National Touring Car Championship Round 3 Aldershot Race Report

After a short break, to allow for the minor inconvenience of the touring car world championships the BRCA national touring car championship got back down to business with round three at Aldershot.

 After the vast airfield expanses of the Cotswold facility Aldershot felt positively claustrophobic  with 140 drivers fighting for pitting space, the track layout is also reasonably tight but the straight is deceivingly long, always consistent grip here except when it rains, Aldershot is a popular track with drivers hence its inclusion in this years series. 

For those that attended the Worlds in Germany talk was still of the event and a special mention must be given to Elliott Harpers excellent podium finish, are we looking at a real contender for the world crown when we reconvene in two years time, well I for one certainly think so, next month we have the EFRA Euros in France and if Elliott can continue this top form we could be looking at another top result, maybe even a British Euro champ.  

Elliott arrived at Aldershot on the crest of some top form and on paper the battle for round three looked to be between the Cotswold victor and Aldershot expert Chris Grainger, these two tied for the lead of the Super Touring class after two rounds, in Pro Stock it was a much more open contest which looked like it would come down to who could get their set up and speed dialled in by the start of the meeting. 

In Pro Stock James Hart dominated at Cotswolds and he was looking to show everyone he could repeat that form at Aldershot, Lee Price has been there or there about's at the first two rounds and was looking to stamp his authority on the class while round one show stoppers Team Associated were looking to re-find the form that gave them a 1-2-4 with Zak Smith, Chris Slater and Steve Lander at Mendip. Back after missing the first two rounds was reigning Pro Stock champion Jon Bowden, how would the champ shape up against the current batch of Pro Stock hot shots, time would tell.

Special mention to Dave Skelton who past away recently in June, the Aldershot chairman for the past two years Dave will be sadly missed and his loss is still being felt by this tight knit Hampshire club.

Round one of qualifying got underway following three rounds of practise, most drivers were looking upward, but just for a change it was not the weather that grabbed their attention, the weekend of the national was the same weekend as Farnborough air show, this threatened a little traffic chaos for the drivers getting to and from the track, but the spectacle of some of the worlds best aircraft performing over head was well worth a little inconvenience.

Local driver Ben Cane set the early pace in Pro Stock, running in the bottom heat Ben’s time was FTD right up to the top heat hitting the track, Chris Slater looked the man to take round one in Pro Stock until with 30 seconds to go of the top heat  he roofed the TC5 and had to be marshalled, Jon Bowden took advantage of Chris’ mistake to take FTD ahead of the Mi4’s of Ben and James Hart, another Schumacher  in the hands of Lee Price was next up and Jay Westwood completed the top five.

Olly Jefferies showed the potential of the new Associated TC6 by setting FTD and a new Aldershot track record  in round one of Super Touring qualifying, ahead of Olly on the road Chris Grainger and Elliott Harper battled with each other  possibly losing time due to their close proximity on the track, starting car four Olly was able drive his own race,  Chris then made a mistake with his Schumacher dropping out of contention for the round win, the Tamiya of Elliott ended up second with Andy Moore third for Hot Bodies, Chris Kerswell was next up with his Schumacher team leader Chris Grainger fifth.

A few races on the side lines didn’t seem to be effecting Johnny Bowden too much as the Hot Bodies driver took fastest time in round two of Pro Stock qualifying, Ben Cane put another good time in to take second ahead Matt  Quinlisk and Chris Slater.

Round two of Super Touring saw Olly Jefferies once again be the man to beat, Olly eased away from Elliott Harper to take a comfortable round win over the Tamiya driver, starting down the field didn’t help Chris Grainger’s cause but he got a third to add to his overall score and these three were the top of order after two rounds. Andy Moore pulled off after two laps with interference.

One more round of qualifying to complete day one of this two day event and as we moved toward the last round the skies clouded over a little, nobody was really expecting rain but the cloud cover certainly caused the track temperature to drop a little.

The final round of Saturdays pro Stock qualifying made interesting watching, up front Johnny Bowden and Chris Slater battled for the lead until Chris made a slight error missing his breaking point coming off the sweeper, then with a comfortable lead Johnny beached his Cyclone and needed to be marshalled, enter stage left James Hart, the Cotswold winner took advantage of the two drivers errors and took the round win.

The power struggle at the front of the Super Touring grid shifted in round three as Elliott Harper put on new tyres and blitz Olly’s new track record and set the fastest time in the round and became the first driver ever to make 24 laps around the Aldershot track. Glen Westwood also put in a stunning run to take second with Chris Grainger third, John Pape set his best time of the day and clinched fourth with Olly Jefferies fifth.

Consistent and quick runs by Stefan Chodzynski saw the X-ray driver well up on the overnight leader board, you had to look a long way down the order to find Andy Moore who after a third in round one struggled with interference and ended up well down the over night order.

Pro Stock was a very open affair, apart from Ben Cane most drivers were nursing one poor score, we would need to wait until at least another round to get a good feel for who the main A final protagonists would be, but up front Ben was blazing a trail with Johnny Bowden, Chris Slater and James Hart al looking to stake their claim.

 Overnight Leader Board

Pro Stock 

 Super Touring 

Sunday Day Two

Contrary to almost every weather forecast Sunday dawned to a slight sprinkling of rain, but most drivers felt that it would clear by the time the racing started.  The early morning wake up practise run saw the track drying and as qualifying resumed all drivers had the benefit of a dry track.

Ben Cane got his day two off in great style with the fastest time in round four of Pro Stock, Adam Meakin and Edward Crump also put there Saturday woes behind them to score top three times second and third respectively, Chris Slater made the most of Johnny Bowden crashing the Cyclone to win the top heat and set the fourth fastest time and after a troublesome Saturday Ayrton Anderson posted a top ten time in fifth.

We had entered that point in the meeting where everyone was talking tyre  strategy, that age old dilemma of do you use new tyres to  get in the A final and possibly leave yourself short of new rubber for the three legged finals, stick or twist, it was down to the drivers.

By virtue of his record setting run from Saturday Elliott Harper led the top heat of Super Touring away, all nine drivers were chasing the bench mark time set by Matt White in the previous heat, Elliott looked well in control pulling away from Olly until a mistake handed the lead to Chris Grainger, the reigning national champ went on to take the round ahead of Elliott, Olly was third in the heat  but in an incident which saw him mow the grass the entire length of the straight he  didn’t beat Matt’s time, so Matt netted a top three time ahead of Olly with Glen Westwood fifth.

A new Pro Stock track record for Johnny Bowden gave him the round one over Andy Murray and James Hart, Jay Westwood set a top time in the previous heat which would give him fourth place in the A final. So the A final looked like Johnny B on pole ahead of Ben Cane and James Hart, Jay Westwood next up with Chris Slater fifth, great to see Matt Quinlisk and Eddie Crump next up, Andy Murray, Adam Meakin and Jordon Howe completed the Pro Stock A final grid,  unlucky B pole man was Steve Lander

Going into the last round of Super Touring qualification pole for the A looked to be between Elliott Harper, Olly Jefferies and Chris Grainger, Andy Moore’s chances of making the A had gone but the Hot Bodies still had new tyres and was still looking a round win to salvage something from his awful weekend.

Olly went for new boots and took pole for the A final, Chris Kerswell popped a quick one in round five and finished second behind Olly, Chris Grainger, and Elliott went for the option to keep a set of new tyres for the final.

Great result for Glen Westwood who made the most of his local knowledge to qualify fourth just behind Chris Kerswell. In Pro Stock it was Johnny Bowden on pole ahead of Ben Cane with James Hart third, Jay Westwood made it a great for the Westwood family with fourth and Chris Slater completed the top five. Good runs from Matt White and another outstanding run from Stefan Chodzynski saw them line up sixth and seventh, Stefan’s X-Ray team mate Phil Chamber was next up with the welsh contingent of Colin Price and Russ Williams completing the top ten.

On to the finals and the first Pro Stock final was all about Johnny Bowden and Ben Cane, the pair battled it out with Ben breathing down Johnny’s neck for the early stages of the race, then just when it looked like Johnny had the measure of Ben he made a mistake, Ben was through and gone, he took the win comfortably over Johnny.

The Super Touring A leg one was controversial after Elliott tapped Olly, he was given a warning but the resulting contact knocked Olly to the back of the pack, Chris Grainger was struggling with an ill handling  MI4 and this was causing a frantic midfield battle with places changing every lap, the tension was broken a little by a back flipping Chris Grainger the Mi4 landing on its wheels facing the wrong way after hitting a bump on the straight,  for a short while Glen Westwood held second behind Elliott only for Olly to come through in the dying seconds to take the place off him and grab second.

Leg two of the Pro Stock A final and an early mistake by James Hart left Johnny Bowden, Ben Cane and Chris Slater out in front, a costly coming together for the front two coming off the sweeper saw Chris seize the opportunity to take the lead, pressure behind Chris was eased slightly when Johnny crashed, Chris was able to ease the gap on Ben and take the win over Ben with Jay Westwood third.

Super Touring leg two and it was starting to feel like a groundhog day for Olly as once again the pole sitter was hit by the Tamiya of Harper, race referee Roger Cosgrove was loosing his patience and gave Elliott a stop and go but the resulting contact had ruined both drivers hopes of a podium. Like so many times in the past when Chris Grainger is not the fastest you can relay on him to pick up the pieces from incidents ahead and once more Chris benefited taking the leg two win ahead of his Schumacher team mate Chris Kerswell, third was Glen Westwood who was having a great day on home soil.

Sometimes the best get it wrong	Thumb excerises or spoof, not sure !

Johnny Bowden needed a win in the last leg of the Pro Stock A final and delivered taking the win over Ben Cane and securing victory at the meeting, Bens excellent day was rewarded with second overall but he will be possibly reflecting on what of might have been and a possible national win, third in leg two was Andy Murray who was having one of those stealth type weekends always there or there abouts but not troubling the front runners, Andy came from eighth on the grid to take third.

With Johnny and Ben taking the first two steps of the overall podium it was 2010’s Mr consistent Chris Slater that took third on the day, a result that really keeps him in the hunt for Pro Stock title, home track for Chris next time means the next round is a the big one for Chris.

Roger works on his entry for the 2011 Nobel Peace prize	Home for the X-Ray team over the Aldershot weekend
Johnny Bowdens Cyclone	Brian Eldridge going well for TOP

Last leg of the A final and Elliott did not make a good start and this allowed Chris Grainger a chance to pressure Olly, in a clean move on lap four Chris was through, Olly held on for a few laps then a mistake at the chicane dropped him down the order, Glen Westwood grabbed second with Matt White third. The Super Touring A finals were a little overshadowed by the Elliott / Olly incidents but this should not distract from a great drive from Glen Westwood who ended up second on the day his best national super touring result to date, no Crisis moments from Chris Kerswell all weekend and the reward third on the day for the Schumacher driver.

There was some love in the A final	Red Arrows
The pole sitting Associated TC6	Super touring heat at the chicane
Fran on tyre marking duties ( and dishing out the cakes)	Andy Moore, he has had better weekends !

Despite there being reservations about the size of the venue being to small to host a national the Aldershot club did a great job in sorting sufficient pitting space and generally working well with the BRCA and the drivers to make this another national to remember, big thanks to the guys who picked up the reigns after the tragic loss of Dave Skelton.

The Suoer touring A finalists	Judy Walker had a BBC film crew shadow her on sunday, plans are in the pipeline for short TV peice about lady racers competing in RC
Chris, Chris and Glen top three in Super touring	Ben and Chris second and third in Pro Stock, Johnny shot off before the photo call

I always think a good gauge to how good a meeting was is to see how quickly drivers pack up and leave and was noticeable to see a lot of drivers staying on after the meeting to chat, and attempts at a new fashionable challenge, the “Two men and one Tranny” ( please don’t goggle that, we want to keep things clean), this involves one car, one transmitter and two drivers, one operating the steering and the other the throttle, first up Olly Jefferies and Andy Moore with Olly’s wet car, Olly on the steering Andy on the throttle, the lap was competitive and some joked that it was some of the best laps Andy had put in all weekend, next up the X-ray pairing of Phil Chamber and Stefan Chodzynski, equally impressive and it looks like this challenge could run and run....

Next stop Halifax, fast open and always good racing, see you there.