2 Wheel Drive - Round 1
Report by Kash Khan and Brian Hopps.

Race and Championship Data 2WD

A NEW SEASON, NEW CLUB, AND A NEW TRACK !

The opening meeting of the outdoor regional series was held by the newly formed club Teesdale Park Buggy Club.

This was their first competitive meeting so it was interesting to see how it would turn out. There were a few concerns as to whether the event was going ahead because there was a large amount of rainfall leading up to the weekend. However drainage on the site is excellent so the track wasn’t affected by this, but the cricket pitch close by had become a large duck pond.

The club is situated in the Teesside area in the Thornaby Football Club grounds, the club has allowed Teesdale Park Buggy Club to use what was once a bowling green, which had been there for around 85years. Looking over the bowling green there was a large pavilion which was unfortunately burned down on Boxing Day, which delayed the work that the club had planned for setting the track and pitting area up. However Team Teesdale did a really good job, making sure that the first regional went ahead on time. Ok that’s enough of the history lesson for now, back to racing.

Presently the track is all grass, and being a former bowling green is very flat! A few wooden jumps were added to make it more interesting, and there will be some permanent features to come later in the year as club and track development continues. With two small jumps along the back that set a challenge for a few drivers to try and clear them in one. A number of people managed this but couldn’t get a consistent landing. It was amusing to watch though but very busy if for marshals at that point.
The laps were reasonably long with the faster drivers managing to complete a lap in around 25 seconds.

Round by Round was chosen for qualifying and tyre choices varied with most combinations working but most drivers chose to use Schumacher Yellow Mini Spikes.

TQ was set by the very consistent Richard Lowe, he won each round of qualifying with all of his times within 6 seconds. Both Ben Riley and Stuart Wood had 4 points after qualifying but Ben, leaving it until the last round, managed to take 2nd on the grid by the fact he had a faster time.

Ben Riley went on to win the meeting taking the lead from Richard in the first lap. Richard kept the pressure on Ben throughout the race but made a mistake in the closing laps to give Ben a comfortable five second win.

It was good to be back outdoors again, and makes us look forward to the next event.
I would like to say a Big Thanks to Derek Bradby for running race control who's help was greatly appreciated by all of Team Teesdale.

Derek Bradby and Race Director Malcolm Hebden showing off the trophy won by the North East Region at the recent National Indoor Finals.

Note that the next Regional meeting (4WD Round 1) due to take place at Harrogate on 8th May has had to be cancelled. This is due to access problems at the St John's Fisher venue and drainage works at Beckwithshaw, we are currently trying to re-arrange the 2WD Regional on 26th June. If you have registered your email on the North East booking in site, you will be sent information regarding this in due course, and there also will be information posted on Racechat.

2005 Outdoor Calendar
Sun 17th April 2WD NE Regional - TEESDALE
Sun 08th May 4WD NE Regional - HARROGATE CANCELLED
Sat 04th June 4WD NE Regional - BURY METRO
Sun 05th June 2WD NE Regional - BURY METRO
Sun 12th June 4WD NE Regional - TEESDALE
Sun 26th June 2WD NE Regional - HARROGATE TO BE CONFIRMED
Sat 02nd July 2WD NE Regional - BATLEY
Sun 03rd July 4WD NE Regional - BATLEY
Sat 20th August 4WD NE Regional - YORK
Sun 21st August 2WD NE Regional - YORK

Sun 04th September NE INTERCLUB HARROGATE