Race Results and reports
Round 1 - Mornington Park - 15/8/23
1st - Mal O'May
2nd - Phil Kalbfell
3rd - Adrian Gray
Round 1 Report
Finally, the much awaited, heavily tweaked & regulated 1964-71 Le Mans series had arrived.
It was with a high level of excitement that during the preparation all sorts of exotic & wonderful looking cars from that golden sports car era were on display being tested , fettled & held up to microscopic scrutiny.
Ford GT40s & Mark IVs, P68s, Ferarri P4s & 412s, Lola T70s, Porsche 908s & 917s………a wonderful variety of the best looking cars ever raced (well, that’s one opinion anyway!).
On the track, the difference compared to the front engine sports was significant……and very obvious from the start. Phil, JB & Rhys led the way from the very first heat with some quick & competitive racing & set the tone for the rest of the night. No one make or model really dominated & this was certainly shown up in the top 3 results for the round. The writers Thunderslot Lola T70 managed to rack up 126 laps to take a very narrow win by 1 lap from the printed chassis Ford MK IV of Phil on 125 laps. Phils consistent pace & smooth handling certainly provided a great example of what is now possible using a 3d printer. In 3rd place was the extremely quick NSR Porsche 908 of Adrian Gray just 1 lap back on 124. Adrians sheer outright speed will no doubt come into its own as the series & his cars development, progresses.
In 4th, on 121 laps, & with another very solid drive was Dave Bantoft in a 3d printed Lola, which was 3 laps ahead of Rhys in 5th (118 laps) in his NSR Porsche 917.
Just a lap back in 7th was the very smooth Policar/Slot-it based Ferrari P4 of Dave Schofield. Daves total of 117 laps was 2 laps clear of John Batich in 8th in his Lola T70 on 115 laps for the night. Bruce Thomas ran with a stock standard Fly chassis combined with a Ford P68 body and ran well enough, if slightly off the pace for 9th on 111 laps, well ahead of 10th placegetter Thomas Males in his Ford GT40 on 92 laps.
Callan Thomas showed a great potential pace early on, but a badly timed mechanical put paid to his night after two great brackets of 41 & 39 laps. His 1 lap total in lane 3 didn’t help his cause at all. It was a similar story for Scotty Wyman in 11th spot for the night, and it was lane 3 that also proved his undoing as a mechanical problem only allowed him 4 laps to add to his total of 67 for the round.
Finally, the much awaited, heavily tweaked & regulated 1964-71 Le Mans series had arrived.
It was with a high level of excitement that during the preparation all sorts of exotic & wonderful looking cars from that golden sports car era were on display being tested , fettled & held up to microscopic scrutiny.
Ford GT40s & Mark IVs, P68s, Ferarri P4s & 412s, Lola T70s, Porsche 908s & 917s………a wonderful variety of the best looking cars ever raced (well, that’s one opinion anyway!).
On the track, the difference compared to the front engine sports was significant……and very obvious from the start. Phil, JB & Rhys led the way from the very first heat with some quick & competitive racing & set the tone for the rest of the night. No one make or model really dominated & this was certainly shown up in the top 3 results for the round. The writers Thunderslot Lola T70 managed to rack up 126 laps to take a very narrow win by 1 lap from the printed chassis Ford MK IV of Phil on 125 laps. Phils consistent pace & smooth handling certainly provided a great example of what is now possible using a 3d printer. In 3rd place was the extremely quick NSR Porsche 908 of Adrian Gray just 1 lap back on 124. Adrians sheer outright speed will no doubt come into its own as the series & his cars development, progresses.
In 4th, on 121 laps, & with another very solid drive was Dave Bantoft in a 3d printed Lola, which was 3 laps ahead of Rhys in 5th (118 laps) in his NSR Porsche 917.
Just a lap back in 7th was the very smooth Policar/Slot-it based Ferrari P4 of Dave Schofield. Daves total of 117 laps was 2 laps clear of John Batich in 8th in his Lola T70 on 115 laps for the night. Bruce Thomas ran with a stock standard Fly chassis combined with a Ford P68 body and ran well enough, if slightly off the pace for 9th on 111 laps, well ahead of 10th placegetter Thomas Males in his Ford GT40 on 92 laps.
Callan Thomas showed a great potential pace early on, but a badly timed mechanical put paid to his night after two great brackets of 41 & 39 laps. His 1 lap total in lane 3 didn’t help his cause at all. It was a similar story for Scotty Wyman in 11th spot for the night, and it was lane 3 that also proved his undoing as a mechanical problem only allowed him 4 laps to add to his total of 67 for the round.
Round 2 - Stratten Valley - 22/8/23
1st - Phil Kalbfell
2nd - Mal O'May
3rd - Adrian Gray
1st - Phil Kalbfell
2nd - Mal O'May
3rd - Adrian Gray
Round 2 Report
2nd class of the night were the 1964 to 71 Le Mans cars, and from heat 1 it was a considerable increase in pace & excitement. Rhys, Schoee & Scotts cars whizzed around in heat 1 making the previous front engine sports series look like something out of the 1950s…..which, in fact, they were!
However, just as we were all marvelling at the speed & closeness of the battle between Schooes Ferrari 412 & & Rhys’s Porsche 917 in heat 1 it ended.
Then came Adrian….and his Porsche 908.
Suddenly all that appeared fast (Schooe & Rhys) seemed to be moving in slow motion as Adrians Porsche rocketed cartoonishly fast around the track gaining lap after lap on the hapless pair. To be fair, neither Rhys nor Schoee were slow, in fact their very strong results on the night tell another story. But a lap time of 5.7 (Adrians best) will make anyone look sluggish I guess. It certainly looked to be an all too familiar story. We take a good, competitive series (cough Can-Am cough) and Porsche just comes in and ruins it by the simple fact of being on another planet to everyone else.
Luckily (for the rest of us) Adrians sheer speed this week was occasionally dotted with an equally speedy spin or de-slot. However, once he dials in the optimum balance of power setting to use on his controller…..heaven help us !
Best of the performers though was definitely Phil in the Ford MKIV. His very quick pace (5.8s) combined with perfect control (no deslots?) had him in 1st place this week on 86 laps & was never really in any danger of being upset by anyone.
Only 1 lap back, in 2nd was the writers Lola, however it certainly felt a good deal further back than that from the drivers point of view.
Adrian grabbed a clear 3rd, despite his offs, and his 83 laps was 3 laps clear of 4th placegetter Dave Schofield. Schoees 80 lap total for the night showed that he was fast enough. Sharing 78 laps for the night was the pair of John Batich & Rhys Filbee and in this case it was Rhys who grabbed 5th spot ahead of JB in 6th.
Dave Banoft threw aside his overcoat, rolled his shirt sleeves up & showed his intentions early ripping out a huge effort for 7th with 77 laps for the night. 2 laps back in the Ford P68 Bruce showed why Ford dropped this project like a hot potato with his 8th place.
In 9th Thomas Males showed good pace & racked up 64 laps to finish 1 lap to the good of Scott who’s very good pace was brought undone by an unfortunate mechanical problem in lane 1.
2nd class of the night were the 1964 to 71 Le Mans cars, and from heat 1 it was a considerable increase in pace & excitement. Rhys, Schoee & Scotts cars whizzed around in heat 1 making the previous front engine sports series look like something out of the 1950s…..which, in fact, they were!
However, just as we were all marvelling at the speed & closeness of the battle between Schooes Ferrari 412 & & Rhys’s Porsche 917 in heat 1 it ended.
Then came Adrian….and his Porsche 908.
Suddenly all that appeared fast (Schooe & Rhys) seemed to be moving in slow motion as Adrians Porsche rocketed cartoonishly fast around the track gaining lap after lap on the hapless pair. To be fair, neither Rhys nor Schoee were slow, in fact their very strong results on the night tell another story. But a lap time of 5.7 (Adrians best) will make anyone look sluggish I guess. It certainly looked to be an all too familiar story. We take a good, competitive series (cough Can-Am cough) and Porsche just comes in and ruins it by the simple fact of being on another planet to everyone else.
Luckily (for the rest of us) Adrians sheer speed this week was occasionally dotted with an equally speedy spin or de-slot. However, once he dials in the optimum balance of power setting to use on his controller…..heaven help us !
Best of the performers though was definitely Phil in the Ford MKIV. His very quick pace (5.8s) combined with perfect control (no deslots?) had him in 1st place this week on 86 laps & was never really in any danger of being upset by anyone.
Only 1 lap back, in 2nd was the writers Lola, however it certainly felt a good deal further back than that from the drivers point of view.
Adrian grabbed a clear 3rd, despite his offs, and his 83 laps was 3 laps clear of 4th placegetter Dave Schofield. Schoees 80 lap total for the night showed that he was fast enough. Sharing 78 laps for the night was the pair of John Batich & Rhys Filbee and in this case it was Rhys who grabbed 5th spot ahead of JB in 6th.
Dave Banoft threw aside his overcoat, rolled his shirt sleeves up & showed his intentions early ripping out a huge effort for 7th with 77 laps for the night. 2 laps back in the Ford P68 Bruce showed why Ford dropped this project like a hot potato with his 8th place.
In 9th Thomas Males showed good pace & racked up 64 laps to finish 1 lap to the good of Scott who’s very good pace was brought undone by an unfortunate mechanical problem in lane 1.
Round 3 - Gotham Park - 29/8/23
1st - Phil Kalbfell
2nd - Bruce Thomas
3rd - Mal O'May
1st - Phil Kalbfell
2nd - Bruce Thomas
3rd - Mal O'May
Round 3 Report
Round 3 of the 64-71 Le Mans series, with the BatCave as the venue, and in a major shock, by the time racing had finished in this class for the evening, there had been absolutely no disruptions due to; Track Maintenance, loss of Power, Computer breakdown or anything else of note. This was so rare a feat that we deemed it worthy of reporting.
Anyway, onto the racing, and in a decision mirroring very closely that of Ford in 1969, Bruce decided enough was enough & dropped the lovely looking but problematic P68 in favour of a tried & true GT40. In fact the very GT40 that won the 1966 event piloted by McLaren & Amon of course, so with this pedigree in mind it was up to Bruce to deliver a similar performance on track on the night.
Unfortunately, it was the more developed MKIV Ford of Phils that proved unbeatable this week, and by a considerable margin. Phil racked up 114 laps to take out the round win by 4 laps from Bruce in a good solid maiden performance for the NSR GT40. His total of 110 laps was also 4 laps clear of the third place Lola T70 of the writers, which was outgunned somewhat this week & was lucky to grab the 3rd spot on the podium on 106 laps for the night.
2 laps back in 4th was the 2nd Ford from the Thomas stable, with driver Callan totalling 104 laps, which was 1 lap ahead of John Batich in 5th on 103 with his Lola T70. 6th place on 102 laps was the incredibly quick Porsche 908 of Adrian Gray, however his undoing was a very difficult run on lane 4 with all other lanes being top notch. I don’t believe a win in this series is far away for him.
In 7th on 100 laps was the Ferrari P4 of Dave Schofield, which handled very well but just lacked a tiny amount on the long back straight of Gotham Park. Dave Bantoft in 8th was another 2 laps back on 98, which was 6 laps clear of Dave Gray in 9th on 92. Rounding out the top 10 was Scott Wymans Lola, which was mostly due to Scott using his heats as a tuning session trying to get the best out of his controller. In 11th place this week was the well-presented GT40 of Thomas Males on 69 laps.
Round 3 of the 64-71 Le Mans series, with the BatCave as the venue, and in a major shock, by the time racing had finished in this class for the evening, there had been absolutely no disruptions due to; Track Maintenance, loss of Power, Computer breakdown or anything else of note. This was so rare a feat that we deemed it worthy of reporting.
Anyway, onto the racing, and in a decision mirroring very closely that of Ford in 1969, Bruce decided enough was enough & dropped the lovely looking but problematic P68 in favour of a tried & true GT40. In fact the very GT40 that won the 1966 event piloted by McLaren & Amon of course, so with this pedigree in mind it was up to Bruce to deliver a similar performance on track on the night.
Unfortunately, it was the more developed MKIV Ford of Phils that proved unbeatable this week, and by a considerable margin. Phil racked up 114 laps to take out the round win by 4 laps from Bruce in a good solid maiden performance for the NSR GT40. His total of 110 laps was also 4 laps clear of the third place Lola T70 of the writers, which was outgunned somewhat this week & was lucky to grab the 3rd spot on the podium on 106 laps for the night.
2 laps back in 4th was the 2nd Ford from the Thomas stable, with driver Callan totalling 104 laps, which was 1 lap ahead of John Batich in 5th on 103 with his Lola T70. 6th place on 102 laps was the incredibly quick Porsche 908 of Adrian Gray, however his undoing was a very difficult run on lane 4 with all other lanes being top notch. I don’t believe a win in this series is far away for him.
In 7th on 100 laps was the Ferrari P4 of Dave Schofield, which handled very well but just lacked a tiny amount on the long back straight of Gotham Park. Dave Bantoft in 8th was another 2 laps back on 98, which was 6 laps clear of Dave Gray in 9th on 92. Rounding out the top 10 was Scott Wymans Lola, which was mostly due to Scott using his heats as a tuning session trying to get the best out of his controller. In 11th place this week was the well-presented GT40 of Thomas Males on 69 laps.
Round 4 - Shelmore Park - 5/9/23
1st - Phil Kalbfell
2nd - Callan Thomas
3rd - Dave Bantoft
1st - Phil Kalbfell
2nd - Callan Thomas
3rd - Dave Bantoft
Round 4 Report
Race 4 of the well supported 1964-71 Le Mans series was at the Shelmore Park track this week.
Sadly, the subject of a break in during the week by some snot nosed little toe rag crim scumbags, the track luckily sustained no damage & the round was able to be run. Phil, however suffered some losses & the fact that he didn’t let this affect his track hosting this week is a wonderful testament to his attitude & commitment to the club.
Anyway, once we got underway Phil also showed that the setback had no effect on his driving either, and proceeded to notch up his 3rd win in a row with his total of 111 laps. Very close behind though in 2nd was Callan Thomas on 111 laps also, which was well clear of 3rd place Dave Bantoft on 108 laps. Both DB & Callan grabbed their first podiums in this series.
In 4th spot this week was yours truly on 107 laps, and continuing a run of results in the first 4 rounds of 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th…………obviously I’m hoping this numerical run doesn’t continue for all 7 rounds!
In 5th & on the same lap total of 107 laps, was Rob Golley, just 1 lap clear of Dave Schofield who grabbed 6th on 106 laps for the round.
It was another 5 laps back to JB & Scott in 7th & 8th, both finishing on 101 laps with JB grabbing the placing on track position this week. Adrian Gray had another frustrating run this week to finish 9th. His lap times were far & way the fastest of the entire field, but a continued insistence of his car to want to drive in a different lane had a dire effect on his overall round results. His 98 laps was 4 clear of Thomas Males in 10th on 94 & rounding out the field was Bruce Thomas who was the nominated drive for a mechanical failure this time round. His early (1st heat) breakage restricted him to 89 laps for the night & 11th spot.
Race 4 of the well supported 1964-71 Le Mans series was at the Shelmore Park track this week.
Sadly, the subject of a break in during the week by some snot nosed little toe rag crim scumbags, the track luckily sustained no damage & the round was able to be run. Phil, however suffered some losses & the fact that he didn’t let this affect his track hosting this week is a wonderful testament to his attitude & commitment to the club.
Anyway, once we got underway Phil also showed that the setback had no effect on his driving either, and proceeded to notch up his 3rd win in a row with his total of 111 laps. Very close behind though in 2nd was Callan Thomas on 111 laps also, which was well clear of 3rd place Dave Bantoft on 108 laps. Both DB & Callan grabbed their first podiums in this series.
In 4th spot this week was yours truly on 107 laps, and continuing a run of results in the first 4 rounds of 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th…………obviously I’m hoping this numerical run doesn’t continue for all 7 rounds!
In 5th & on the same lap total of 107 laps, was Rob Golley, just 1 lap clear of Dave Schofield who grabbed 6th on 106 laps for the round.
It was another 5 laps back to JB & Scott in 7th & 8th, both finishing on 101 laps with JB grabbing the placing on track position this week. Adrian Gray had another frustrating run this week to finish 9th. His lap times were far & way the fastest of the entire field, but a continued insistence of his car to want to drive in a different lane had a dire effect on his overall round results. His 98 laps was 4 clear of Thomas Males in 10th on 94 & rounding out the field was Bruce Thomas who was the nominated drive for a mechanical failure this time round. His early (1st heat) breakage restricted him to 89 laps for the night & 11th spot.
Round 5 - Stratton Valley - 12/9/23
1st - Adrian Gray
2nd - Bruce Thomas
3rd - Phil Kalbfell
1st - Adrian Gray
2nd - Bruce Thomas
3rd - Phil Kalbfell
Round 5 Report
Well, it took 5 rounds of frustration & much experimentation, but eventually the inevitable happened this week in round 5 of the series.
After showing blinding speed from the very first round, but not quite delivering on results, Adrian Gray’s Porsche 908 finally found the ideal level of control & track conditions to show off his full potential.
Adrian blasted around this week with fastest laps of up to 2/10ths quicker than anyone else on track. His total of 87 laps took out first place by 2 laps from the also very quick Bruce Thomas in his NSR GT40. Bruce has had a couple of false starts this series with a poor first up car choice for 2 rounds & then a mechanical in round 4, however if he’d started out with this car choice from the get go, there’s no doubt he’d be challenging for the series lead.
In 3rd & in his worst finish for the series, Phil Kalbfell on 84 laps, just 1 lap back from Bruce. The fact that this is his “worst finish” tell us how consistent Phil has been so far & still maintains a very clear advantage in the series points.
In 4th again this week was the writers Lola, and an extremely relieved driver it was who finally stopped the slide of results getting worse week by week.
In 5th & on 81 laps was Callan Thomas, 1 lap to the good of Dave Schofield (80 laps) in 6th who was also just 1 lap clear of Rob Golley in 7th on 79 laps for the night.
On 77 laps & in 8th, Scott Wyman with John Batich in 9th (72 laps) & Thomas Males in 10th on 61 laps total.
Interestingly the track conditions this week seemed harder this time round than for round 2 at Stratton Valley & most drivers results suffered (apart from Adrian). Phil dropped 2 laps from the first visit, I dropped 3, JB suffered worst of all & dropped 6. It was certainly gripped up, and made it difficult to carry optimum speed around some corners. The track testing of the Revoslots in the first session may not have helped.
Well, it took 5 rounds of frustration & much experimentation, but eventually the inevitable happened this week in round 5 of the series.
After showing blinding speed from the very first round, but not quite delivering on results, Adrian Gray’s Porsche 908 finally found the ideal level of control & track conditions to show off his full potential.
Adrian blasted around this week with fastest laps of up to 2/10ths quicker than anyone else on track. His total of 87 laps took out first place by 2 laps from the also very quick Bruce Thomas in his NSR GT40. Bruce has had a couple of false starts this series with a poor first up car choice for 2 rounds & then a mechanical in round 4, however if he’d started out with this car choice from the get go, there’s no doubt he’d be challenging for the series lead.
In 3rd & in his worst finish for the series, Phil Kalbfell on 84 laps, just 1 lap back from Bruce. The fact that this is his “worst finish” tell us how consistent Phil has been so far & still maintains a very clear advantage in the series points.
In 4th again this week was the writers Lola, and an extremely relieved driver it was who finally stopped the slide of results getting worse week by week.
In 5th & on 81 laps was Callan Thomas, 1 lap to the good of Dave Schofield (80 laps) in 6th who was also just 1 lap clear of Rob Golley in 7th on 79 laps for the night.
On 77 laps & in 8th, Scott Wyman with John Batich in 9th (72 laps) & Thomas Males in 10th on 61 laps total.
Interestingly the track conditions this week seemed harder this time round than for round 2 at Stratton Valley & most drivers results suffered (apart from Adrian). Phil dropped 2 laps from the first visit, I dropped 3, JB suffered worst of all & dropped 6. It was certainly gripped up, and made it difficult to carry optimum speed around some corners. The track testing of the Revoslots in the first session may not have helped.
Round 6 - Gotham Park - 19/9/23
1st - Phil Kalbfell
2nd - Callan Thomas
3rd - Adrian Gray
1st - Phil Kalbfell
2nd - Callan Thomas
3rd - Adrian Gray
Round 7 - Mornington Park - 26/9/23
1st - Adrian Gray
2nd - Phil Kalbfell
3rd - Bruce Thomas
1st - Adrian Gray
2nd - Phil Kalbfell
3rd - Bruce Thomas
Overall Series Results
1st - Phil Kalbfell
2nd - Adrian Gray
3rd - Mal O'May
4th - Dave Bantoft & Dave Schofield (equal on points)
1st - Phil Kalbfell
2nd - Adrian Gray
3rd - Mal O'May
4th - Dave Bantoft & Dave Schofield (equal on points)
Round 7 Report & series summary
It was the final round of the tweaked 64-71 Le Mans series this week & after all the hullaballoo about the rule changes to allow podded chassis in this class, on the whole the series seems to have been a success.
It has certainly proven that the performance of 3d printed chassis is as good any anything else out there, and could signal the introduction (or allowance) of more of this resource in other classes as some older cars get harder to obtain. It will definitely be something we will see a need for more & more if we want to keep running some of our older classes.
The best example of a 3d printed chassis performance was the fact that the series most dominant performer & series winner Phil Kalbfell was running one. It was a very well sorted, balanced car.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. This round Phil had to settle for a very competitive 2nd place behind the potent Porsche 908 of Adrian Gray. Adrian has certainly got a handle on his car over the final 3 rounds & his win this week by 2 laps with a total of 129 was his 2nd win in those last 3 weeks & helped his rapid climb up the series results. More on that later.
Phil, on 127 laps held on for 2nd ahead of the very quick Bruce Thomas on 126 in 3rd. Bruce’s GT40 has shown that, when running, it has had the pace to push the very top of the top 3.
In the now traditional 4th place this week was the writer, with a total of 123 laps, which was 4 laps clear of Rhys in 5th on 119. John Batich on 117 laps held out Dave Scofield for 6th, with Schoee’s total of 116 good enough for 7th.
Dave Bantoft had another slightly down result this week with 8th on 114 laps. It has been a rather frustrating series for DB with a best place of 3rd showing that his car certainly had more promise than it delivered all the time.
Rob Golley had some issues with his car in the final heat this put paid to a higher result than his 9th on 99 laps. Thomas Males suffered from some jostling while driving & did well to remain focussed during his stints. His 90 laps was enough to grab 10th place this week.
Dave Gray had the worst of the mechanicals this week though & this disrupted his night to the extent that 11th was the best he could manage with this 79 laps.
In the overall series results, Phil was a very clear & deserving winner, and his win was guaranteed well out from this final round. 2nd & 3rd however, were not so clear cut. Early on in the series it was the writer who seemed to have a stranglehold on 2nd with a clear points advantage after round 4. However, it was that number 4 that proved insurmountable from then on. 4th place finishes in the final 4 rounds left the door open for Adrian Grey to mount a comeback after his own less than satisfactory 9th in round 4. Once this worst round of his could be dropped however, Adrian finally decided to stop de-slotting and notched up a tremendous final 3 rounds of 2 wins & a 3rd to grab 2nd place overall by a point. The writer was left ruing this with a series 3rd place, but in all honestly didn’t really have the pace to stay with the regular top 3 of Phil, Adrian & Bruce - when he turned up 😊
Of the rest, it was fitting that Dave Bantoft & Dave Schofield were level on points in 4th. DB proved that his car had pace & was well sorted for some rounds, but had some less reliable performances in others. Schoee just lacked that little bit of top end on the straights, but was a very consistent, balanced car over the entire series. Much to work with for both of these drivers.....only 2 years to wait.
It was the final round of the tweaked 64-71 Le Mans series this week & after all the hullaballoo about the rule changes to allow podded chassis in this class, on the whole the series seems to have been a success.
It has certainly proven that the performance of 3d printed chassis is as good any anything else out there, and could signal the introduction (or allowance) of more of this resource in other classes as some older cars get harder to obtain. It will definitely be something we will see a need for more & more if we want to keep running some of our older classes.
The best example of a 3d printed chassis performance was the fact that the series most dominant performer & series winner Phil Kalbfell was running one. It was a very well sorted, balanced car.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. This round Phil had to settle for a very competitive 2nd place behind the potent Porsche 908 of Adrian Gray. Adrian has certainly got a handle on his car over the final 3 rounds & his win this week by 2 laps with a total of 129 was his 2nd win in those last 3 weeks & helped his rapid climb up the series results. More on that later.
Phil, on 127 laps held on for 2nd ahead of the very quick Bruce Thomas on 126 in 3rd. Bruce’s GT40 has shown that, when running, it has had the pace to push the very top of the top 3.
In the now traditional 4th place this week was the writer, with a total of 123 laps, which was 4 laps clear of Rhys in 5th on 119. John Batich on 117 laps held out Dave Scofield for 6th, with Schoee’s total of 116 good enough for 7th.
Dave Bantoft had another slightly down result this week with 8th on 114 laps. It has been a rather frustrating series for DB with a best place of 3rd showing that his car certainly had more promise than it delivered all the time.
Rob Golley had some issues with his car in the final heat this put paid to a higher result than his 9th on 99 laps. Thomas Males suffered from some jostling while driving & did well to remain focussed during his stints. His 90 laps was enough to grab 10th place this week.
Dave Gray had the worst of the mechanicals this week though & this disrupted his night to the extent that 11th was the best he could manage with this 79 laps.
In the overall series results, Phil was a very clear & deserving winner, and his win was guaranteed well out from this final round. 2nd & 3rd however, were not so clear cut. Early on in the series it was the writer who seemed to have a stranglehold on 2nd with a clear points advantage after round 4. However, it was that number 4 that proved insurmountable from then on. 4th place finishes in the final 4 rounds left the door open for Adrian Grey to mount a comeback after his own less than satisfactory 9th in round 4. Once this worst round of his could be dropped however, Adrian finally decided to stop de-slotting and notched up a tremendous final 3 rounds of 2 wins & a 3rd to grab 2nd place overall by a point. The writer was left ruing this with a series 3rd place, but in all honestly didn’t really have the pace to stay with the regular top 3 of Phil, Adrian & Bruce - when he turned up 😊
Of the rest, it was fitting that Dave Bantoft & Dave Schofield were level on points in 4th. DB proved that his car had pace & was well sorted for some rounds, but had some less reliable performances in others. Schoee just lacked that little bit of top end on the straights, but was a very consistent, balanced car over the entire series. Much to work with for both of these drivers.....only 2 years to wait.