Fast Electric racing 2007

Below is a report on the final round of the 2007 series.

To view the final overall points table - click here>

Round 7 (final round) – 7th October 2007, hosted by Sedgemoor MBC, Apex Lake, Burnham-on-Sea.

Report & scores by Russ Chilcott.

Photos by Mark & Gordon Tiley, Adrian Hingston, Barrie & Jackie Stevens

The final round of the 2007 SWAMBC Fast Electric Championships was hosted by my own club the Sedgemoor MBC on 7thOctober at the Apex Lake, Burnham-on-Sea. The weather for early October could not have been any better, (a huge change from the previous round at Yeovil!) with a perfect autumn day, bright sunshine and just a light south-westerly breeze. Before long “Gazebo City” had been erected, boats booked in and (almost!) everyone had put themselves down for a Race Duty. Despite the absence of the Hickman family (with 5 boats) we still had a very good turnout for the final round of the year with 46 boats entering the six classes. Were we had a class with 2 heats, the top placed racers in the overall series were put together - which just helps to added to the pressure!

At exactly 10.30am racing began to decide the overall 2007 Championship for five of the six classes!

R2R

A few local members helped to bolster the numbers in R2R which had 11 boats split into 5/6 heat racing. Though the overall series had already been won by Aran Bond, 2nd to 5th places in the series were still very much up for grabs. This was between Bob Bryant, Alex James, Alex Parsons, and Alan Shipman. Alex J drove his Shockwave very well in the morning’s two races and just headed Alex P and Alan in heat 1 by the lunch break. Bob had mixed fortunes with his Crackerbox as once again it decided to turn into an Airboat! In heat 2 and racing for pride Sedgemoor MBC members Ian Gibson and Mark Sutton soon set the pace by scoring over 30 laps in their first two races. Race 3 was a mixed bag for many with some scoring their best laps of the day, while others didn’t make it to the start line. For the 4th and final race of the day (and the final race of the 2007 series) all the remaining eight boats were put together in one heat. There was some great racing, with all but one completing the 5 minutes. Mark and Ian continued their private battle both scoring over 16 laps. But it was Mark that had the upper hand nicking the maximum points on the day with a total score of 49.2, just ahead of Ian on 49.0 laps. The race to decide who takes the remaining overall places was also decided. Alex J finished on 46.8 in 3rd for the day, with Alan (44.9) 4th, Alex P (41.7) 5th and Bob in 8th (33.5).

For the overall series –

Aran confirmed his place as the 2007 R2R Champion finishing with a total score of 107 points.

Alex James 3rd place on the day netted him 16 points which moved him level in 2nd with Bob (both on 94 pts), but Alex was placed in overall 2nd place due to his higher discarded meeting score (11 to 9 pts). Alan’s 4th place on the day jumped him up to overall 4th in the series on 86pts, just ahead of young Alex P on 84pts.

Formula 2

Both Will and Keith Hickman were missing this meeting so the F2 fleet was a little thin on the ground with just 3 boats. It was a great shame especially for Will who was not only the 2006 F2 Champion, but was also leading this class by just 2 points, ahead of Mark Shipman in the series. But as they say - “to finish first, you first have to be at the meeting”!

For the three that were in attendance, James Bond was quickest from the start and despite a poor second race his scores of 17.9 and a massive 18.9 laps in races 1 and 3 gave him a total of 36.8 laps and 1st place on the day. Mark was never quite on that pace, finishing 2nd (35.2) while his dad Alan was 3rd (26.4) after suffering from “water in the radio” and DNS for race 3.

For the overall series –

Mark’s 2nd place on the day was just enough to take the 2007 Formula 2 title from Will by just 1 point! James had his first F2 win of the series at this round and the 21 points he collected was enough to leap-frog him over Keith to take overall 3rd place. A costly day for the Hickman family was just about to get a lot worse!

Formula 3

There was a very similar situation to F2 with Will H as the current F3 champion and also the overall series leader this time by 4 points ahead of Rob Parsons and me. Despite a few others also missing this round, it was still good to see a strong entry of 13 boats entering this ever popular class. Once again the current “top” placed racers in the overall table were placed into heat 1. Rob, Aran and I all enjoyed a few good races, exchanging the lead more than once, sometimes on the same lap! Heat 2 was lead by Ivan Skinner, ahead of (the much travelled) Dale Thompson and George Bowkett. By the afternoon it was pretty much a two horse race between myself and Rob. I had to win this meeting to score maximum points and (just like Mark in F2) nick the F3 title from Will. But Rob was spoiling my day when he won race 2 and took a small lap score advantage into the 3rd and final race. With the entire series at stake I just had to beat Rob and score more than 13 laps – no pressure! That was looking less than likely as Rob took an early lead with most of the others including myself collecting the autumn leaves! But with just a minute to go Rob had to pit as the leaves “found” his boat. I went on to win the race, scoring 14.3 laps – happy I was! This gave me the F3 class win (28.1) Rob was 2nd (27.2) just .9 of a lap behind! Aran finished strongly in 3rd place (25.7)

For the overall series –

Even before we’d added the scores to the overall points table I knew I had won the F3 title! Just like Mark in F2 (and again by just 1 point!) I felt a little disappointed that Will hadn’t been there to defend his title – but I’ll get over it! Rob’s consistent results (five 2nd places this year!) secured him 3rd spot in the series.

Formula 4

The big 12 cell boats were once again well supported with 9 entering this meeting. As for the other classes they were split into two heats with the overall series leaders all in heat 1.

While it was mathematically possible for either Mark Shipman or the current F4 Champion Chris Locke to win the series, the F4 title was really between myself and my good friend Malcolm Franks. We were all racing together in heat 1 – so the pressure was on from the start! Heat 2 included the two current inform F4 racers of Dale Thompson and Roger Clark. I got off to a great start winning race 1 with a score of 21.8 laps, but in 2nd place and just a lap behind was Malcolm on 20.8. Just crossing the start line in race 2 Malcolm and I tripped over each other, neither of us were sure quite what happened through the outriggers spray, but I came away with no damage while Malcolm’s hydro was left capsized. My luck continued as I went on to win the race scoring 21.1 laps. So it all came down to the 3rd and final race to decide the overall F4 title with Malcolm needing to beat me and score at least 22.2 laps. We both got away to a clean start and had a great race avoiding each other, sometimes by just a few inches! By the time the 5 minutes 30 seconds were up – Malcolm had won the race, but with a lap score of 20.8 laps it was not quite enough – I celebrated in my usual low key manner!

For the overall series –

My win secured me the F4 2007 title on 107 points, Malcolm finished 2nd on 105. Mark was 3rd on the day and the 16 pts was just enough to move him into overall 3rd place (95pts) ahead of Chris (93pts).

Hydro 1

Hydro 1 continues to be the least well supported class in this year’s series, as once again we only 3 boats entering this round. But to be honest, these boats are so fast – it doesn’t really matter! The two Chris’s Mr Osman and Mr Locke were separated by just 2 points in the overall series, so it was winner takes all at this meeting. Malcolm was racing the 3rd boat, but never quite got onto their pace. Chris O laid down the gauntlet scoring 22.4 laps in race 1, which, as it turned out was to be highest lap score of any boat at this meeting. Chris L hydro was not handling quite as well and he finished a couple of laps behind scoring 20.4. In race 2 the tables were turned as Chris O flipped over on his 11th lap leaving the other Chris to win scoring 18.8 laps. So it once again it was down to the final race to decide another overall class winner. Both Chris’s got away to a good start, with Malcolm in close company. Chris O was going well and set for another 22 lap score which would be impossible for Chris L to beat. But on lap 15 Chris O picked up something on his prop and quickly brought his boat in to remove the debris. In his haste to re-launch the prop caught the tarmac bank, clipped both leading edges and it crawled away – his race was over! Chris L steered clear of trouble and went onto score 19.4 laps, to be the round and series winner.

For the overall series –

Chris L had worked out that his class win on the day was enough to take the overall Hydro 1 SWAMBC title from Chris O who is the current Hydro 1 FE National Champion! But neither had realised just how close it was! When the sums were added up, both had tied scoring 115 points (after 1 discard round). But Chris Locke was awarded 1st place by virtue of his slightly better discarded round score of 16pts to Chris Osmans 15 – OUCH, now that’s a bit close! Malcolm was overall 3rd on 100pts.

Mono 1

Once again this was our most popular brushless class, with another good entry of 7 boats. Due to the number of suicidal geese, swans and ducks on our lake, they were split into 3/4 heats for their own and the local wildlife safety! Just like the previous four classes this meeting was to decide who takes the overall class title, this time it was between Mark Shipman and Chris Osman. While Chris had a slim overall points advantage, if either won this round they would claim the number one race plate for 2008. Aran Bond, through a spanner in the works by winning race 1 (19.9 laps), ahead of Chris 2nd (18.9). Mark got off to a bad start and only managed 14.9 laps (not sure what happened). Race 2 and just like his second Hydro 1 race Chris once again making things very difficult for himself, when his Mono 1 stopped on 7.2 laps (once again I’m not sure what happened!) Mark scored a respectable 16.6 laps, which put him ahead of Chris after two races. But a few of the other “Mono 1 guys” had put them both someway down the field as Aran Bond, Adrian Hingston, Dale Thompson and Roger Clark were all really going well. With a one race and one round discard system, the maths were now getting a bit complicated! In the 3rd and final race Chris really “got into the grove” and simplified matters by winning the race, scoring 19.6 laps. This was enough to win the class and both knew he’d taken the 2007 Mono 1 title.

For the overall series –

Chris’s superb last race under pressure in the very last round gave him overall 1st place on the day, had he had another bad race, with so many others on the pace, things could have turned out very different! But from the seven rounds this year he’s had three wins and three second places - so it was well deserved. Chris finished on 117 points. Mark only finished 5th on the day, but had enough in hand to hold onto overall 2nd place with 108pts, ahead of James in 3rd on 101.

Summary

This had been a really good to finish to the 2007 series and on such a nice day. My thanks to Chris Locke, Chris Osman and Malcolm Franks with setting up the site, marker buoys etc, etc. Also, thanks to the SWAMBC Chairman Barrie Stevens for coming along to present the overall trophies and his wife Jackie for helping me with the very important job of adding up the scores, as I don’t have enough fingers!

It has been a very good series this year and I think one of our best ever…and no, I’m not just saying that because I won two classes (thought I’d mention that again!). It has been by far our best attended since the SWAMBC Fast Electric series started some thirteen years ago. This year we have had an average of just over 46 boats entering each round and we have introduced four new members to the wonderful world of FE racing.

More importantly, each meeting has been an enjoyable, good humoured event with (hopefully) most going away having had a good day… and that is really what it is all about!

Roll on 2008 – and we’ll do it all over again!

Russ