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2004 North East Regional Series Results
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10th Electric Off Road York - 10th / 11th July 2004
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York Outdoor Regional The 4th round of the 2004 2WD series and the 4th and last round of the 2004 4WD series was held at Wigginton Sports & Squash Club near York, which is the home of the York Off Road Car Clubs outdoor meetings. The track is of temporary nature, being laid out on a practice football pitch. Even though it is what would usually be known as a flat grass track, the surface does have some interesting dips and rises which make what can look like an easy track a little more challenging. Thanks to Teesside for lending the York club their track marking. I know some criticized the “white boards” (eh, Andy “it would be rude not to hit the white boards” Fox?), but the main problem of not being able to see your car at an apex was nicely solved by sinking most of the track marking into the ground! And if you still can’t see, stand on a box! (just like Northy!)
Due to the weather forecast being pretty poor for both days, the decision was taken to run Round by Round qualifying. This turned out to be the best decision, as although it didn’t rain during the racing on the Saturday (it rained afterwards while track alterations were taking place for the Sunday), it did rain during the racing on the Sunday. If Davey G is to be believed, this made a huge difference to the track conditions during his heat, but then it must have dried instantly, as the heat after were “lucky bambinos” I believe was similar to the term he used! In all seriousness, it rained very little, and didn’t affect the racing much at all; in fact personally I had more fun, with a bit of sideways action and tank-slappers in the “lucky” heat! J
Over the two days the track held together very well, with no significant bumps or holes appearing, and in the second round the grip levels seemed to get slightly higher, before getting back to being very consistent. Indeed, there were none of the usual comments about the track “being knackered” in the third or fourth round, and allowed people to set consistent and competitive times throughout the day (if the talent allowed). There were even a few mentions of York being well up to holding a National in the future. Remember, you heard it here first! Schumacher Yellow Mini-spike tyres were again the tyre to be on, but when the track got a little damp, a few drivers tried something a little different. The most bizarre of which must have been the Academy tyres, which for some reason have the word “Splendid” written on the side wall! It was suggested by a few drivers that new tyres could be called “Marvellous”, “Kin Cool”, “Impressive” and other random things!
The racing was very close, with the track being fast and still challenging. The track was not one of the normal point and squirt jobs, with some very good sequences of curves, which really rewarded the driver with a good lap time if the sequence was taken correctly! If not, a lot of valuable time could be lost. Whoever designed the track thoroughly deserves a pat on the back, for creating two excellent days of racing. J A big thanks must also go to all the non York members that helped with the track on the Saturday and Sunday (you know who you are).
The 2wd “Driver of the Day” goes to Steven Pierce. Not for racing his buggy this time, but for his skilful manoeuvrings of a road roller! This was used on Friday night to flatten out some of the more serious divots, unfortunately the roller deposited a decent amount of oil over a large section of the track which resulted in at least a quarter of the track being redesigned late into the evening.
The 4wd “Driver of the Day” goes to Dan Greenwood. Finishing 2nd at this meeting and 3rd overall, this is Dan’s first year in 4wd.
There was very much a party atmosphere in the pits, and with very few two-day regionals nowadays, this one allowed some people to have a bit of fun. I believe the picture shows it all really. Its always a good night on the Saturday, lets see if we can get more drunks on the rostrum next year! Everyone enjoyed themselves, Carl showed he’s ever the racer, on and off the track, and if he sees a gap, he’s got to go for it!!!!!!
The only disappointing part of the weekend was some interference problems. These were never really resolved, even though the York club did everything in their power to cure the problem. The speakers were taken down, and even the catch fencing, anything metal that could be moved was. Hopefully, the problem can be resolved for next years meeting. With the 4wd series over now, here’s a look at how the top ten finished:
Graham will be unable to do the report for the last round of the 2wd series as he’s not going to be there due to work commitments (free holiday), if you would like to do the report please let Brian know. Thanks to Phil Studley, Derek Bradby and the rest of the York crew for an excellent meeting!
2004 Outdoor Calendar |
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