Race Report from Barnard Castle Truck Show, County Durham
– August 28th- 30th
Despite 3 days of changeable weather, hundreds of people
flocked to the Barnard Castle Truck Show to watch the NWLMRA
racer’s battle for Championship honours. With just 2
rounds of the Championship series left, all the titles (bar
one) are still up for grabs. With this in mind all the drivers
pushed themselves and their machines to (and sometimes beyond)
the limits. Several repairs were called for, some more serious
than others and many drivers fell foul of the bumpy ground
loosing control of the machines during the weekend
#31 Daz Whitehead’s lap of the track
“It had rained on and off all week, so the ground was
wet. Added to this, were all the stones that were showing
through the ground. Put all that together and you had a pretty
slick racetrack all weekend. For Saturday, we had a good long
straight, which went into a fast but bumpy left-hander. This
was causing a lot of drivers to go in to the corner slow,
but there was a smoother faster line around the outside of
the corner. Next was a short straight, and then a major double
bump, where you had to turn left. No matter what you did here,
you had to scrub off all your speed just to stay on the track!
Then it was a short straight into a tight left hander, this
opened out into a double apex right hander, followed by another
short straight. Next up was a tight left hander that fed onto
the back straight, up past the pits and then hard on the brakes
for the final turn which was a fast left hander. This led
back onto the main straight and across the finish line for
another lap. Lap times were around 26 seconds for the pace-setters.”
Round 16 – Saturday 28th August 2004
8 drivers lined up for the start of the Points Race, with
#27 Stuart Polkinghorne taking the hole-shot to lead into
the first turn from #96 Chris Randall, #31 Daz Whitehead,
#69 Matt Randall, #7 Andy Little, #12 Martin Shaw, #24 Dave
Smith and #11 Sam Shaw. Lap 2 saw #31 Daz Whitehead pass #96
Chris Randall for 2nd, while #7 Andy Little passed #69 Matt
Randall for 4th. #24 Dave Smith passed #12 Martin Shaw for
6th on Lap 4. Meanwhile #27 Stuart Polkinghorne cruised home
to win from #31 Daz Whitehead and #96 Chris Randall. #7 Andy
Little won Group 2 Wheels, while #11 Sam Shaw won Group 3
Briggs
Next was the Grand Prix, and once again it was #27 Stuart
Polkinghorne who led into the first turn, this time though
#31 Daz Whitehead was 2nd, from #96 Chris Randall, #69 Matt
Randall, #7 Andy Little, #24 Dave Smith, #12 Martin Shaw and
#11 Sam Shaw. On lap 2, #7 Andy Little took 4th from #69 Matt
Randall and #12 Martin Shaw took 6th from #24 Dave Smith.
Onto lap 7 and #69 Matt Randall took 4th back from #7 Andy
Little. One lap later and #24 Dave Smith took 6th from #12
Martin Shaw. #27 Stuart Polkinghorne again proved to be unstoppable
as he lapped all but one of the other machines. At the chequered
flag, he had a lead of about 20 seconds over #31 Daz Whitehead,
both drivers covering 23 laps. #96 Chris Randall, #69 Matt
Randall and #7 Andy Little all dropped 1 lap, while #24 Dave
Smith and #12 Martin Shaw dropped 2 laps. #11 Sam Shaw lost
4 laps to the race winner
Round 17 – Sunday 29th August 2004
For Sunday’s racing, it was decided to run the track
in the opposite direction. However, this did nothing to slow
the pace of #27 Stuart Polkinghorne with another lights-to-flag
victory in the points race. #31 Daz Whitehead recovered from
4th at the end of the first lap to take 2nd at the flag, with
#96 Chris Randall passing #69 Matt Randall on lap 6 to take
3rd place. #12 Martin Shaw was 5th in Group 3 Tecumseh. #7
Andy Little won Group 2 Wheels ahead of #24 Dave Smith while
#11 Sam Shaw won Group 3 Briggs
The drying conditions made the Grand Prix race faster than
the previous day. #27 Stuart Polkinghorne led from the lights
to be first into Turn 1 ahead of #69 Matt Randall, #31 Daz
Whitehead, #96 Chris Randall, #7 Andy Little, #24 Dave Smith,
#11 Sam Shaw and #12 Martin Shaw. #11 Sam Shaw retired after
3 laps with a puncture. #24 Dave Smith passed #7 Andy Little
on Lap 4 for 5th place. #31 Daz Whitehead passed #69 Matt
Randall on lap 9 for 2nd place. #27 Stuart Polkinghorne won
the race having covered 22 laps. #31 Daz Whitehead also completed
22 laps. #69 Matt Randall, #96 Chris Randall and #7 Andy Little
all dropped 1 lap, while #24 Dave Smith ran into trouble late
on causing him to drop 3 laps. #12 Martin Shaw lost 4 laps,
while #50 Phil Brooks completed just 7 laps
Round 18 – Monday 30th August 2004
7 drivers stayed over till the Monday for the 3rd day of racing.
The track direction was altered once again and some of the
bumpier sections were replaced with even more bumpy sections!
#27 Stuart Polkinghorne led from the lights ahead of #31 Daz
Whitehead, #69 Matt Randall, #96 Chris Randall, #12 Martin
Shaw & #11 Sam Shaw. #7 Andy Little retired just after
starting the race with gearbox failure. #96 Chris Randall
passed #69 Matt Randall for 3rd on lap 2 and proceeded to
chase down 2nd place. Lap 7 saw #31 Daz Whitehead retire from
2nd with a snapped drive belt. At the flag, #27 Stuart Polkinghorne
won from #96 Chris Randall, #69 Matt Randall with #12 Martin
Shaw in 4th place. #11 Sam Shaw finished 5th overall in the
process of winning Group 3 Briggs
There was a short delay before the Grand Prix to allow #31
Daz Whitehead time to fit a new drive belt and make some small
repairs. This must have worked as the #31 was leading at the
end of the first lap from #27 Stuart Polkinghorne, #96 Chris
Randall, #69 Matt Randall, #12 Martin Shaw and #11 Sam Shaw.
It only took one more lap for normal order to be restored
when #27 Stuart Polkinghorne took the lead. Meanwhile #11
Sam Shaw passed #12 Martin Shaw for 5th place on lap 3. These
positions reversed again on lap 6. #96 Chris Randall passed
#31 Daz Whitehead for 2nd on lap 11 but these positions swapped
back 2 laps later. #27 Stuart Polkinghorne went on to lap
everyone covering 22 laps in the process. #31 Daz Whitehead,
#96 Chris Randall & #69 Matt Randall all dropped one lap,
while #12 Martin Shaw and #11 Sam Shaw both dropped 4 laps
Over the course of the weekend, many non-championship races
including relay, baton, devil-take-high-road, Le Mans, staggered
and back-to-back races took place with most drivers winning
races at some point. The highlights had to be wins for #7
Andy Little and #11 Sam Shaw both of whom seemed to attract
lots of support from the crowd
The Championship Standings after Round 18 are: ~
Class 4
#66 Mark Jaffe 11 points
#50 Phil Brooks 1 point
Class 3 Tecumseh
#31 Daz Whitehead 151 points
#96 Chris Randall 139 points
#69 Matt Randall 125 points
#12 Martin Shaw 106 points
#27 Stu Polkinghorne 60 points
#26 Robert Smith 45½ points
#27 Matt Heys 13½ points
#86 Pete Collishaw 13 points
#97 Mike Stark 8 points
Class 3 Briggs
#11 Sam Shaw 158 points
#18 Sheldon Webster 29 points
Class 2 Wheels
#7 Andy Little 130 points
#24 Dave Smith 129 points
#50 Phil Brooks 9 points
Class 2 Roller
#67 J Parden & Co 20 points
Grand Prix
#96 Chris Randall 327 laps
#31 Daz Whitehead 323 laps
#69 Matt Randall 313 laps
#12 Martin Shaw 298 laps
#24 Dave Smith 255 laps
#11 Sam Shaw 253 laps
#7 Andy Little 226 laps
#27 Stu Polkinghorne 131 laps
#26 Robert Smith 116½ laps
#22 Matt Heys 56 laps
#86 Pete Collishaw 53 laps
#18 Sheldon Webster 35 laps
#67 J Parden & Co 29 laps
#50 Phil Brooks 23 laps
#97 Mike Stark 19 laps
#66 Mark Jaffe 15 laps
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