NORTH WEST LAWN MOWER RACING ASSOCIATION
Race Report from Willingham-by-Stow
A race meeting was held in Martin Shaw’s home village
of Willingham-by-Stow over the weekend, which saw the debut
of the much-anticipated ‘Big Dennis’. The mower
is a 36” wide Dennis and features a plastic gas-pipe
roller which seems to be coping with the stress of racing
pretty well. It is a good looking machine and details of the
build can be found at www.mowerspeed.co.uk. We were also visited
by a couple of the BLMRA regulars as Roger Knowlson and Mark
Jaffe made the long trip ‘up North’
#31 Daz Whitehead’s lap of the track
“From the start-line was a straight which ran up the
left hand side of the field, this went into a fast left, then
immediate tight right combination. The ground was really rough
here and it was difficult to get the power on if you were
off line. These corners fed onto the back straight and then
it was a really deceptive corner, it looked a lot faster than
it really was, so you had to brake a little then accelerate
again before hard braking for the next corner – a medium
speed right hander. This opened out into a long and fast left
hander which tightened at the end to an almost hairpin left.
Next was a short straight and then a tricky right hander which
led into another short straight and a flat out right hander
and then over the finish line for another lap. Lap times for
the quickest drivers were around 28 seconds."
Saturday
Groups 2 and 4 took to the start-line for the first Points
Race of the day. #66A Mark Jaffe had the best start to lead
the opening lap from #4 Dave Askew, #64 Mark Rostron, #8 Kev
Grimer, #7 Andy Little, #25 Phil Brooks, #70 Roger Knowlson
and #12 Martin Shaw. Dave Askew passed Mark Jaffe for the
lead on Lap 2, while Kev Grimer passed Mark Rostron for 3rd
on Lap 3. Roger Knowlson took 6th place on Lap 4, while Andy
Little passed Mark Rostron for 4th on Lap 5. Dave Askew controlled
the race once in front to take the race win from Mark Jaffe,
Kev Grimer, Andy Little, Mark Rostron, Roger Knowlson, Phil
Brooks and Martin Shaw
The Group 3’s were next up, and as expected it was
a battle between Chris and Matt Randall. The two brothers
are fighting for honours in this years Championship. Matt
was leading by 6 points at the start of the event but it was
Chris who had the best start and gradually pulled away from
Matt during the race to take the win. Chris was first across
the line from Matt. Daz Whitehead finished third after passing
his brother Jason on Lap 7. Jason finished 4th while standing
in for Josh Clarkson. Ian Carter finished 5th ahead of Sam
Shaw in 6th
The next Championship race was for the Grand Prix Trophy
with all 14 mowers taking the start. The track had been altered
slightly to slow the lap times with the addition of a tighter
corner and longer back straight. A hectic start saw #69 Matt
Randall hold the lead at the end of the first lap from #96
Chris Randall, #7 Andy Little, #18 Jason Whitehead, #31 Daz
Whitehead, #8 Kev Grimer, #4 Dave Askew, #64 Mark Rostron,
#86 Pete Collishaw, #11 Sam Shaw, #70 Roger Knowlson, #12
Martin Shaw, #25 Phil Brooks and #66A Mark Jaffe. Chris Randall
took the lead on Lap 2 and was not passed again. Daz Whitehead
took 4th place on Lap 3, and 3rd place on Lap 5, but a mistake
on Lap 8 dropped him back to 5th, but he recovered to take
4th on Lap 9 and 3rd on Lap 11. Dave Askew had a good race
improving from 7th on the opening lap to 5th on Lap 3 and
4th on Lap 8. Mark Rostron also had a good race after being
8th on Lap 1. He took 7th on Lap 3, 6th on Lap 15, and 5th
on his final lap. Chris Randall won the race having covered
18 laps. Matt Randall also finished on the lead lap. Daz Whitehead,
Dave Askew, Mark Rostron and Andy Little all dropped one lap,
while Pete Collishaw and Sam Shaw dropped 2. Kev Grimer and
Roger Knowlson were both 3 laps down. Martin Shaw finished
5 laps down. Mark Jaffe struggled with a problem covering
only 10 laps, while Phil Brooks covered just 8 on his Group
2 Wheels. Jason Whitehead retired on the 2nd lap with a front
puncture
Sunday
For Sunday, it was decided to run the track the other way
round. Once again, the Group 4’s and 2’s were
combined for the Points Race. #4 Dave Askew led the first
lap from #66A Mark Jaffe, #8 Kev Grimer, #7 Andy Little, #12
Martin Shaw and #D Andy Howard. Andy Little passed Kev Grimer
on Lap 4 for 3rd place. Dave Askew took an easy win in Group
4 ahead of Mark Jaffe. Andy Little was 3rd at the line but
won Group 2 Wheels. Kev Grimer was 4th over the finishing
line and took 3rd in Group 4, while Martin Shaw won Group
2 Roller ahead of Andy Howard who retired on Lap 4
In the Group 3 Points Race, #96 Chris Randall took the holeshot
to lead into the first corner. At the end of the first lap
Chris led from #69 Matt Randall, #31 Daz Whitehead, #86 Ian
Carter, #18 Josh Clarkson, #11 Sam Shaw and #9 Scott Evans.
Engine problems slowed Daz Whitehead and he dropped to 4th
on Lap 3. Josh Clarkson also had problems and retired on Lap
8 while holding 5th place. Chris Randall took the win and
another point back of Matt Randall in the Championship stakes,
while Ian Carter was 3rd ahead of Daz Whitehead, Sam Shaw
and Scott Evans
The Grand Prix was next and once again 14 machines took the
start line. Another hectic start which saw lots of rubbing
and paint swapping into the first corner let #96 Chris Randall
take the lead ahead of #69 Matt Randall, #66A Jason Whitehead,
#4 Dave Askew, #86 Pete Collishaw, #18 Josh Clarkson, #31
Daz Whitehead, #11 Sam Shaw, #9 Scott Evans, #12 Martin Shaw,
#7 Andy Little, #8 Kev Grimer and #D John Parden. Chris Randall
pushed hard and built a lead over Matt Randall as both drivers
seek to pull back laps on Championship leader Daz Whitehead.
Chris and Matt both covered 19 laps in the 10 minute race.
Dave Askew and Pete Collishaw battled for 3rd and 4th throughout
the race and both managed to drop just one lap. #66A driven
by Jason Whitehead had a good race dropping two laps to the
leaders whilst maintaining 5th place ahead of Daz Whitehead,
who recovered from early engine problems and managed to hold
the gap to Chris Randall at just 2 laps. Scott Evans and Josh
Clarkson finished 3 laps down. Andy Little recovered from
a first lap incident to end up 4 laps down. Martin Shaw dropped
7 laps. Kev Grimer retired after 10 laps, while John Parden
managed just 5. Roger Knowlson also completed just 3 laps
The 2005 Championship Standings after Round 13 are:
~
Class 4
#4 Dave Askew 106 points
#100 Phil Davies 63 points
#64 Mark Rostron 61 points
#8 Kev Grimer 49 points
#66A Mark Jaffe 18 points
Class 3
#69 Matt Randall 106 points
#96 Chris Randall 102 points
#31 Daz Whitehead 87 points
#11 Sam Shaw 71 points
#86 Ian Carter 53 points
#44 Sheldon Webster 49 points
#18 Josh Clarkson 8.5 points
#27 Stu Polkinghorne 8 points
#2 Mike Stark 7 points
#9 Scott Evans 5 points
#26 Robert Smith 1.5 points
Class 2 Wheels
#7 Andy Little 100 points
#24 Dave Smith 13.5 points
#25 Phil Brooks 9 points
Class 2 Roller
#12 Martin Shaw 97 points
#66 Andy Howard 26 points
#70 Roger Knowlson 10 points
#D Andy Howard 1 point
Grand Prix
#31 Daz Whitehead 236 laps
#96 Chris Randall 228 laps
#69 Matt Randall 227 laps
#4 Dave Askew 214 laps
#11 Sam Shaw 213 laps
#7 Andy Little 187 laps
#12 Martin Shaw 154 laps
#44 Cameron Hill 139 laps
#86 Pete Collishaw 119 laps
#64 Mark Rostron 114 laps
#100 Phil Davies 104 laps
#8 Kev Grimer 93 laps
#66 John Parden 63 laps
#18 Josh Clarkson 30 laps
#24 Dave Smith 26.5 laps
#2 Mike Stark 24 laps
#66A Mark Jaffe 18.5 laps
#70 Roger Knowlson 18 laps
#9 Scott Evans 16 laps
#27 Stu Polkinghorne 14 laps
#25 Phil Brooks 8 laps
#26 Robert Smith 5 laps
#D John Parden 5 laps
Several NWLMRA drivers and mowers have entered the annual
BLMRA 12 Hour Endurance Race. The event will take place over
the weekend of 30/31 July in West Sussex.
|