Clarke & Broad wins EWS season opener
The 2012-2013 Essex Winter Series kicked off last weekend with a capacity entry. After the success of the series first season, the organisers had made a few tweaks to the rules, which were clearly well received by racers as the first round of the series was booked out nearly a month before the event. The most notable change for the second series of EWS, which has become one of the biggest and most popular in the UK, was to the race day format. Five rounds of qualifying would now feature, and the round-by-round points system would be in use. Single leg finals would then decide the winners of each class.
In the 21.5 Stock class, GMCC’s Mark Young led the field during round 1, until an expired motor at the 4-minute mark allowed Stoke RCMCC’s William Stuart to take the round win, with Steve Henry returning from a 4 year break from the sport to take second in the round. The defending series champion, Darren Tickner, fought back and took the second round, and then series organiser Richard Clarke took round 3. William responded by taking round 4, with Richard taking round 5. This left William and Richard tied on points, and William secured pole position thanks to a faster time by 2 seconds. Darren secured third place on the A Final grid.
Into the A Final, and William led the field away, closely pursued by Richard and Darren. The top three started to pull away from the rest of the field, until a mistake from William cost him the lead. Richard initially started to build a lead, before Darren, William and Adam Mullock found a new turn of speed in the latter stages of the race. However, Richard had done enough and was able to control the pace at the front to take the win, with Darren finishing second, William third and Adam closing in from fourth.
A Final Result
1. (2) Richard Clarke 19/308.02
2. (3) Darren Tickner 19/308.80
3. (1) William Stuart 19/309.68
4. (5) Adam Mullock 19/310.56
5. (4) Matt Butcher 19/312.39
6. (6) Mark Trinder 18/302.15
7. (10) Dominic Shore 18/303.37
8. (9) Mark Young 18/308.52
9. (7) Steve Henry 10/167.49
10.(8) Duncan Letham 10/170.70
In the 13.5 Super Stock class, last years series’ runner up, Ashley Wiffen led the field in round 1, taking the win from multiple STCC Champion Bryan Loynes. In round 2, last years champion and multi-time UK National A Finalist Paul Pinkney had his car dialed in and took the win from Ashley. Paul also took rounds 3 and 4 to secure pole position, with Tony Broad taking second place in both. That left second place on the grid up for grabs going into the final round, which Tony took by less than 1 second from Ashley, leaving Tony second on the grid, Ashley third and Bryan fourth.
The A Final saw the first four drivers, along with Darren Lee, quickly pull a lead over the second half of the field. The five cars circulated in close proximity, each looking for an opportunity to make a pass, but knowing a mistake could also cost them a number of places. Paul made an uncharacteristic mistake at half distance, rolling his car coming off the fast sweeper, putting Tony into the lead. Ashley was also through and into second, and these two drivers now managed to put some clear space between themselves and the chasing pack. Ashley tried everything to pass Tony, but Tony kept his car on the racing line and didn’t provide Ashley and chances to make a clear move. Tony held on to take the win by just 0.2 seconds, with Bryan third, Darren fourth and an unlucky Paul dropping to fifth.
A Final Result – 13.5 Super Stock
1. (2) Tony Broad (Xray) 21/314.07
2. (3) Ashley Wiffen (Schumacher) 21/314.29
3. (4) Bryan Loynes (Xray) 20/300.63
4. (5) Darren Lee (Schumacher) 20/301.19
5. (1) Paul Pinkney (Schumacher) 20/301.62
6. (10) Tim Harrop (Xray) 20/309.90
7. (6) Max Guerola (Xray) 20/310.42
8. (8) Dean Gibbs (Hot Bodies) 20/312.28
9. (9) Colin Gardiner (Xray) 19/310.11
10.(7) Daniel Veness (Xray) 18/302.44
The organisers would like to thank all the drivers for attending and providing a great days racing. The series, supported by Schumacher and Modeltech Central Booking, returns for Round 2 on the 18th November.
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