What a weekend for the season finale.
Friday and Saturdays downpours gave way as the sun shined on the righteous for Sunday as the team prepared to race for the last time this season.
Buoyed by the support of the inspiring RS Components , their STEM Ambassadors and Titan II and Abac / AIRnet Business Manager Ian Best, family & colleagues, the team were more determined than ever to put on a good show.
First to qualify were the classic stock hatch drivers. This weekend saw them sharing the qualifying and races with the 750MC Hot Hatch championship as 48 cars took to the grid.
Jason Wood led the PDC charge with an impressive 7th for race 1, consistent laps putting him 4th for race 2, Martin Rodgers was 11th, Ian Gribben 18th and Pete Osgerby 21st.
Osgerby had a mathematical chance of the Novice Championship, Gribben was after some solid points and Rodgers and Wood both now in the top ten were fighting for overall position.
Here is how it went down.
A big result and a great drive from Wood gapped Rodgers after contact for the latter saw him way down the order, a four place gain from qualifying for Osgerby wasnt enough to take the novice championship further despite a valiant season long battle. Driver of the team in this race was Ian Gribben showing some really good pace to take 15th and 2 additional championship points.
Race 2 was a similar affair, the mega consistent Wood outscoring Rodgers to take 8th and 9th in the championship respectively. Gribben and Osgerby improved their lap times but not their points tally as both finished in the top 20.
Here are the final standings for Classic Stock Hatch for 2019
—————————————————————————————————————————
Next to qualify and race were Pip Hammond & Gavin Johnson, a continuously improving season with 2 podiums in succession saw them in with a chance of an overall podium in class B in club enduro. This would be an incredible result for the team after losing 2 point scoring rounds due to a change of car.
Qualifying was damp / drying and suited Hammond to a tee, a short swop to allow Johnson to get used to the conditions gave Hammond longer to find his feet and qualify the car in 3rd overall, 1 place behind challengers Matt Maxted & Ben Salmon but 6 places ahead of Michael Downie and 8 ahead of Luke Handley. all able to make the remaining two places now that the impressive Steve Cheetham had the title won.
Hammond was the man to start the race as conditions dried, a mega start saw him lead the class in the early part of the race running 5th overall. Down on power and with a drying track Cheetham charged by in the 911 powered boxster, Maxted & Salmon made a pit stop after contact and wouldnt return to the race.
A super consistent long stint from Hammond pitted him 2nd in class with a 30 second gap to Evans & Barlow with Handley & Downie further back.
Johnson took over with 40 minutes of the race remaining. As he exited the Pits Barlow went by in the Cayman? A mystery as to how he had found 30 seconds in 3 laps but 2 laps on a shredded rear right tyre would make that question irrelevant.
All the Boxster needed to do was make it home, Handley now the main rival, Johnson stroked the car home to finish 10 seconds ahead of the charging Handley to take 2nd place on the teams debut on the GP Circuit and more importantly to claim 2nd place in the overall class from the 40 entrants.
What a team and what a season. From our partners, to friends and families, to social media and all of our supply chain.
THANKYOU.
PDC, RS Components, Abac / AIRnet, Morson Group, SR Electrical Wholesalers Ltd, Logo Me Up, Pin Gin, CL Brakes UK, MRF Tyres, Toyo Tyres and all at 750 MC
Its been another rollercoaster for all of us at PDC but we wouldnt have it any other way.
Look out over the coming weeks for sponsor updates and season/driver reviews & sumamries from this year; + more about our STEM Activity as we ramp up plans for a mega 2020.