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First-lap excitement during the
Stock Finals |
Racers jostle for position as the
action heats up! |
Pro 4 racers Andy Moore and Robin Lucas took the overall wins in
Open Modified and Stock class respectively at the first round of
this year's British Indoor Winter Series! Robin Lucas has been fast
all year long with his HPI R40, storming the HPI Challenge UK point
series, and here he was trying his thumbs at the Pro 4. Well the
proof is in the pudding as they say, and Robin took the a great
first step with a strong second qualifying position. In the A
Final, Robin took the lead and never looked back. His father Dave
was on hand and said, "I can't watch!" but eventually was able to
peer through his fingers to watch Robin storm off and take the win
with a lead of several seconds. Coming in second was Stephen
Edwards, and in third place was Paul Oscroft, both of them starting
off the Winter Series with strong points finishes.
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Stock 2nd place Stephen Edwards,
1st place Robin Lucas, 3rd place Paul Oscroft |
Fresh from being the fastest British racer at the 2004 IFMAR ISTC
World Championships in Florida, USA, Andy was easily way out ahead
of any other racer during the practice periods. In qualifying, Andy
didn't let up and set a dominating pole position. Surprisingly,
second qualifying spot belonged to one of the fastest racers at the
recent Junior Championships, Daniel Fallows. Young Dan outqualified
Andy Griffiths and Ben Cosgrove, in 3rd and 4th positions. In the A
Final, Andy Moore shot off to an early lead, chased down by Dan.
Andy Griffiths got unlucky with some early racing incidents and was
left at the back of the pack, and Dan made a rare unforced error to
be shuffled down the order. That left TORC champion Jonathan Bowden
in third place, reeling in Ben Cosgrove who was maintaining
position a few seconds behind Andy Moore. On the last lap Jonathan
made a desperate pass attempt on Ben down the straight which put
both of them into the barriers but Ben got away and grabbed second,
with Jonathan claiming third. Dan finished in fourth and Kit Smith
in fifth, making first through fifth positions a solidly blur of
Pro 4 cars!
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Open Modified 2nd place Ben
Cosgrove, 1st place Andy Moore, 3rd place Jonathan Bowden |
What a great start to the new British Indoor Winter Series!
Congratulations to Robin and Andy and all the racers who made the
tough A Final races! We'd like to give a special thanks to the
members of the Sheffield & District Model Car Club, the Don Valley
Stadium staff, all the racers and Mirage Racing staff who make this
series possible.
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Robin Lucas puts the hurt on the
Stock class with a confident win |
The intricate and well-marked track
drew compliments from the racers in attendance |
We'll see you on 12 December for the second round!