Bedworth RCCC Winter Series Round 4 - 15^th February 2004

There was a wet start to round 4 of the Winter Series following overnight rain.  This was to result in a mixture of track conditions during qualifying to contend with.  Despite the wet conditions, there were 39 racers booked in (27 Stock, 12 Super Stock).  League leaders going into this round were Shane Dye (27t Stock) and Nick Bruty (19t Super Stock) - both drivers looking for a good result to stay in the top spot. 

27 turn Stock Qualifying

Another good turnout of drivers in this class meant some competitive racing during the day.  Tyre of choice for most drivers in round 1 was the Pit Wet Treaded tyre, which performs well when there is standing water on the track.  Coping the best during round 1 with the wet track was Tarnjit Bharaj who cruised in with a time of 17/307, 5 seconds ahead of current league leader Shane Dye.  Fresh from racing indoors the day before was Phil Chambers who was 3rd fastest with a 16 lapper.  Craig Daffron and Stew Noble made up the top 5 after round 1.  Adam Barker who was 4th in the league before this meeting was way down in 14th place following a bad qualifying run. 

In round 2, the track was in that in-between state, where grip levels are low on a greasy surface.  Not surprisingly, there were no improvements to the top five and all remained in the same positions.  

By round 3, the track was drying and had a few dry spots in places where you could really nail the power down.  The only person to improve out of the top five was Stew Noble, who moved up to 3rd with a 17 lapper, just 0.5 sec behind Shane's qualifying time, bad luck Stew!  So the top five going into the Finals were Tarnjit Bharaj, Shane Dye, Stew Noble, Phil Chambers and Craig Daffron.  Well done to Tarnjit for his first pole of the Winter Series.

19 turn Super Stock Qualifying

Once again, there were enough drivers in this class to have two qualifying heats.  

As with the 27 turn runners, most of the fastest qualifying times would be set in round 1.  Mark Traversoni who has over 13 years racing experience under his belt set the fastest time, but only just, with a charging Nick Bruty closely behind to take 2nd with his Yokomo.  Many expected to see Nick racing a new HPI Pro 4 at this round, but Nick was driving his Yokomo which has performed well for him during the series.  In 3rd place was Ben Emery and Ben Smith and Bob Burr were 4th and 5th respectively.  

Round 2 saw a greasy track to contend with and none of the top 5 improved their times. 

In round 3, despite dry patches on the track, none of the top five improved so for the Finals, the top 5 would be:  Mark Traversoni, Nick Bruty, Ben Emery, Ben Smith and Bob Burr. 

27 turn A final Leg 1

On pole this time was Tarnjit Bharaj with his Tamiya Evo, showing that persistence and hard work can pay dividends.

Tarnjit got away cleanly and was well clear of the multiple car pile up at the bus stop chicane on the first lap.  Phil Chambers benefited from the crash, to move into 2nd place to chase Tarnjit who was streaking away with a clear track ahead of him.  2nd on the grid Shane Dye lost places as a result of that first lap pile up, and was well down but fighting back.  On lap 4, Phil made a mistake which cost him several seconds, which allowed Tarnjit to extend his lead further.  Phil set an early fastest lap of the race, which was over 0.5 sec faster than anyone else on the circuit.  Stew and Shane were battling through the field to move up to 3rd and 4th positions.  After 3 bad laps, Phil settled down mid-race to push harder to catch Tarnjit and at 4:30mins, Phil was just under 1.2 seconds behind Tarnjit.  It was going to be a close finish between these two and on the final lap there was drama!  As both Phil and Tarnjit raced down the middle straight down towards the Dunlop bank, Phil made a move on Tarnjit.  Side by side, both cars collided and took a detour over the grass.  Both recovered as best as they could, but the incident did allow Stew Noble and Shane Dye to take 1st and 2nd respectively.  Phil finished 3rd and Tarnjit was 4th - bad luck guys.

27 turn A final Leg 2

In the second leg of the Stock A final, Tarnjit  made a clean start as usual and quickly built up a comfortable lead ahead of Shane Dye.  Tarnjit was in no mood to lose this final, and settled down to put the fastest lap of the race in, nearly 4/10th faster than anyone else.  This final was uneventful with Tarnjit, Shane and Stew Noble never losing position.  At 5 minutes,  Tarnjit cruised over the line to take a comfortable win ahead of Shane and Stew.  Craig Daffron and Paul Streather were 4th and 5th respectively.  A good win then for pole man Tarnjit.

27 turn Final winners (from left): Tarnjit Bharaj (3rd), Shane Dye (1st), Stew Noble (2nd)

19 turn A final Leg 1  

The 19 turn A finalists didn't wait long for their first crash, this happened on the first corner (sweeper) with several drivers caught up in the mayhem.  Mark and Nick got away cleanly, with Adi Wright taking advantage of the pile-up to move up from 7th to 3rd.  By lap 3, Nick had caught Mark, and made a pass to take 1st place.  Mark didn't let Nick pull away, and for while was less than a second behind Nick.  On lap 7, disaster for Nick as he ended up in one of the recently dug pits (for the new track), which allowed Mark to retake the lead.  Nick rejoined the track and was lucky only to have lost 1 place.  Adi was still in 3rd being closely followed by Chris Cook.  By lap 12, Mark had extended his lead to 8 seconds ahead of Nick and looked certain to take the win.  At 5 minutes, sure enough it was Mark who took the win, with Nick in 2nd and Adi in 3rd.  Chris Cook and Ben Smith completed the top 5 finishers.

19 turn A final Leg 2

Another clean start for pole-man Mark, but Nick suffered a spin at the hairpin to lose positions.  Ben Smith moved up to 2nd to chase Mark, only to be involved with a collision with Bob Burr.  This allowed Adi to move up to 2nd place, closely followed by Bob.  Nick was starting to come back after his first lap spin, and was chasing the two Ben's for 4th place, and by lap 7 Nick had caught and passed Ben Smith.  On laps 8 and 9, race leader Mark Traversoni suffered interference down the back straight which allowed Adi and Bob to move up a place.  Adi started to push for the lead and did briefly take it, but backmarkers allowed Bob to take advantage and retake 1st place.  Nick moved up to 3rd just under 5 seconds behind the leaders.  At the 5 minutes, it was a race to the finish line between Adi and Bob, but it was Bob who took the win, closely followed by Adi, with Nick in 3rd, Ben Smith in 4th and Mark Traversoni in 5th.    

Thanks to Tarnjit and Phil for taking notes during the 19t A finals.

19 turn Final winners (from left) Mark Traversoni (3rd), Nick Bruty (1st) and Adi Wright (2nd)

After round 4 of the series, the top 3 league standings are as follows:

27 turn Stock

19 turn Super Stock

See you at the last round of the series on 21st March 2004!  

View the results for this meeting.

Tech Charts

27 turn Stock

 19 turn Super Stock