2019/20 EssexCarpetClash Rd1 – Report

After a successful and well backed series in 2018/19, the EssexCarpetClash returned last weekend for their second season located in the south of England. The opening meeting was fully booked with both 4 and 2 wheel-drive classes, 2 wheel-drive being the more popular. Having completed all rounds of qualifying, top dog in 4WD was Stephen Brown who had a perfect qualifier taking all four rounds, showing that he was going to be difficult to beat come the finals. John Painter lined up 2nd on the grid, with Mark Lewis, a top runner from last year in 3rd.

Come the finals, Stephen made hard work for himself, only finishing 2nd in both leg 1 and leg 2 of the finals, allowing Mark Lewis and Lee Hedges to take a win each. The 3rd leg was all to play for, which Stephen put to good use and took the win, giving him the overall win, only on count back, from Mark Lewis and Lee Hedges.

2WD was a very different story for qualifying with a number of racings all possible on make the A-main. But it was both Will Venables and Ellis Stafford that made for an exciting day. Tied on points after each taking two qualifying rounds, only to be decided on best time, which Will took by three tenths of a second. Jon Hazlewood lined up 3rd with last year’s champion, Kyle Moon on 4th. Both Ellis and Will had a leg win each, making the last run of the day the decider. With nose to tail racing and some great moves for position, Will took the 3rd leg by crossing the line one tenth of a second ahead of Ellis, giving Will the overall win. Kyle finishing a respectable 3rd place overall.

Round 2 returns on 3rd November, where the meeting already has a reserve list, making this a series not to miss.

Source: EssexCarpetClash [essexcarpetclash.co.uk]