Hart & Clinch win Essex Winter Series Rd 4

The fourth round of the Essex Winter Series took place this weekend, and with snow forecast all week, some wondered if the meeting would even take place.  However, with Saturday proving nicer than forecast, the EWS team built the track and spent time making sure the venue access road was gritted, ready for the meeting as usual. With no overnight snow, the meeting went ahead as normal, however with snow forecast later in the day, the organisers decided to only run four rounds of qualifying rather than the usual five, to allow people a slightly earlier finish. Despite a few drivers not wishing to travel in the uncertain conditions, an impressive 86 drivers still turned up to race, including Keith Dempsey and Ryan Campbell making the trip over from Ireland. In the Stock 21.5 class, the battle for pole was between series newcomer Gavin Clinch and last year’s runner-up Mark Trinder. Mark topped the first round with his Xray, three tenths of a second ahead of Gavin, with series returnee Matthew Rowe taking third in the round and Trevor Bailey an excellent fourth. Mark also took round two, before Gavin fought back and took his Serpent to the top of the time sheets in round 3, with the fastest time so far.

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