Round 3 Report 2010 - Retro Show

The third round of the Euro Sports Compact drag series was once again headed up in qualifying from the flying Andy Waite. His 4wd Golf proving to be as consistent as ever in turning up with the goods. Andy was rewarded with a brilliant 10.0 and 142mph. Not far behind was Paul Jordan and Andy Nicholls, just 0.2 of a second behind the Golf.

Chris Backshell, Karl Ellis, Andy Speck and James Hodson also made it into the tens, making this the most competitive qualifying session ever in ESC. Even the lowest placed entries were well into the 12’s and capable of putting up a fight against any of their competitors. The race was on!

1st Round

In round 1, Andy Waite leapt off the line to pull out a strong start against Dale Finn. Andy was off the throttle at the top end, but he had done enough to dispatch Dale.

Mark Gunns pulled a world-class reaction time against Robert Johnston, and drove on to run a similar time to his competitor. Luckily, his excellent reaction time gave him a comfortable victory.

Chris Backshell was a bit slow off the line against Chris Green, but gathered momentum to run a huge 140mph terminal speed, whisking him past his competitor mid-track.

Karl Ellis was gifted the win on the line when Sam Bolton left early and pulled a red-light by the tiniest fractions of a second.

Newbie Ben Dalgleish was also gifted a 1st round win when number 2 qualifier Paul Jordan failed to show at the line due to mechanical problems.

James Hodson had a close race against Chris Sutton, beating him by just a few tenths at identical mph.

Andy Nicholls had a much easier time against Sam Lukac, running a strong 10 to Sam’s off-pace 13.

Andy Speck beat Glenn Robson fair and square with a decent reaction time and a strong 10-second run.

Quarter Finals

In the quarter-finals, Mark Gunns let Andy Waite slip through when he ran a off-colour 12 to Andy’s consistent low 10.

Karl Ellis pulled the plug on Chris Backshell’s race, defeating him with superior reaction times. Despite a convincing attempt to catch Karl, Chris ran out of road and Karl hit the finish line first. Good race.

Ben Dalgleish’s first ESC event ended in the quarters when experienced driver James Hodson managed both a better reaction and ET to see him through to the next round.

Andy Speck’s race ended when his good reaction times were let down by a mechanical problem and Andy Nicholls sailed through to the next round.

Semi Finals

In the semis, Andy Waite was all set for a tough race against 10-second Karl, but something went wrong for Karl and left him in Andy Waite’s dust as he powered into the finals with another 10-second pass.

Andy Nicholls nearly blew his chances of reaching the final, when James Hodson got a 0.2 second head-start on him on the lights. But a hard charge to the finish line saw the two top FWD cars side-by-side briefly before Andy Nicholls nosed ahead to take the win. Great racing once again!

Finals

Yet another all-Andy final in ESC! It was the safe bet really, but both drivers had earned the right to be here battling some really tough competition earlier in the day. It was all set to be a close race, both drivers treading very similar performance territory. It would all come down to the reaction times, and as the lights dropped, Andy Waite was out of the traps marginally quicker than Andy Nicholls. As the cars shifted to second gear, Andy Waite shifted cleanly but Andy Nicholls seemed to falter, and it was soon apparent that it was game-over for the MG driver as the white Golf of the competition became an ever smaller speck on the horizon.

The Round 3 points and championship tables can be found on the 2010 Points page.