, but during the day developed a few ruts. Overall the track was high grip.

At the NE Interclub, everyone starts at the same time as in a final, so to make everything fair, F1 graded drivers start almost a full lap behind by starting just in front of the transponder loop, F2 drivers were approximately 3/4 of a lap down, F3’s half a lap, F4’s ¼ lap, up to the F5 drivers who started just round the corner from the loop which would register their first lap. This made for some exciting racing as more experienced drivers reeled in newer drivers as the race went on, finishing around the same time, it also gave a chance for newer drivers to race against some of the best in the region which normally wouldn’t happen.

Batley had a lot of people wanting to race so on the day a few Batley members made up the numbers in a couple of the other teams. York A were favourites to win as they had for a number of years, their team having some experienced drivers, but Batley had also assembled a good team led by Kevin Kitchen, Batley A.
Right from the first round Batley-A were in the lead but certainly had to look back as the York A boys were right behind all the way. A gap of 5 points after the first round grew to 9 points in the 3rd but going into the last few heats of the final round York-A were right behind and looking to take the win. Some great driving by both teams kept the result at a mere 5 points gap after 50 races, with Batley-A coming out on top. There was a big gap down to Harrogate in third place, but the gap between Harrogate and Teesside was also very close at only 10 points.

^ Winners Batley A, Left to right:
Top: Kevin Kitchen, Andrew Pattison, Bruce Thompson, Andy Shillito, Andy Grason.
Bottom: Jim Sykes, Jimmy Storey, Carl Hopps, Steve Kirk. (John Price missing).

^ York A

Overall it was a great days racing, the weather held up nicely and the track was put away in record time letting those who travelled a long way to get back at a reasonable time..

More photos are available here.