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Saturday 13th September 2008 - 2WD The F345 end of season finals are a great chance for lesser known drivers to take centre stage. The event is drawn from the lower graded drivers F3 to F5 who have qualified in their regional series to represent their respective regions here. Fun traffic on the M1 caught out a few people The grass track Terrible weather and long delays on the M1 motorway on Friday might have put a few off - but 89 drivers still turned up for the 2WD class on Saturday. Thankfully the weather had changed for the good and bright sun tore through the early morning mist as the drivers were awoken by the series of jets taking off from the adjoining airport. Some of the hot favourites at this event would be those returning to 10th off road who have previously been a fast driver but due to their break from racing have qualified to race. Ben Jemison took the under-16 national title two weeks previously but broke his car in the warmup for round one and finished G6 - not a great start. Alex Carter took round one on 13/309.97. Ian Cockerill is the older brother of triple Euros A-finalist Tom Cockerill and recently started racing again after many years - taking second in round here with 13/310.51. James Helliwell came in third three seconds further back.

The Coventry race venue actually features three tracks - an all-weather astro track for 10th and 8th buggies, a dirt track for 8th buggies and finally the 100% grass track that would be used for this event. The track is mostly flat but feature some neat man made obstacles like the triple jump and table top in the centre of the track. Possibly the most fearsome jumps right at the back of the track weren't going to be used this weekend. Despite the flat grass nature of the track, it was to prove a real challenge to the drivers - the undulations and holes that slowly appeared helped to sort the men from the boys. The back straight in particular was a real hazard - not helped by the slight curve along the length of it. James Helliwell took th elast two rounds of qualifying to gain overall TQ for the 2WD event with his newly aquired XFactory X-6 buggy. James only got the X-6 a few days prior to the event but after the meeting was happy to say it was 'better than a B4' - can't be bad.

A Final Leg One
James Helliwell had a good start and lead them round the first lap. Coming over the table top in the centre of the track however he rolled it - ending up on his side as one car after another came streaming past and putting him down to fifth.

The A finalists head off	James Helliwell makes the mistake

The number two car of Nathan Waters pulled away a second lead over Ian cockerill - wildman older brother of triple European A-finalist Tom Cockerill. Ian made the exact same mistake as James had 2 laps earlier and rolled off the tabletop - giving a hard-charging mr.Helliwell the chance move up to second. Nathan Waters made a mistake over the triple and it was now Nathan with a small gap back to James and Ian. Another crash over the triple saw Ian Cockerill retake second but 1 lap later things had swapped once more but this time Ian had fallen back down to 5th.

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Stu Hurly drove like a warrior	Nathan Waters took the win

During all the chaos Nathan Waters had slowly pulled away - leaving James Helliwell and Joe Cockill to battle it out for second for the rest of the race. Nathan won, James second and Joe Cockill third.

A Final Leg Two
James Helliwell didn't make the mistake this time and with Nathan Waters in tow the paid quickly built a nice gap on lap one. By lap two James had pulled away to leave Nathan being harassed by Joe Cockill - who made the pass but only for a short time. Nathan and Joe swapped positions a few times and nothing seperated these two on the track - James took advantage and pulled a nice lead.

Nathan managed to shake off Joe Cockill and began to reel in James but it wasn't going to happen - James driving a perfect race to take the win, Nathan Second and a last second fight for the line saw Joe Cockill take third 5/100ths of a second over Richard Sharp.

A Final Leg Three
James Helliwell came around the first lap with Nathan Waters second and Joe Cockill in third. Joe got past Nathan and started to push James for the lead - all over the back of James's X6, but it didn't last long. A mistake on the triple saw Nathan reclaim second and Joe back down to third.

Nathan was catching James fast and the pressure told as James simply took a corner too tightly ending up on the pipe and Nathan went round the outside. James pushed hard but made another mistake over the triple which allowed Joe Cockill back into the the race for second and saw Nathan run into an uncatchable lead out front.

Nathan took the win - and with it the 2WD title. James took second and second over all - with Joe doing the same in third for third at the meeting.

Overall results

Nathans B4	Nathan Waters with his goodies

BEER

After a wet start and overnight showers the track slowly dried out. Ben Jemison was one of the few drivers to get a new Schumacher CAT SX for this event - Ben is a new team driver and hot off his win with the Atomised B44 in the under-16's national championship, Schumacher went all out to get Ben a car to use before he got his own - so this was the first time Ben had chance to drive the new car.

Richard Sharp was another driver back to racing after a long break and after a brief stint with the Kyosho cars is now a Schumacher team driver - taking second on the grid.

A Final Leg One
Nathan Waters got away with Richard Sharp in hot pursuit - coming around to start lap two Richard made a mistake over the small jump and allowed James Helliwell up to second - Richard had actually broken his servo and retired later in the lap. Nathan stretched out his lead a little as James Chappell moved inside Helliwell and overtook mid-air over the triple. Nathan was nowhere to be seen - gradually extending his lead far off into the distance. The battle for 2nd/3rd/4th however was still very much on - with James Helliwell back in front of James Chappell after a roll, and Dave Belsten in fourth. These three swapped around a little but no one could touch Nathan out front as he went on to win.

Nathan leads them off	James Chappells Predator X11

Chappell takes second from Helliwell	...But James didn't give up

A Final Leg Two
Half way round the first lap Richard Sharp retired again - a simple problem with a stripped servo horn but it was enough to spoil his chances. James Helliwell lay in second behind Nathan Waters but clipped a pipe and dropped to 8th. Nathan then caught a bump and this saw James Chappell with the Pred X11 close right up.

Helliwell goes for a tumble	Robin Schumacher looked on as his drivers took another victory.

Nathan and James Chappell pulled away from the rest as they battled it out - eventually James forced the error and Nathan clipped a pipe sending him rolling straight back onto his wheels but it was enough chance for James to squeeze through for the lead. Nathans car looked quicker and whenever he was able to get some power down he'd close the gap quickly - the pair came over the triple together with Chappell still out front, but he bounced badly and Nathan was back in front. Nathan was able to pull away from here and took the win with ease, James Chappell second and James Helliwell third.

Nathans wins in the first two legs gave him the overall title - his second of the weekend.

A Final Leg Three
Nathan had already won the meeting but wasn't about to sit the third leg out or use it as an elaborate parade lap! - he was still very much in the zone. Richard Sharp had a couple of unlucky breaks in the previous finals but was pushing Nathan from the start of the third - crashing out on the triple though saw him drop back down the order and allow James Helliwell through for second, with James Chappell third.
It didn't take long for Richard Sharp to get back up to the chasing pack, and a mistake from James Chappell coming onto the straight saw Richard up to third again and closing fast on James Helliwell.

Nathan Waters made a rare mistake - rolling onto his roof whilst James Helliwell and Richard Sharp came through. James lead closely followed by Sharp from Waters and these three came off the main straight together. Helliwells car suddenly stopped dead for no apparent reason and Richard Sharp shot past whilst Nathan bumped into the rear of Helliwells stationary car causing it to start moving again. James slowly dropped down the order from then so there must have been some problem with his car. Richard Sharp kept his cool to take the third leg from James Chappell and Nathan Waters.

Schumacher dominate the End Of Season finals - qualifying 1-2-3 and placing four cars in the A final. After a rough three finals, Nathan Waters came out on top to give the new Schumacher CAT SX a fine victory - James Chappell from the North East pushed the Xtreme Predator X11 to second over all, with James Helliwell holding onto his qualifying position to finish third with another CAT.

Overall A final results.

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