Following race report by Darren Wells.
The first round of the Mid East Winter Series at Bingham Model Raceway kicked off a new venture for the region. Having gained inspiration from neighboring region, Mid-West, who have ran a successful MAM series for a few years now, BMR, A1 Raceway and Broxtowe Model Car Club teamed up to create something different to the many indoor winter series now on the calendar. It was probably no surprise that a good proportion of the competitors at round 1 were from the aforementioned Mid-West region, there was also a fair showing of Mid-East racers in attendance. These hardy souls were greeted with a bright sunny, dry, but chilly morning at BMR and a tight, technical but flowing track with varying grip levels depending upon the line taken.
There were four main categories being contested. The rally class for converted touring cars and purpose built rally cars from Tamiya and the like, 2wd and 4wd buggies and short course trucks. After a generous open practice session to test grip levels and tweak setups it was into a familiar format of four qualifying rounds (round by round) with the best two scores to count for the final.
The first heat was the rally cars and with the exception of Paul Dickens, it was a recommencing of the battle from West Bridgford’s Rally X event of two days prior. However the surface was very different and so there was a great deal of changing of setups and different combinations of tyres being tried (some more legal than others). It was a tight and hotly contested class with three different winners in the four qualifying heats. Scott Quinn was the most consistent, taking wins in rounds 1 and 4 to give him TQ. The final started with the almost obligatory first corner pile up, a consequence of the two row grid perhaps. But from the carnage, Darren Wells and Paul Dickens emerged with a slight lead. A close battle ensued with the lead swapping between the two, eventually Darren held on to take the win after showing promise with the fast but fragile Kyosho Lancia. Behind them, Andy Hicklin and Scott Quinn picked up where they left off on Friday with Andy coming out on top this time to claim third. Dave Dodd and Curtis Hurt looked less comfortable in the now quite wet and low grip conditions.
In 2wd buggy it was a Mid-East / Mid-West battle between Anthony Potter with his crazy Associated B4 derived car and Steve Haskins with his Schumacher. Anthony took three out of four rounds to take TQ with Steve finishing second to him every time. When Anthony did blot his copybook by finishing third in round 3 (a consequence of a rain shower), Steve could only manage fourth. Jason Bennett took that round which was enough to give him second on the grid. In the final, Steve quickly dispatched Jason and set about the leader. However, on a very slippery track, mistakes were commonplace and Anthony eased away to win by a lap. Ken Rieth battled up to fourth from seventh and there was a notable mention for young Alex Spray who was up to third at one point before slipping back (literally) to seventh.
4wd was dominated by LMR driver Joe Cockill and his Yokomo YZ4SF. Only a breakage in round 3 stopped a clean sweep. Behind him was a close battle for second between Ian Wyatt and Dave Dodd. Ian taking the win in round 3 after Joe’s misfortune meant he secured second on the grid. The final was ran under heavy rain with the drivers really struggling. However the top 3 all maintained position with the big mover Steve Stone from sixth to fourth with a relatively smooth run.
Trucks was disappointingly undersubscribed with only two trucks in attendance. Kevin Brittain taking TQ and win with his 4wd Tekno ahead of Dave Ingram with his 2wd Associated.
Thank you to everyone who braved the weather and supported the series. Just two weeks until the next round at Broxtowe, let’s hope some more of the region’s regulars get involved. As Delia Smith once said to the Norwich fans, where are you? Let’s be having you!