1/32 BOC 2012/13 British Open Championship
Copyright © 2012 British Slot Car Racing Association Photos copyright P.Clarkson All rights reserved
Unusually but encouragingly for the future, more main grade racers turned up to contest the Fylde Open than premier grade. However with 2 former World Champions, 4 others who have been National Champions & the current National Victor Ludorum it was certainly not a weak field!
Brian Saunders set the pace in saloon by breaking the track record but after a slow start he was 2 laps down with a segment to go on Paul Shepherd in the A Final. With Paul low on tyres & Brian flying on the favoured blue lane this produced the race finish of the day with them running side by side for around 29 of the last 30 secs. when Brian dropped his car trying to nudge ahead! Gordon Dickson was the class of the main graders in qualifying 5th & retaining that place in the finals.
James Cleave could only finish a rather distant 3rd by his standards in saloon but made a point by taking TQ in the F1 heats. But in the A final Shep took a 2 lap lead in the 1st segment from which James could not recover.
Top Scot & main grader in this class was an excellent showing from Keith Charles who finished 7th.
Sports saw Brian Saunders & Lee Parsons seemingly beset by problems which meant they comfortably took the bottom 2 spots in the D Final. Lee only lasted 3 segments of that final but Brian did enough to take 3rd. overall.
James was now very keen to get a result & took TQ by 11/2 laps to stake his claim from Shep. In the A final he turned the tables from F1 by taking a 2 lap lead in the 1st segment from Shep & then gradually pulling further away. Also in the A Final with the main grade qualification of the day was Bob Budge although a storming performance by his clubmate Chris Aldridge in the B final produced the highest placed main grader at the end of the finals.
Trophies were suitably themed on the Olympics with Shep chasing down Chris Hoy with 2 golds & a silver (+ a gold Victor Ludorum) and James managing a collection of all 3 colours! There was a very wide spread of main grade medals with Bob & Chris the only ones to take 2 out of the 9.
Many thanks to SCD for sponsorship prizes which meant all racers took away something.
A very big thanks to all the racers who participated & those that helped & co-
Steve Sargent
Fylde Open -
David Sargent presents the trophies
Winners James Cleave (Sports) and Paul Shepherd (F1 and Saloon) -
Saloon |
F1 |
Sports | |||||||||||||
|
|
Qual |
Final Laps |
Final |
|
|
Qual |
Final Laps |
Final |
|
|
Qual |
Final Laps |
Final | |
1 |
Paul Shepherd |
36.65 |
|
157.97 |
A |
1 |
Paul Shepherd |
35.66 |
140.93 |
A |
1 |
James Cleave |
41.25 |
166.8 |
A |
2 |
Brian Saunders |
37.47 |
|
147.36 |
A |
2 |
James Cleave |
36.1 |
139.35 |
A |
2 |
Paul Shepherd |
39.2 |
161.8 |
A |
3 |
James Cleave |
36.32 |
2nd 35.61 |
143.74 |
A |
3 |
Brian Saunders |
33.26 |
135.2 |
A |
3 |
Brian Saunders |
6 |
159.44 |
D |
4 |
Greg Harwood |
36.32 |
2nd 32.43 |
140.08 |
A |
4 |
Lee Parsons |
33.73 |
133.58 |
A |
4 |
Paul Harwood |
39.93 |
156.83 |
A |
5 |
Gordon Dickson |
34.51 |
|
136.13 |
B |
5 |
Paul Harwood |
32.66 |
133.3 |
B |
5 |
Greg Harwood |
35.5 |
151.24 |
C |
6 |
Bob Budge |
34.01 |
|
134.97 |
B |
6 |
Greg Harwood |
30.76 |
127.92 |
C |
6 |
Chris Aldridge |
37.63 |
150.59 |
B |
7 |
Lee Parsons |
31.84 |
|
134.55 |
D |
7 |
Keith Charles |
32.97 |
127.66 |
B |
7 |
Bob Budge |
37.76 |
149.77 |
A |
8 |
Chris Aldridge |
33.16 |
|
133.49 |
C |
8 |
Alan Lucas |
29.82 |
126.47 |
C |
8 |
Steve Siddall |
35.82 |
143.85 |
C |
9 |
Steve Siddall |
32.56 |
|
131.19 |
C |
9 |
Mike Davies |
30.61 |
125.13 |
C |
9 |
Alan Lucas |
36.85 |
142.14 |
B |
10 |
Pat Skene |
32.07 |
|
131.11 |
D |
10 |
Ant Hawkes |
29.67 |
120.64 |
C |
10 |
Pat Skene |
36.21 |
141.46 |
B |
11 |
Keith Charles |
31.19 |
|
130.63 |
D |
11 |
Gordon Dickson |
33.15 |
118.93 |
B |
11 |
Mike Davies |
36.19 |
140.34 |
B |
12 |
Ant Hawkes |
33.91 |
|
130.14 |
B |
12 |
Bob Budge |
29.03 |
118.03 |
D |
12 |
Gordon Dickson |
34.31 |
139.2 |
C |
13 |
Paul Harwood |
33.85 |
|
129.26 |
C |
13 |
Chris Aldridge |
26.96 |
116.51 |
D |
13 |
Keith Charles |
33.72 |
121.13 |
D |
14 |
Alan Lucas |
32.7 |
|
126.25 |
C |
14 |
Steve Siddall |
31.69 |
115.75 |
B |
14 |
Chas Keeling |
31.81 |
120.28 |
D |
15 |
Mike Davies |
33.93 |
|
125.91 |
B |
15 |
Peter Donely |
27.72 |
115.74 |
D |
15 |
Ant Hawkes |
35.26 |
116.2 |
C |
16 |
Peter Donely |
31.27 |
|
118.49 |
D |
16 |
Chas Keeling |
27.72 |
107.66 |
D |
16 |
Lee Parsons |
15 |
109 |
D |
17 |
Chas Keeling |
30.13 |
|
99.69 |
D |
17 |
Pat Skene |
27.49 |
100.65 |
D |
17 |
Peter Donely |
31.92 |
42 |
D |
F1 A Final
Brian Lee Paul James
Saunders Parsons Shepherd
Cleave
Main Grade Saloon top 3
2 Bob 1 Gordon 3 Chris
Budge Dickson
Aldridge
Main Grade F1 winner
Keith Charles