[Dave Dodd]

MEWS round 3 was the first stop at the final venue of the championship, A1 raceway. Although after over a week of heavy rain it was more like Grantham docks. As is the way with outdoor winter series, everyone mucked in and, after an hour and a half of pumping, sweeping and scooping of water, it was declared race worthy, though there were concerns of electrical gremlins throughout the pits. Indeed, shares in blutack and duct tape will surely be up on Monday.
Naturally, the poor weather in the lead up to the event meant that numbers were down. The popular rally cars, who were first up, down to just three hardy souls. There were two shortcourse trucks in attendance too so the classes were grouped together. Surprisingly, the two classes were very evenly matched with the long travel suspension and spiked tyres being neutralised by the 4wd and nimbleness of the rally cars. In rally, it was the Kyosho Lancia of Darren Wells that was a good margin ahead of a great battle for second between Dave Dodd and Paul Dickens to the extent of being able to sit out round 4 as TQ was already secured. Dave eventually succumbed to water in the receiver and had to sit out round 4 and the final. In the final, Darren was mugged off the start by both Paul and the SC truck of Mark Ashforth who was now the only truck running. However, he patiently waited for mistakes and was able to work his way back through to take the win.
All of the 2wd runners deserved a medal for just keeping their cars in a straight line. Round 1 belonged to Ken Rieth after water in the electrics stopped Ant Potter. There was also a great drive by Alex Spray to claim second in round. Ant got his act together and took the next three rounds to secure TQ, the bendy Mantis had been shelved in favor of a Schumacher KF with the motor as far back as possible. Sadly more electrical gremlins sidelined Alex keeping him out of the final. The final was an absolute battle royal between Ant and Ken, the Associated looking much more planted than the KF but shear driving talent keeping Ant in front. In the end there was less than two seconds between them.
4wd looked tasty in the days before the event as, summer regional champion, Iain Mellish and his Tekno teammate Toby Stevenson had pre-booked to challenge Joe Cockill’s domination. However, just a couple of practice laps were enough for the Tekno duo to decide that it wasn’t worth a blown speedo and they called it a day. Joe, on the other hand, was leading the efforts to scoop water from the track, determined to stick another 200 points in the bag. There was also the UK outdoor debut of the new Kyosho ZX7 to look forward to, run by 8 year old Kamran Wells. It was a baptism of fire (and water) but the car looked well balanced and got through the day with only minor electrical issues. Round 1 was taken by Ian Wyatt showing that the X-ray XB4 was more than just a one trick EOS pony after Joe was sidelined by water in his receiver. Joe employed the WD40 to good effect and was able to win rounds 2, 3 and 4 to take TQ. With Ian second overall, the battle behind was very tight between the two Teknos of Dave Dodd and Rob Jaques and behind them, Kamran and Dwain Ashdown. In the final Joe escaped leaving Ian and Dave to battle closely for second. In the end it came down to seven tenths of a second in Ian’s favor. Rob was sidelined after he lost a wheel leaving Kamran and Dwain to fight for fourth. The gap seesawed with them both setting their fastest times in the last few laps but Kamran held on, a great result on his car’s debut. In fact, the top 5 in 4wd saw five different manufacturers represented and not a single Schumacher in sight showing how competitive modern 4wd has become.
A few special thank you’s to round off. Dave Dodd and Rob Jaques for running race control. Kev Jones for opening up and keeping everyone fed and watered, Richard Spray for being series photographer again and everyone who mucked in to ensure the race could be run. The championship is half way through now and 2018 is done. We are back to Broxtowe on 20th January, have a great Christmas and new year everyone.