Sheffield, 30th May 2005
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SHEFFIELD RESULTS
Late May bank holiday Startrax madness ! 24 cars graced the pits at Owlerton for part 1 of a double header for the F1 brigade which would see them dash across to Belle Vue later in the evening whilst we were doing Burger King off the M1. Heat 1All 24 made it on track and with Mick Rogers holidaying in Pennsylvania, it would be intereseting to see who would fill his boots as the main man. The white's lead them alll away & it was 130 Dave Asquith who took up the running with the rest of his fellow low graders eaten up by the pack or the fence ! Further back the in form Carl Radforth was the first to make the break from the reds. His progress nearly ended when 267 Mark Barratt found the back straight fence & 37 Cowley & 161 Allen also got involved. Radforth was held up for a short while but rejoined only losing a couple of spots. Now, I have to admit to not knowing what happened next but it seemed like half the field decided to have a general meeting at turn 1 which took out many fancied runners not least Marc Radforth which ended his day's racing. He is having the most miserable luck just lately. 213 Forty also got caught up & crossed the centre green at one stage. The race was flagged early with some drivers needing assistance & the win needed some debate before it was offered to Carl Radforth with Ashley Boam 191 & Kev Stuchbury 131 his placemen. Dave Asquith came in a creditable 4th - showing signs of greater things. Heat 2 Gridded 20 cars with a couple out for the day & two others unable to make repairs in time for the line up. The race followed a similar pattern to heat 1 with Dave Asquith going well. Also going well from the reds was Radforth who battled through the field to knock on Asquiths back bumper however, the whiley white top was not going to give up his lead that easily & really made Carl work for it. Apart from that, the race was a quiet affair & Carl duly took his second win of the day & to his credit was quick to heap praise on Mr Asquith on the finish line. The Final saw 19 cars on track with Ashley Boam & Andy Craven reappearing after missing heat 2. The race was not very old when the waved yellows appeared for a skirmish on turns 1 & 2 with Neil Stuchbury appearing to be in trouble. His car was removed from the fence & the race resumed with Chris Cowley heading the field with Radforth, Fort, Kev Osborne & Darren Cottrill for company. Certainly, Cowley was flying & pulled a small gap between himself & Radforth with Fort also tagging on to form a 3 way battle for the lead which had the makings of a great finish. For 5 or 6 laps it could have been any one of the 3 who took the spoils. Fort managed to force his way to the front only for Cowley to give him the big 'un which took both out of the running & handed Radforth a hatrick. So Carl was now the winningest Hotstox driver of the season keeping up his impressive run of at least 1 victory per meeting & bagging the Supreme Championship for his troubles. 2nd home was Darren Cottrill with Kev Osborne coming home 3rd. The crowd certainly made their appreciation felt with a warm reception for the top 3 on their victory lap. The Grand National produced 18 cars racing in front of a sparse crowd, most of whom had made a dash for Belle Vue. 315 Rob Shackleton showed well early doors & is definately getting used to his ex Ed NEachell machine. Blues brothers Cowley & Osborne were also going well & they went past Shackleton as did Fort & Kev Stuchbury. Paul Heath had also been showing well only to to be in the wrong place at the wrong time when Mark Allen had a minor disagreement with Neil Stuchbury on turns 3 & 4. Allen took to the infield & rejoined right in front of Heath who was side swiped (unintentionally I am sure) into the fence by the starter. It was obvious that Paul was in a bad spot & whilst the marshalls on the infield were waving yellows, the starter was not so quick & Paul was collected heavily by a flat out Ashley Boam. The race was red flagged with both drivers in trouble. Thankfully both exited under their own steam with the cars taking the brunt of the damage. The race was then declared with Osborne taking the win. Questions must be asked as to why the race did not run to the end (as is the rules under the BSCDA) the 2nd event of the day to end prematurely. Some great racing again from the V8's with Carl Radforth looking very impressive. I think even Mick Rogers would not have had any effect on the days results. That is not to say Carl had it easy, because he didnt. Now if only he could rub some of his purple patch off onto cousin Marc.....    |
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