NIRSierras
Northampton,
21st March, All Sierra Bangers
Cheers to Wilko who once again produces
the goods from Northampton, this time their All Sierra bash which
benefited from a boosted turnout and some good hitting on track
Having turned up exactly half way
through the meeting due to a prior engagement with the front brakes on
a 16/60 I can’t say what the exact turnout for this one was as I am not
sad / keen enough to wade through the rookie sierras counting the
banger ones… suffice to say it eclipsed the turnout of Incarace’s two
Unlimited sessions of the years so far by some margin. Only 9 appeared
in the programme including a few visitors which was off-putting but the
turnout did get well into the twenties which is respectable enough for
one make domestic racing. As previously mentioned I missed heat 1 which
was by all accounts an entertaining race - there were a few cars
already wasted so it can’t have been bad! No pen and paper either so
this report is from action committed to memory (it’s that or nothing!)
so apologies for any omissions.
Heat 2 featured just under 20 cars,
with RDC visitor 21 Jason Colbert making the early running in a
sapphire. Action was initially subdued as the drivers got to grips with
a very wet track although a lot of cars were turned fencewards which at
least made sure we knew it wasn’t rookies! Credit to 229 Welsby, 810
Barker and 116 Coops who were all putting it about in the early stages.
100 Dave Thomas found the wall quite hard thanks to an unseen assailant
in an orange motor who eventually did for 21 Crazy Colbert as well,
handing the lead over to a flying 378 Aiden Parker. 722 Bodger in an
estate moved the action up a gear with a good steam to 269 Popeye
before 229 Ken Welsby pulled off the hit of the race, trashing 621
James Tibbles with a fine follow in on the pit bend. Up at the other
end 722 Bodger stuffed 171 Marshal with a couple of other cars coming
to grief caught in the middle of it to end the action this time - 378
Parker winning comfortably.
The final was set to run into a DD
with several drivers opting to wait on the centre for the crashing to
start! The usual Incarace draw for grid positions moved 378 Parker who
was alone on row 5 on to pole position and as was perhaps to be
expected he cruised straight off to victory to complete a heat &
final double - not bad for a bloke who claims he can’t race RWD! There
wasn’t much notable action in the race, although there were a few run
up the fence; it was the DD which produced the goods.
170 Teal came straight off the middle
at the drop of the green, making a beeline for the winner with 378
unfortunately taking the impact in the door; his misery compounded as
Teal’s Nutters team mate 611 Gavin gave him one on the nose in what was
quite clearly a pre-planned assault. 170 Teal now lossed out big time
by pulling his still running car off onto the safety area and ejecting,
with Parker doing the same although the confrontation was thankfully
purely verbal. Back on track and 229 Welsby was letting his car do the
talking and destroyed 611 with a cracking shot which turtled the
Nutters estate impressively as a couple of other cars who’s numbers I
didn’t catch piled in to complete a nice little jacking train near the
pit gate. 809 Jedi now gave Colbert a huge shot over the back wheel DSU
which spun the 21 car halfway up the track and caused Jedi’s car to
disintegrate impressively. Colbert got going again to stop 511 head on
with Popeye and Welsby finishing 511 T-bone style. Colbert to his
credit limped his broken motor down the straight to receive a stunning
full on shot shot from action man Welsby which snapped 229 as well,
before Welsby in turn suffered a savage hit from 269 Popeye who
backed off on the starter to win - the 229 and 21 cars both left
slaughtered in style, although 21’s was judged to be more so for the
trophy - a little harsh on Welsby not to receive anything after a well
rated display - especially after being done out of the “most
destructed” award at the Heartbreaker in most eyes!
Sierras might be dross but they
certainly seem to produce more domestic entertainment than the
bluebirds… it’s a shame more drivers can’t be tempted to give them a
try, although they are worth a slot on the fixtures as they stand. The
racing was good with cars actually taking each other out properly not
rodding past, and the DD was a real corker. Overall a surprisingly
entertaining little session which would really benefit from having NO
ROOKIES (how often has this been said?) and let them race a banger on
their rookie license!