The Madman Writes - 14th March 2009

There was a bit of everything at the Racewall last week. Big crashes, great finishes, and a mini hurricane thrown in to boot. Expect more of the same tonight although we could do without the latter.

The biggest crash of the night came in the Saloons when Stu Drobinski clipped the marker tyre on the entrance to the back straight and took off in spectacular fashion. Thankfully he was OK but it is back to the drawing board for the car. A new star was found in the formula in the shape of Craig Miller (I wonder if he comes from Edinburgh?) who looked on course for a facile win in heat one before the car let him down. He made up for it in heat two to record an impressive success before being overhauled in the final by most of the star graders in what was the race of the night.

Mention the names of Shevill and Webster and you expect to hear about controversy but this was them racing at their best. A train led by Shaun Webster charged into the final corner and with Stuart Shevill right behind there was only going to be one outcome. Both went wide to the wall allowing Steve Webster to sneak though on the inside to take the victory. Northern Ireland starter, Ryan Wright, who regularly dazzles us with his flag waving skills, swapped them for his saloon and posted some good results in what I am sure was his first outing at the track. Many people were asking about the whereabouts of Scottish champion, Chris Lattka. I was speaking to him at the practise the week before and he indicated that due to pressure of work that he might be missing last week. Chris has the attitude that he wants to put the best prepared car he can on the track and with little time to prepare the car decided to sit the meeting out. I am sure that the lure of the British crown at the end of May will be enough to get him suitable motivated to make a return to the track.

Now here’s a good trivia question for you. Who was the first Scotsman to win a Brisca F2 race in 2009?? Aah that’s easy you say. Paul Ford. Won heat one at Cowdie last week before going on to win the final. Wrong. I will reveal all in a second but not before heaping praise on Fordy whose car seems to love the wet and it scooted round as if it was on rails to take a double on the night. He had to repel a challenge from Chris Burgoyne at the final bend who adopted a win or bust approached which on this occasion was bust as he spun himself out of the top ten in his desperation to make contact with the race leader. Former Hot Rod star, Brian Wilson shown that it won’t be long before he is winning races as he netted three top ten finishes in his debut in the formula.

Now, back to the poser I set before. The first Scot to win an F2 race in 2009 was Graham Kelly who took a heat win down at Skegness a couple of weeks ago. David Polley gained some local press when he announced that he was going to try to do 100 meetings in the formula this season in which case all bets are off for the National points title. He done his third at Birmingham last week, and will be making some treks North of the border when Cowdenbeath is a solus date. Good luck to him in his quest and I will keep you posted of his progress later in the season.

I did mention that there were spectacular crashes last week. They did not just occur on the track they happened off the track as well when the power disappeared in the box for a short while. (Well that’s one way to shut me up). After it was restored we had problems with the computerised lap scoring so if you were looking on My Laps during the week then you would be disappointed. Everything should be hunky dory tonight fingers crossed.

Tonight sees the fist appearance of the season of the Hot Rods and Stock Rods. The Hot version will some a drop in cars as at least 6 Scots are planning to race in the National Hot Rod World qualifier down at Birmingham tonight. The Stock Rods on the other hand will more than make up for it given the numbers at the practise day. Leon Stewart had the unwanted stat of being the first driver to crash in the formula this year when had pranged his car at that session but will be back on the grid tonight. So with my space up, it is time to sit back and let the action commence.