race report:
Bedworth RCCC Winter Series Round 5 21st March 2004

The 5th and final round of Bedworth's Winter Series was raced on the new and exciting track layout recently laid.  Weather conditions were far from ideal, but did at least provide the opportunity to find both wet and dry car setups on the new track.  There was a good turnout with top drivers Olly Jefferies and Craig Drescher from Team Associated in attendance to get some practice in for the National events at Bedworth this coming summer season.  At the close of booking in, there were 32 Stock and 13 Super Stock drivers ready to race.

Craig Drescher (far right) and Olly Jefferies (3rd from right) getting to grips with the new Bedworth layout.

27 turn Stock Qualifying

Conditions for round 1 were wet, so careful was driving was needed to achieve a clean run.  Fastest out of the starting blocks was visiting driving Mark Fletcher who set an early FTD of 14/309s (Fastest lap: 20.77).  Current league leader Shane Dye was 4 seconds down in 2nd position with Tarnjit Bharaj, Marcus Gorvin and Adam Barker completing the top 5.  Championship top runners Stew Noble and Phil Chambers were way down in 12th and 13th positions respectively.

A few setup changes made by Shane Dye must have worked as in round 2, Shane set a new FTD ahead of Mark Fletcher in 2nd.  Stew Noble knuckled down to move up to 3rd spot with Paul Streather and Adam Barker completing the top five.

In round 3 came a pressure drive from Tarnjit Bharaj who before his 3rd run was languishing at the top of the B final.  Tarnjit was one of only a few drivers to improve his time and deservedly moved in the top 5 bumping Adam Barker down into 6th place.  Nice one Tarnjit.  The top five going into the A finals were Shane Dye, Mark Fletcher, Stew Noble, Paul Streather and Tarnjit Bharaj.

19 turn Super Stock Qualifying

Once again, there were enough drivers for two heats of 19t qualifying.  This class during the Winter Series has proved popular with a good show of driver numbers at each round.  Some of the 27t top lads will be looking at racing this class for the forthcoming Summer Series.  League leader going into this round was Nick Bruty who looked certain to secure the championship, but on a new track, anything could happen.  

After Round 1, Howard Harrison set FTD, but by default.  Due to a mix up with transponders, Howard's car was being counted twice and this explained Howard's ballistic fastest lap of 16.28 secs!!  Mark Traversoni was in 2nd on 13 laps, with Adi Wright, Barrie Yeend (good to see you back Baz) and recent Pro 4 convert Dave Irving in 5th.  

Round 2 of qualifying saw improvements for Ben Emery who stormed to take FTD with 14/304s.  Howard (without any help with lap counting!) was 2nd and Mark Traversoni was 3rd.  Nick Bruty and Barrie Yeend completed the top five.  

Round 3 of qualifying saw a fine pressure drive from Nick Bruty moving from 4th to pole with a good run.  Ben Emery moved down to 2nd with Adi Wright in 3rd spot.  Mark Traversoni and Ben Smith with his BMI TC3 completed the top five going into the finals.

27 turn A final Leg 1

Shane Dye assumed his regular spot on the grid - pole.  Shane has done well in this series and was now looking for 2 good finals to secure his first Winter Series title.  

Pole-man Shane was slow off the grid - maybe taking it easy on the damp circuit.  This allowed Mark Fletcher to move straight into the lead by the first corner.  Tarnjit and Stew Noble also moved past Shane on the opening lap.  Mark was well into the lead setting an early fastest lap of 19.18s.  Tarnjit started to close down Mark and set a new fastest lap, but a few mistakes cost him and Mark was able to maintain his lead.  At the 5 minutes, it was Mark followed by Tarnjit in 2nd.  Paul Streather was 3rd and pole-man Shane came home 4th. 

27 turn A final Leg 2

In the second leg of the Stock A final, Shane Dye was in no mood for anything less than a win.  Both he and Mark Fletcher made a clean start from the grid, but a small mistake by Shane let Mark through into the lead.  On the opening lap, both cars entered onto the straight side by side and it was Shane who edged ahead of Mark.  An off by Mark on lap 4 took the pressure of Shane whose car looked dialed.  Shane made the fastest lap of the race on lap 8 with 18.89s.  Stew Noble and Phil Chambers were having their own battle for 2nd and 3rd.  At the 5 minutes, Shane cruised over the line to take the win, with Stew in 2nd and Phil in 3rd.  

That's it! Another Winter Series over.  The finishing positions after round 5 are below:

27 turn Stock

19 turn Super Stock

Overall 27t Stock Winners (from left) Shane Dye (1st), Tarnjit Bharaj (3rd), Stew Noble (2nd)

Overall 19t Stock Winners (from left) Adi Wright (3rd), Nick Bruty (1st), Mark Traversoni (2nd)

View the results for this meeting.

Tech Charts

27 turn Stock

 19 turn Super Stock