| Race report by Oli Meggitt |
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The third season of the Essex Winter Series got underway last weekend. The series had already attracted a maximum capacity of 120 entries for every one of the six-round series, with entries completely selling out within 4 hours of opening.
This year saw the addition of the Modified Class, alongside the popular Pro Stock class (for 13.5 turn motors and open speed controllers). The Stock class moved over to the now-standard 17.5 zero-timing format.
As the racing got underway, all eyes were on the premier Modified Class as it made its debut at the large EWS carpet circuit. Elliott Harper was quickest throughout qualifying, and as the UK XRAY / RC Disco team got their T4 2014 cars up to speed, Phil Chambers and James Hart qualified themselves into the middle of the A Final grid.
In the A Final, Elliott took home the win, whilst Phil Chambers made a good start to spend the whole five minute race glued to the back of Matt Whiteâ™s car, as they battled for second place. Unfortunately, Phil wasnâ™t able to find a way through and finished the final in third place.
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| MODIFIED A FINAL RESULT |
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1. Elliott Harper
2. Matt White
3. Phil Chambers â“ XRAY T4
4. David Bowen
5. Chris Grainger
6. Paul Pinkney
7. Tim Hancock
8. James Hart â“ XRAY T4
9. Brian Eldridge
10. Kyle Branson
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In the Pro Stock class, qualifying was as close as possible, with four different drivers TQing the four qualifying rounds. 2013 BTCC Champion Richard King took the fastest time in round one, whilst last yearâ™s EWS Pro Stock Runner Up, Tony Broad, went quickest in round two. Round three saw Ashley Wiffen top the timesheets, and 2013 BRCA Pro Stock National Champion Zak Finlay was fully up to speed by found four and set the overall fastest time for XRAY. Once the best two points were added up, Zak would start on pole for the A Final, with Tony second, Ashley third and Richard fourth. Zak would be joined in the Final by Reece Hodges, James Baker, Daniel Veness and Tim Langdell, meaning XRAY T4 2014 cars filled half the A Final places!
Zak took off at the start of the A Final and started to pull a slight gap lap-by-lap over the chasing pack, as Tony and Ashley battled for second. Ashley pulled a great move on Tony going into the final chicane to move up to second and set about after Zak. A few laps later, Zak got that same chicane completely wrong and dropped back into the pack. This all allowed Reece Hodges to work his way up to fourth place and almost in sight of a podium finish.
PRO STOCK A FINAL RESULT
1. Tony Broad
2. Ashley Wiffen
3. Ben Putt
4. Reece Hodges â“ XRAY T4
5. Darren Lee
6. Richard King
7. James Baker â“ XRAY T4
8. Zak Finlay â“ XRAY T4
9. Tim Langdell â“ XRAY T4
10. Daniel Veness â“ XRAY T4
The Stock Class saw Luke Hobson, who had taken a break from racing since last yearâ™s EWS championship, return with a bang as he managed to TQ all four rounds of qualifying â“ perhaps even to his own surprise! However, he had to work for it as the field was extremely competitive and many drivers jostled for fastest time in each round. Richard Clarke took second in the first round, with Colin Gardiner taking second place in the other qualifying rounds with his XRAY T4 2014, leaving Luke on pole from Colin and Richard.
The A Final saw Luke slowly build his lead lap-by-lap, as Richard got involved in a first corner incident and dropped down the field. This left Colin in a fairly comfortable second place, and instead the focus was on the race-long battle for third place between EWS Stock Class defending champion Mark Trinder and Matt Butcher with his XRAY. As time ticked by, Matt continued to pressure Mark until he managed to find a gap and sneak through to take the final podium place.
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| CAPRICORN STOCK A FINAL RESULT |
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1. Luke Hobson
2. Colin Gardiner â“ XRAY T4
3. Matt Butcher â“ XRAY T4
4. Mark Trinder
5. Gavin Clinch
6. Nathan Morgan â“ XRAY T4
7. Darren Tickner
8. Mark Young
9. Richard Clarke
10. Steve Henry
The EWS Team would also like to thank RC Disco and HUDY for their support and sponsorship of the series, which saw one lucky driver walk away with the latest HUDY Exclusive Touring Car Setup Station. The series continues with Round Two towards the end of November.
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