2010 Race Reports

[Derby HO Racing Club]

Round 1 - Mugello – 5 January 2010

Adult Report………………….

Sismey Snr Overturns Sismey Jnr

Nick Sismey overturned Jamie Sismey’s well-earned Pole Position at Mugello to take the first Adult win of the 2010 season, the first time he has lead the senior Championship in more than ten years! In truth he just kept his car off the barriers more than the rest in the ‘A’, setting only the third fastest lap during the three-minutes. However he had set his first club night Fastest Lap, during Qualifying, since June ’06!

Reigning Champion Jamie came in second, reducing the lap lead Nick had at one point to just 0.4 laps at the flag. Lee Pateman set the most Race Laps of the night earlier, coming in third, while Tom Chadwick beat his dad Martin Chadwick by over two laps (the youngsters are on their way!) in the ‘B’ to take the final place in the ‘A’.

Behind Martin in the ‘B’ was Phil Rees, just 0.1 laps in arrears, while ‘C’ Final winner Jonathon Levers made only his second ‘B’ Final visit to claim seventh overall. Allan McPeake would take the runners up spot in the ‘C’ ahead of ‘D’ Final winner Shloke Anand and Paul Levers, the latter struggling with the handling of his car in the Final to close out the top ten.

Martin Allsopp was 0.5 laps down on his friend Shloke in the ‘D’ but over 3 laps up on ‘E’ Final winner Alan Bullock who was celebrating his 50th Final win with 12th. Behind Al was his Le Mans team-mate Roy Masters, our furthest travelled racer on this very snowy evening.

Cliff Roythorne had been just 01 laps behind Alan in the ‘E’ while John Chell got the better of ‘F’ Final winner and double Junior Champion Liam Smith in his first meeting as a senior who finished 15th overall.

Paul Mellor thought he was going to take his first Final win in the ‘F’, only falling short in the very last few seconds to the faster but more accident prone Liam. New Member Simon Sumner had Peter Barber to thank for not picking up the Wooden Spoon at Mugello. Peter now leads that Championship for the first time!

Junior Report………………….

Gull Makes His Mark

Nathan Gull lead home the four competitors in a new era of the Junior Championship (now that Liam has moved into the senior category) to take his first win as well as setting his first Most Race Laps at a DHORC Club Night.

James Mellor set his first Pole but couldn’t hold back either Nathan or Katie Levers in the ‘A’ Final, with the latter setting her first Club Night Fastest Lap during Qualifying.

Amy Oxspring came in at the rear but smiling all the way to the flag.


Tommy Tyco

[Derby HO Racing Club]

Round 2 - Daytona – 12 Jan 10

Adult Report………………….

McPeake Breaks 8 Year Winless Streak

Allan McPeake finally got back to winning ways at DHORC after 8 years and 181 meetings without a win. He knew he had the car and when Pole sitter Nick Sismey picked red lane for the ‘A’ Final he knew he also had the lane. Lee Pateman who broke Martin Chadwick’s (absent on the night with man flu) only remaining Group C Fastest Lap record set in 1997 by 0.37secs, had a coming together with ‘B’ Final winner Tom Chadwick in the chicane on the first lap of the ‘A’. Neither were able to recover from this leaving Allan to fend off Nick to take his 14th career win by just 0.1 laps. Lee was in fact 0.4 laps down at the flag with Tom a couple of laps further back.

Jamie Sismey, in the middle of university exams, only came for the last part of Qualifying and the Finals, his cars not quick enough for the long Daytona straights, taking fifth on the grid and in the Finals. Behind him was ‘C’ Final winner Cliff Roythorne making his 12th career visit to the ‘B’, while returning Member Kev Lye (snowed in for Round 1) took 7th overall, just 0.1 laps down on Cliff. Phil Rees got within 0.4 laps of Cliff in the ‘C’ while he was 0.7 laps up on ‘D’ Final winner and now DHORC Challenge leader Jonathon Levers, who lapped his dad Paul Levers.

Martin Allsopp couldn’t quite match Jonathon in the ‘D’ but held off our second returning Member Geoff Peach by nearly a lap. Geoff in turn beat ‘E’ Final winner and third returning Member Richard James by over two laps, Yellow not suiting Richard’s car. Alan Bullock was nearly a lap up on the remaining two ‘E’ Final protagonists, Roy Masters and fourth returning Member Josh Roythorne whose cars were on the same lap, same tenth and same piece of track (see bottom of Page 18) at the flag, Roy just getting the nod. Josh was happy though as he had just torn through both the ‘G’ and ‘F’ Finals to take his first set of back to back Final wins. This also set a new Finals Points record at the Daytona track of 4.5 points.

Left behind, in Josh’s wake in the ‘F’ Final, was Liam Smith in 17th, fifth returning Member Rob Crossland and John Chell. The latter two again had a titanic battle their cars inches apart at the flag (see top of Page 18). In the ‘G’ Final our two newest Members Simon Sumner and sixth returning Member Ryan Blake were within 0.2 laps of each other at the flag, with the former taking 20th. Our seventh and final returning Member Nick Lambert could only stay for Qualifying due to work commitments and so when he left he thought he had done enough to take his 1st Wooden Spoon win of the year, however Paul Mellor later decided he need to leave early and with a lower Qualifying score took home the Spoon!

Junior Report………………….

Katie’s Biggest Night

Katie Levers didn’t even want to run in the Finals after taking the 3rd grid slot, but she was glad she did as she went on to take her first win in 24 attempts beating James Mellor by 0.2 laps. Katie now takes the lead in both the DHORC Challenge and Championship as 1st time Pole Sitter Nathan Gull only took 3rd here despite setting his 1st career Fastest Lap. Amy Oxspring made 4th her own again.

Tommy Tyco

[Derby HO Racing Club]

Round 3 - Hungaroring – 26 Jan 10

Adult Report………………….

Chadwick Senior in League of His Own

Martin Chadwick was back driving at the levels of his hey day, in the late 90’s, on Tuesday night taking Qualifying by two laps (breaking Wayne Landers record by 2.3 laps) and then the ‘A’ Final victory by 0.5 laps to become our third winner is as many races. Phil Rees was the best of the rest in the ‘A’ storming through the ‘B’ Final to take his best result since 2008. Lee Pateman took his record 160th Fastest Lap and 90th Best Race Laps on the way to third and the lead in the Championship, while reigning Champion Jamie Sismey struggled in the ‘A’, with fourth, after also beating the original Qualifying record on the way to second on the grid.

While chasing Phil down in the ‘B’, Nick Sismey took a big hit at one of the sharp right-handers behind the pits, which resulted in his guide pin coming out. This left the door open to ‘C’ Final winner Allan McPeake and Jonathon Levers to take 5th and 6th respectively, which was Jonathon’s best career result to date! Kev Lye was just under a lap down on Allan but a lap up on ‘D’ Final winner Paul Levers who was in turn a lap up on Tom Chadwick who sealed the top ten. I tell you the top ten is difficult to break into at present such is the standard of driving at the Club now! I’m quite sure there will be no runaway winner this year!

Eleventh was Shloke Anand just ahead of friend Martin Allsopp, a rivalry that will go on all season, with ‘E’ Final winner Alan Bullock taking the final ‘D’ honours. Alan had battled hard with Geoff Peach in the ‘E’, 0.6 laps separating them at the flag, while Nick Lambert was over a lap in arrears. He had however beaten runaway ‘H’, ‘G’ and ‘F’ Final winner Liam Smith who now leads the DHORC Challenge after a superb drive following a problem in Qualifying that saw him on the back row of the grid.

Roy Masters was second best to Liam in the ‘F’ as he just kept Rob Crossland at bay by 0.2 laps, John Chell keeping on the same lap as Rob. In the ‘G’ Cliff Roythorne thought he had Liam but at the flag his car left the track as they entered Turn 1 together (See Page 11), with Ryan Blake just outside the top twenty with 21st ahead of Simon Sumner at his last race without his own cars! It was an unfair advantage to Liam in the ‘H’ Final with all his experience compared to Iain Hall, the latter taking his first Wooden Spoon in his first race of the year!

Junior Report…………………

Katie Doubles Up

Katie Levers became the first lady racer to take consecutive wins on Tuesday night as she drove an immaculate race to win by two laps. Earlier she set her first Pole Position taking all four Individual Qualifying Rounds, as well as recording her first Best Race Laps on the night. To top it all she became the first lady racer to take home a perfect 243-points score! She continues to lead both current Championships.

The first in Katie’s wake was Nathan Gull with Amy Oxspring taking her best result of the year with third. James Mellor struggled with his car and the lane in the ‘A’ to take fourth.

Tommy Tyco

[Derby HO Racing Club]

Round 4 - Daytona 500 – 9 Feb 10

Adult Report………………….

McPeake’s Record Win

Allan McPeake broke the record for the total number of laps in a ten lane Daytona 500 Final on Tuesday night (see Editorial) to become the first Adult to take two wins in 2010. He wasn’t even close to any of the other records on the night, but that didn’t matter he had a plan and stuck to it.

Nick Sismey knew he didn’t have a fast enough car in qualifying to make the ‘A’ so borrowed his sons, Jamie Sismey, beating him by just 0.03 seconds to take 7th on the grid. This he converted into 2nd behind Allan at the flag to retake the lead in the Championship. Martin Chadwick maintained his 3rd place grid slot all the way to the end of the ‘A’, losing two laps per lane to Nick, while Jonathon Levers improved on his best ever finish, by 2 places, with 4th leaving him 5th in the Championship!

John Chell took his first ever Individual Qualifying Round (IQR) win on Blue Lane to take a career best 5th in Qualifying (a 3-place improvement) which he maintained all the way through the ‘A’ Final. There is one thing having a blindingly quick car, there is another controlling it, which John certainly did here! With 4th Fastest Lap on the night that was also a 6-place career improvement. Alan Bullock raced for 64 minutes on Tuesday night, notching up 725.1 laps (10.5 miles) through winning the ‘B’, with the 2nd most Final laps of the night (5th ever), and taking 6th in the ‘A’.

Rob Crossland took two scalps in the ‘A’ Final, after qualifying a career equalling 9th, to record his best ever finish (by 1 place) of 7th, while Cliff Roythorne dropped 2 grid places with 8th. His car was quick though, recording the 5th Fastest Lap of the night. Pole man Lee Pateman (our 4th different one in 2010) had another Oval nightmare with several shouts of “What?” as he was repeatedly taken out, leaving him 9th, while reigning Champion Jamie Sismey decided to leave after 4 ‘A’ Final races as it was getting late and University work had to take priority.

Kevin Lye celebrated his 20th Club Night with 11th, or 2nd in the ‘B’. He had given Alan a good run for his money but couldn’t quite stay with his consistency. Geoff Peach was some 70 laps behind Kev but nearly 10 laps up on Tom Chadwick to take 12th, while Shloke Anand had been in the fight early in the Final but faded away to 14th overall. Paul Levers also struggled with the Oval concept, he was however extremely tired having not got to bed until 3am, but he did do enough to beat his chief rival Richard James so he had something to smile about in his sleep!

Peter Barber had returned after a 2 meeting sabbatical to win the ‘C’ Final, but just didn’t have enough in him to go for the ‘B’ Final win as well, dropping to 17th overall ahead of Simon Sumner who was celebrating an 11-place Fastest Lap improvement of 8th. This was Simon’s first meeting with his own cars, so watch out for the rest of the season!

Martin Allsopp, in his 80th straight Club Night missed out on the ‘A’ Final by just 0.12 seconds, his 5th tenth grid slot in a row, but then tumbled all the way down to 19th overall, Ovals really not his thing! Paul Mellor was just 20 laps down on Peter in the ‘C’, I think he realised he would have to stay another hour if he had won! Liam Smith was only another 3 laps further back after 30 minutes of racing with returnee Club Member Andy Holliday talking his way to 22nd overall! Phil Rees admits “He just loves Ovals!” and it showed with 23rd place, his worst finish in 16 years! Roy Masters had been stuck on the M1 so missed practice and qualifying so languished down in 24th (with the 7th quickest car mind!) while Josh Roythorne never really got it together becoming our 4th Wooden Spoon winner in as many meetings.

Junior Report………………….

Katie’s Tri-Oval Triple

Katie Levers dominated again winning everything except the IQR on Yellow Lane that went to James Mellor who took 3rd overall behind Nathan Gull. Katie won the ‘A’ by 58 laps while Amy Oxspring was 200 laps back at the flag but still leads the Team Championship with Katie, by a mere 0.5 points!

Tommy Tyco

[Derby HO Racing Club]

Round 5 - Rockingham F1 – 28 Feb 10

Adult Report………………….

Pateman Kick Starts His 2010 Season

Lee Pateman finally took his 1st win of 2010, at the awesome 396 foot Rockingham 4-Lane circuit after beating 2009 Champion Jamie Sismey by just 0.15 laps in Qualifying and 0.50 laps in the ‘A’ Final to go back to the top of the Championship. As well as setting the Qualifying record he also set the benchmark for the most Race Laps leaving it at 7.20 Laps, keeping up his 100% Race Laps record in 2010. Martin Chadwick saw his way through both the ‘C’ and ‘B’ Finals after a rather lowly, for him, 7th grid slot to pip Nick Sismey for 3rd at the flag, Nick having also been passed by Jamie seconds earlier! All three had won Blue Lane in Qualifying so evenly matched were they!

Shloke Anand was on top form at Rockingham having qualified 4th, a two-place improvement on his previous best set in Aug ’09. While he couldn’t stop Martin reaching the ‘A’ he was able to beat the latter’s son Tom Chadwick, who set his 1st career Fastest Lap record of 23.96 secs, by a lap into 5th. Allan McPeake’s car problems left him a further lap in arrears at his 270th meeting. Phil Rees took 2nd in the ‘C’ equating to 8th overall. How he was able to concentrate on driving with all the responsibilities he undertook at this event goodness only knows! Paul Levers broke off from Race Control duties to take the ‘D’ Final and finish 3rd in the ‘C’ pushing Martin Allsopp’s Ferrari, suffering lack of speed on the banking, into 10th place.

Fellow Race Controller Kev Lye was just outside the top ten with 11th, beating Liam Smith (who set a PB in Fastest Laps with 4th, 9 places better than previous and Race Laps, taking 9th, a 5 place improvement) by just 0.10 laps, who in turn kept ‘E’ Final victor Geoff Peach at bay. Geoff had only just prevented ‘F’ Final winner Cliff Roythorne from taking a brace of Final wins by 0.20 laps while Cliffee was 0.40 laps (160 feet) ahead of Alan Bullock who was a similar distance ahead of Josh Roythorne, and yet all three were within a lap of each other! Such is the size of Rockingham!

Behind Cliff in the ‘F’ were Paul Mellor, who beat ‘G’ Final winner Roy Masters (running in his 160th meeting), and Roy’s close friend John Chell, our furthest two travellers on the day. Roy’s win in the ‘G’ was by the smallest of margins from ‘H’ Final winner Andy Holliday, both finishing on the same 20th! Video man extraordinaire Simon Sumner was only 40 feet in arrears holding off Ryan Blake for 21st.

Peter Barber fought hard in the ‘H’ to keep returnee of the day Terry Dingley just behind him while on the same 20th, with Iain Blake taking the lead in the Wooden Spoon championship with his 2nd WS of the year! He did however have the consolation of a PB with 17th in Fastest Laps a 5-place improvement.

Junior Report………………….


Gull Turns The Form Book on its Head!

From 4th on the grid Nathan Gull etched his name in the Race Laps and Fastest Lap record books for the 1st time, taking his second win of the year in the process. Championship leader Katie Levers took 2nd from pole-man James Mellor who also got his name in the record books, this being the first running of the Rockingham track! Amy Oxspring also had something to celebrate despite finishing 4th. She took her first Individual Qualifying Round on Blue lane with her new F1 car, a birthday present from the Levers family.


Tommy Tyco

[Derby HO Racing Club]

Round 6 - Rockingham GC – 28 Feb 10

Adult Report………………….


McPeake Keeps the Young Pretenders at Bay

Allan McPeake took his 3rd victory of the year at the 2nd race of the day on the 396-foot Rockingham circuit, after winning all but one of the IQR’s in Qualifying to take his 1st Pole Position for nearly 6 years! As well as the Pole record Allan also set the Race Laps record with 7.85 laps; it had also been 6 years since he had set the most Race Laps at a meeting let alone a record number! Martin Allsopp, nearly three times younger than Allan pushed the latter initially in the ‘A’ but had to settle for a PB equalling 2nd. It was a different story to the similar aged Shloke Anand who took his first ‘B’ Final win and made it onto the front cover of the magazine for the 1st time with an excellent 3rd, two places higher than his previous best. He was also only 0.05 laps down on Allan in Race Laps on the day, 2nd being a 3 place improvement. The young guns are waiting in the wings to pounce! Lee Pateman had been 2nd on the grid but his car seemed to feel more at home off the track than on in the ‘A’, he does however still lead the Championship from Allan.

While Shloke’s performance had been of a stellar magnitude Ryan Blake’s was something from a parallel universe. Ryan’s previous best grid slot was 20th here he sat in 10th. Unfazed by this he went on to win both the ‘D’ and ‘C’ Finals (his 1st Final wins) and then had the audacity to challenge Shloke for an ‘A’ Final placing, Shloke only putting 0.15 laps between him and ‘A’ safety! Not content with this Ryan also improved 18 places on Fastest Lap and Race Laps taking 3rd in both! We had all better watch our backs!

Martin Chadwick found himself in 6th ahead of Cliff Roythorne whose Audi R8 loved the high speed banking, while Paul Levers was the best of the rest behind Ryan in the ‘C’, Race Control colleague Kevin Lye following him in ahead of Josh Roythorne. Josh had in fact qualified 7th, a 7 place PB improvement while 10th was 4 places better than his previous finish, another youngster on the move! Former Junior sparing partners Jamie Sismey and Tom Chadwick found themselves in Ryan’s wake in the ‘D’, Tom having only just recovered from doing battle with ‘E’ Final winner Iain Hall before getting one over on Jamie to take 11th. Geoff Peach dropped a couple of places in the ‘D’ to finish 13th on the day. Iain’s Final win had, like colleague Ryan, been his first and he did not stop there, 14th being a 7 place PB improvement, after improving on his Qualifying PB by 5 places (16th). 14th Fastest Lap was a 3-place improvement, 15th in Race Laps 6 better than previous. Iain and Ryan are certainly starting to find their feet!

Nick Sismey shook Iain’s hand having been beaten fair and square, Phil Rees being nearly half a lap further behind in the ‘E’. 17th for Peter Barber was an excellent performance in such a big field, while Roy Masters could not be ashamed with 18th having again won the previous Final (‘G’) by the smallest of margins, just 3 feet from ‘H’ Final winner Liam Smith. Between these two was Simon Sumner in 19th, his brand new Peugeot having already lost half its rear wing! Paul Mellor was able to easily hold off Terry Dingley for 21st particularly when the latter’s car hit the deck and lost its guide pin! Behind Liam in the ‘H’ were John Chell and Alan Bullock, both pleased that Andy Holliday was further back as it was he who took his 1st Wooden Spoon of the year uttering that now familiar quote “I’m not happy!”

Junior Report………………….

Katie Four Up And Counting

Katie Levers was back to winning races with her pink GC car, taking her 4th victory of the year from Pole Sitter James Mellor. This was James’ 1st back-to-back pole. Nathan Gull took 3rd this time ahead of Amy Oxspring who was still getting to grips with he new GC car. The boys now lead the Team Championship.

Tommy Tyco

[Derby HO Racing Club]

Round 7 - Sakhir – 2 Mar 10

Adult Report………………….

Pateman Doubles His Wins

Lee Pateman doubled his 2010 win tally at Sakhir from 2nd on the grid to maintain his lead at the top of the Championship. The ‘A’ Final was a classic, Lee battling all race with pole sitter Martin Chadwick for the win. Martin equalled the F1 Laps Record meaning Lee had to break it, adding 0.2 Laps to Wayne Landers 2007 benchmark, leaving it at 20.1 Laps!

Martin Allsopp added more excitement to the ‘A’. Having already won the ‘C’ and ‘B’ Finals he soon despatched Tom Chadwick, struggling on Blue lane, and was initially keeping the leaders in sight. But he had to let them go and consolidate his hard earned 3rd place, having also taken an Individual Qualifying Round (IQR) earlier in the evening and setting a new Final Points tally record for the Sakhir circuit. Tom did however take home his 2nd career Fastest Lap.

Behind Martin in the ‘B’ was the, recently, much improved Shloke Anand, whose 18 laps could not match the 19.8 Laps (0.1 off the record at the time) Martin notched up. Nick Sismey only managed 10.6 Laps, his race finishing prematurely when a pick-up fell off after his car hit the floor. Allan McPeake faired little better, his guide pin detaching itself 3.9 Laps further up the road, although he does retain the Team Championship despite Roy Masters missing his 1st meeting of the year. In the ‘C’ Phil Rees had only been 0.3 laps behind Martin, with Paul Levers the same distance further back, while ‘D’ Final winner Jonathon Levers could only get within 1.5 Laps of the other ‘C’ finalists closing out the top 10.

Kev Lye continues to float around the top 10 with his third 11th place finish in 4 races. He very nearly made it into the ‘C’ losing out to Jonathon in the last 10 seconds finishing on the same 10th. Liam Smith equalled his best Adult finish in 12th while extending his lead in the DHORC Challenge to 3-points. Josh Roythorne had had another good night winning both the ‘E’ and ‘F’ Finals but car problems saw him drop out of the ‘D’ Final.

Simon Sumner had his best Club Night to date finishing 15th (a 3 place improvement) but again could have made it into the next Final but faded at the last minute, losing out to eventual winner Josh and then Cliff Roythorne, who was only 0.1 Laps shy of his son. Simon also made a 4-place improvement with 15th in the Race Laps list. Geoff Peach had a quiet drive into 16th the Sakhir circuit not suiting his cars’ handling.

Rob Crossland made sure there was no Wooden Spoon for him on Tuesday night by beating Paul Mellor who did take home the Wooden Spoon (going equal top with the absent Iain Hall in that Championship), after losing out in the ‘G’ Final. Rob then went onto beat all but Josh in the ‘F’, Peter Barber and Alan Bullock left in his wake to pick up the pieces.

Junior Report………………….


James Gets That Elusive 2010 Win

James Mellor was mighty pleased to finally visit the 2010 Winner’s Circle on Tuesday night, 12 meetings after his other only win in September 2009. This was also his 1st win on a proper circuit with corners going both ways! Pole sitter Katie Levers pushed him all the way finishing on the same tenth. We now have three different winners in 2010 the season just gets more intriguing!

Amy Oxspring was able to overturn Nathan Gull in the Final to take 3rd on her 16th birthday! Nathan could not get any grip from his rear tyres so his car is now residing in the Pateman stables for some tweaking ready for Round 8.

Tommy Tyco

[Derby HO Racing Club]

Round 8 - Jacarepagua – 9 Mar 10

Adult Report………………….


Pateman Dominates

Lee Pateman was in indomitable form on Tuesday night reminiscent of his Championship winning years, ’03 and ’04. On the way to his 3rd Pole of the year he broke Wayne Lander’s ’07 GC Race Laps record by 0.1 Laps leaving it at 25.5 Laps, and Wayne’s ’07 F1 Fastest Lap record by 0.1 secs, it now standing at 7.54 secs. While there was only 0.8 Laps covering the 1st three in Qualifying, Allan McPeake (0.5 Laps back) and Martin Chadwick (0.8 Laps) Lee took command of the ‘A’ Final winning his 60th Club Night race by 1.5 Laps from ‘C’ and ‘B’ Final winner Jamie Sismey, as well as equalling his own GC Fastest Lap, set in ’04, in the process, Allan finished 3rd just 0.4 Laps behind Jamie, Martin 4th another 2 Laps plus in arrears.

From an 8th place grid position Jamie was taking no prisoners. In the ‘B’, from nearly a lap down he soon gained a place when Phil Rees had an off early in the contest. His car was taken out by a marshal while replacing another and then dropped onto the wrong lane making it career out of control at the next corner; Phil stepped down after just 4.4 Laps! Martin Allsopp would also walk away from the drivers’ rostrum after 17 Laps, his car not running quite right. This left Paul Levers to try and take on Jamie, who by now had a commanding lead. A titanic battle pursued, Paul’s car dipping below the 7-second mark in his desperation to make his 1st ‘A’ Final. Jamie however was in command and took the win by 1.1 Laps. While Paul was inconsolable his 6.86 Lap time was the 3rd best of the night, his previous best being 4th way back in Jan ’94! Jamie had more to worry about in the ‘C’ Final where Kev Lye only lost out to him by 0.1 Laps, both recording the same Lap time. What’s more ‘D’ Final winner Shloke Anand was only 0.4 Laps further down the road such is the level of competition in the Club these days. Tom Chadwick had a quiet meeting for his standards, coming home a distant 10th.

Behind Shloke in the ‘D’ Jonathon Levers was again lower than expected while ‘E’ Final winner Liam Smith extended his DHORC Challenge lead with 12th overall, equalling his best performance. Nick Sismey, who won the 1st race of the year, could do no better than 13th. Geoff Peach used his 176 meetings worth of experience to beat up and coming racer Ryan Blake, who in winning the ‘F’ Final took his 3rd Final win of the year, by just 0.1 Laps. Rob Crossland was less than a Lap further down the road in 16th.

After celebrating his 500th race start Cliff Roythorne took 2nd in the ‘F’ ahead of an ecstatic Simon Sumner who had taken his very first Final win, the ‘G’. Alan Bullock took up the rear in the ‘F’ his body mountings coming undone and his car looking more like a sail, fluttering in the breeze, than a carefully tuned thoroughbred GC car. Roy Masters got to within 0.7 Laps of Simon in the ‘G’ to round off the top 20, with Richard James returning to the fray just 0.2 Laps behind. Peter Barber had been victorious in the ‘H’ Final, but again the victory margin was just 0.7 Laps from Iain Hall who has a blindingly quick car that just needs taming somewhat to enable Iain to control it. Josh Roythorne only managed 5.1 uncomfortable Laps before withdrawing his ill handling car to make it a joint 3-way tie in the Wooden Spoon Championship with Iain and the absent Paul Mellor.


Junior Report………………….


Levers Makes it Five

Katie Levers took all but 0.5 of the possible points on offer on Tuesday night with her 5th win of the year. James Mellor took 2nd as well as the extra 0.5 points by taking the most GC Race Laps on the night. Nathan Gull was never far behind in Qualifying but struggled in the Final. Katie continues to lead both the main Championship and the DHORC Challenge while the boys lead the Team Championship. Amy Oxspring unfortunately was absent from the event.

Tommy Tyco

[Derby HO Racing Club]

Round 9 - Suzuka – 23 Mar 10

Adult Report………………….

Pateman Untouchable

Lee Pateman continued his 2010 domination with his 4th win of the year at Suzuka, his second win at that track, extending his Championship lead to 150 points. On his way to victory lane he equalled the previous F1 Race Laps Record and beat his own F1 Fastest Lap Record, set in 2003, by a staggering 0.77 seconds. Jamie Sismey struggled with his GC in Qualifying and therefore had to power his way through the ‘B’ Final to take his 4th runner spot of the year. He also broke the 13-year F1 Race Laps Record by 0.2 Laps, leaving it at 15.1 Laps and also broke the original F1 Fastest Lap time. Martin Chadwick equalled the 15-year old Qualifying Record to take his 93rd Pole Position, but had to give best to Lee and Jamie in the ‘A’ while Nick Sismey, like many before him, rued picking Yellow Lane finishing 4th.

Allan McPeake was nearly two laps down on Jamie in the ‘B’ but continues to lead the Team Championship with Roy Masters, who took 19th after his car broke in the ‘F’ Final before he completed a lap, and lies second in the overall Championship. Kev Lye took home his most points of the year after winning the ‘C’ and beating Phil Rees in the ‘B’ after Phil stepped down from the rostrum for the second time in as many races. Martin Allsopp was on the same lap and tenth as Kev in the ‘C’ but just lost out to take 8th ahead of Tom Chadwick (who is looking for his spark again) and ‘D’ Final winner Paul Levers who reportedly spent 12 hours working on his family’s cars before this race. That is some commitment, which one-day will bear fruit!

Shloke Anand was just 0.2 Laps down on Paul in the ‘D’ while Alan Bullock held off ‘E’ Final winner Richard James for 12th. Jonathon Levers held the lead in the ‘E’ for the majority of the race before surrendering it to Richard, while both stopped Liam Smith’s progress through the Finals. Liam had again won three Finals during a Race Meeting, this time talking the ‘H’, ‘G’ and ‘F’ to lead the DHORC Challenge by 11.5 points! In the ‘E’ he beat John Chell who is starting to move up the charts. In the ‘F’ Cliff Roythorne put up the biggest opposition to Liam, losing out by just 0.1 Laps but keeping Ryan Blake (who needs work doing to his F1) and Roy at bay.

In the ‘G’ Liam’s now favourite Blue Lane helped him dispose of Simon Sumner by two laps, with Geoff Peach just 0.1 Laps further back, while the returning Nick Lambert was another 1.8 Laps further down the road.

In Liam’s first Final, the ‘H’, he put 1.3 Laps between himself and ‘I’ Final winner Josh Roythorne, a further 0.1 Laps on Andy Holliday who had missed two meetings and 2.4 Laps on Peter Barber. Iain Hall was saved from the Wooden Spoon by Paul Mellor, who left before the Finals and is now out on his own in that Championship with three wins!

Junior Report………………….

Mellor Trebles His Win Tally

James Mellor got it together at DHORC 359 taking his 4th Pole of the year, and then driving away from the field in the Final. He also took his first Club Night Best Race Laps and Fastest Lap at Suzuka as he moves into second in the Championship.

Katie Levers continues to lead the main Championship and the DHORC Challenge following her second place while third place maintained Nathan Gull’s lead in the Team Championship with James. Amy Oxspring is the most consistent Junior with her sixth 4th place finish pf the year.

Tommy Tyco