Junior & Formula blue ‘0’ Plate 2014
Following on from the past two years where the ‘0’ Plate Championship was rained off at Mansell and snow affected at Three Sisters, it came as a welcome surprise when the 2014 meeting at the Clay Pigeon Raceway, was held in the best of conditions. Sunny and 18 degrees ! All the previous winners were present with the exception of Martyn Morris (not defending his title) and Steve Barlow ( on a North Sea Oil Rig !) Ross Adamson, last year’s Junior Blue Champion, had since moved up into Senior and was attempting to win the two titles back to back.
JUNIOR BLUE
Jake Calvert, new boy to Junior Blue, laid down his intent from the word go winning heat 1. Chasing him home were Luke Lattimer and Nathan Wells. A repeat performance in heat 2, with a clear wins for Calvert from Lattimer, though this time with Taylor Waldron taking 3rd spot. The 3rd heat was a photo copy of the 2nd, Calvert clear in front from Lattimer and Waldron.
The grid for the Final had Calvert, by virtue of his 3 heat wins, on pole and Lattimer alongside. The second row was taken up by Waldron and Wells. From the green light Calvert shot off into the lead followed by Lattimer and Waldron. Calvert continued throughout the 21 lap Final to extend his lead to the flag, taking a convincing win and the ‘0’ Plate title! Behind, Lattimer suffered a bent axle whilst trying to negotiate another driver who had spun in front and was forced to retire. This opened the door for Waldron and Thomas Massarella to race for the runner-up spot. It was Waldron who clinched it. The consolation for Massarella was in being awarded the best Novice trophy.
RESULTS
JUNIOR BLUE
1st Jake Calvert 0 + 0 = 0
2nd Taylor Waldron 3 + 2 = 5
3rd Luke Lattimer 2 + 5 = 7
FORMULA BLUE
The Large number of participating racers would require an extra Heat and a ‘B’ Final. As such it would, throughout the day, be important not to squander points, for what ever reason, but involvement in the ‘B’ Final became necessary.
Heat 1 and Martin Wheeler showed his intent by winning from the front row and setting the fastest lap in the process. 2nd was Stuart Gray having started form the second row with Duncan McLeod in 3rd. The chargers in this opening heat were Douglas Simpson reaching 4th from a 19th start place. Ian Bran field having started in 23rd made it forward to 14th. Chris Derrick made up 8 places from 15th to 7th. James Rees incurred a 5 place penalty for a start line infringement and Grahame Dudley was excluded for a driving misdemeanour.
Heat 2 was a clear win for Ross Adamson from the front row, with Rees and Keith Wilson chasing him home, albeit a couple of seconds adrift. Drivers making their presence felt, despite starting further back was Wheeler moving up from 23rd to finish 7th and Sam Dible climbing up to 11th from 21st.
Heat 3 saw another Heat win from Wheeler, once again setting fastest lap in the process. This time it was Rees and Chris Derrick taking up 2nd and 3rd finish places. Top charger was Adamson starting in 19th spot and reaching 6th place. Behind, Duncan McLeod moved up to 8th from 16th and Gray up to 10th form 18th.
Heat 4 had Simpson showing his racing skills winning from a grid 11 start place. Equally dominant was McLeod who finished 2nd having started in 12th spot. Not wanting to be outdone, Chris Derrick charged forward from 20th place to finish 6th.
With the completion of the heats the grids for both ‘A’ & ‘B’ Finals soon became apparent. Missing out by only 1 point Robert Dudley and Russell O’Neill shared the front row of the ‘B’ Final. Behind these two Robin Stoddart-Stones and Andrew Greenway made up the 2nd row. The fist four would qualify on to the rear of the ‘A’ Final so the race would eventually come down to finishing 4th or higher. From the green lights Dudley took the lead from O’Neill, by the end of lap 1 Rob Mortimore had moved past Greenway and Stoddard-Stones to take up 3rd place. Lap 2 and Stoddart-Stones had retaken 3rd position. Further back, Elis Jackson who had suffered terrible heats, was making his move and was up to 5th. Jackson continued his pressure first taking Mortimore and then Stoddart-Stones. On the half-distance mark Jackson passed O’Neill for 2nd spot whilst behind, the race for the all important spot was raging on. Rob Mortimore displaced Stoddart-Stones for 4th position. Next lap, however, Stoddart Stones tried an optimistic move and Mortimore who, unfortunately threw a chain in the resulting contact thus eliminating him from the rest of the race. On lap 9 Jackson took the lead which he held to the end. Behind, Stoddart-Stones accounted for both O’Neill and Dudley to claim 2nd place. The qualifiers, therefore, were Jackson, Stoddart-Stones, Dudley and O’Neill who now refuelled and joined the back of the ‘A’ Final.
In the ‘A’ Final itself, Wheeler had qualified for Pole Position, with Simpson alongside. On the 2nd row sat McLeod and Gray with the 3rd row holding Adamson (last year’s Junior Blue ‘0’ Plate winner) and the current No.1, Derrick.
After several rolling laps, ensuring a correct formation lap, the light changed. Wheeler had no intention of wasting his Pole position and took an immediate lead followed by Simpson, McLeod, Gray and Adamson. During the opening laps Wheeler established clear air between himself and the chasing pack. Behind him the racing was tight, Gray forced past McLeod with a ‘little’ contact which in turn allowed Adamson to follow through. Branfield out braked Foreman for 12th place and Jackson slid past David Goode for 20th spot. By lap 6 Wheeler was now clear at the front with Simpson leading the chasing group. Adamson and Rees accounted for Gray and set their sights on Simpson. Branfield moved up to 11th, passing Dible. Wilson out dragged both Ford and Foreman to sit on Branfield’s ‘tail’. Further back Stoddart-Stones, in a bold move slid inside Kaite Helps. On the half distance mark, Adamson, who had been pressurising Simpson, made his move and slid up into 2nd place. Wheeler, by now was some 3 seconds in front. Further back Ford passed Foreman for 13th place and Jackson claimed 19th spot from Kaite Helps. A tiring Ron Shone was passed by both his daughter Serita and Matt Parr.
On lap 11 Gray retook Rees for 4th. Once lap later and Derrick muscled past McLeod. Scott Keenan came to a halt, trackside, vacating 9th place and promoting the rest of the grid. Although the pace continued on furiously, the main player had, by now, achieved their position in the race. Wilson did however manage to account for Dible and take 10th place and Jackson passed Parr for 15th spot.
Into the last 3 laps of this 21 lap ‘A’ Final and Wheeler, some 6 seconds clear at the front, cruised home to an emphatic win. Adamson raced on to 2nd place, beating Rees by a second with Gray in 4th . A last lap move by Derrick say him passing Simpson, the pair then finished 5th and 6th. McLeod, Brotherwood and Wilson completed the ‘Top Ten’. Little changed in the second group of the ‘A’ Finalists, with Serita Shone holding off the attentions of Elis Jackson and Stoddart-Stones maintaining her position from Ron Shone.
The action didn’t end there ! Simpson was docked 5 places for a start line infringement dropping his position down to 10th place and Rees was excluded for a non-compliant carburettor.
The Final outcome gave a clear a decisive win and the National ‘0’ plate title to Martin Wheeler. 2nd overall was Ross Adamson who, having won the Junior ‘0’ plate last year came close to a back to back title win. Stuart Gray came 3rd taking the Master and Veteran titles at the same time. Further back in 16th place Ron Shone claimed the Legend title, whilst Duncan McLeod in 4th place won the Top Weight section.
RESULTS
FORMULA BLUE
1st Martin Wheeler 0 + 0 = 0
2nd Ross Adamson 5 + 2 = 7
3rd Stuart Gray 4 + 3 = 7
4th Duncan McLeod 3 + 5 = 8
5th Chris Derrick 6 + 4 = 10
6th Douglas Simpson 2 + 10 = 12
7th Robin Brotherwood 8 + 6 = 14
8th Ian Branfield 12 + 7 = 19
BLUE MASTER
1st Stuart Gray 4 + 3 = 7
2nd Duncan McLeod 3 + 5 = 8
3rd Chris Derrick 6 + 4 = 10
BLUE VETERAN
1st Stuart Gray 4 + 3 = 7
2nd Kevin Ford 10 + 12 = 22
BLUE LEGEND
1st Ron Shone 15 + 17 = 32
BLUE TOP WIGHT
1st Duncan McLeod 3 + 5 = 8
2nd Douglas Simpson 2 + 10 = 12
3rd Ian Branfield 12 + 7 = 19