British Indoor Winter Series 2002/3 Round 4
Welcome to the fourth and final round of the 2002/3 British Indoor Winter Series - this race was the fourth of 4 Qualifying rounds that will be followed by the UK Finals held in early March this year, Once again this series is being held at the fantastic (indoor and heated) Don Valley Stadium in Sheffield, a perfect set up for consistent racing through the winter...
The racing over the past 3 rounds has been great to watch showing all those top drivers across the country.
With the stock class I think people get the wrong idea they think it's slow and boring but it's extremely competitive, if you go to any stock club you may be surprised exactly how close the stock racing is, at my local club we had some of the local top guys race stock instead of running modified where they thought they were fast! Wrong! after a meeting racing in the stock class they were surprised as they were a lap off the pace!!!
At round 4 we had booked into the series - 29 drivers in Stock class and 84 into the Modified Class but with 'big meetings' taking place elsewhere in the country this was still a great turn out and with some of the best RC drivers and all the Manufacturers present, this would still be a good test for any driver.
 The large technical layout |
 Glyn Ward and Karl Marsden |
 The Losi boys |
 HPI R & D's Adam Skelding |
Qualifying - FTD
As usual now, the qualifying started with the 27 turn Stock Class Heat 1 of 3, followed by the 'fast boys' in the Modified (Pro) Class which there were 10 heats of serious competition and speed.
So off we go with the Stock Class and Heat 1 started nicely on time, At the end of the day the Stock Class TQ was held by Paul Ashcroft once again!! This was Paul's fourth TQ of this series!! He must really have his car setup well. In second position we had Colin Price who was really pushing Paul this round it was good to see someone giving him some close competition, in third position we have Phil Channon who has also been going very well and well on the 'pace'. So the top 5 for the A final were as follows Paul Ashcroft on pole, Phil Channon on second, Colin Price on third followed by Ian Robinson and Jason Dean. As I said in the last round Colin really needed the points in the last round as well as this round to have any chance of piping Paul to the Championship. In the Modified (Pro) class we had some of the countries top drivers all wanting the all-important top spot, the Modified (Pro) class has been really good to watch this season with the drivers displaying some awesome driving skill!! Today in the Modified was a little like round 3 where had Andy Moore Dominating, this time round it was his team Mate Ben Cosgrove. They must be working well as a team I guess!! The top 3 in the Modified class were as follows we had Ben Cosgrove on pole with his Losi followed by Andy Moore with his Losi then HPI's Kevin Brunsden racing the HPI Pro3.
 The team from Schumacher |
 Phil Channon's Sprint GTi |
 HPI's Kev Brunsden |
Finals Time
These are the Top 3 results from each of the Stock Class Finals.
C Final
1. Michael Stefanski
2. Thomas Daley
3. Keith Middleton
Fastest lap was 15.13s set by Michael Stefanski Car 3 who finished in 1st position.
B Final
1. David Studd
2. Roger Pearson
3. Thomas Adcock
Fastest lap was 14.23s set by David Studd Car 1 who finished in 1st position.
With the Fast Stock Class A Final up next we had Paul Oscroft on Pole Once again for the fourth round running!! On second position we had Phil Channon who has been going very well this year followed by Colin Price who needed to finish in a high position today to have any chance of snatching the championship from Paul. I can see Paul has his sights set of winning the Indoor Winter Series with 4 TQ's and 3 wins, was Paul going to get his fourth win to set him up nicely for the UK finals? As it happens in the final Paul was 100% focused and drove a very clean race. Anyone needing a setup Ask Paul I guess as he must have his car well sorted!! At the 5 minute mark we had Paul Ashcroft taking his fourth win closely followed by Colin Price in second position and Ian Robinson in third, between these 3 there was less than 3 seconds all 3 drivers drove a very clean and very consistent race. Phil Channon who had qualified well had a few mistakes in the final still finishing in a respectively 5th position.
So now all the 4 round of the Indoor Winter Series are over we approach the UK Finals, the UK finals are just as important as any other round because your points count!!! One bad meeting at the the UK Finals and you could drop several positions in the championship.
Here are the finishing positions for the A Final Stock Class
1. Paul Oscroft
2. Colin Price
3. Ian Robinson
4. Krizty Rosenberg
5. Phil Channon
6. Lee Price
7. Jason Dean
8. Steve Dyche
9. Rob Fitzgerald
10. Duncan Neale
Fastest lap was a joint fastest lap of 13.19s and this was set By Paul Oscroft, Colin Price and Ian Robinson, Pretty close Guys!!!
These are the Top 3 results from each of the Modified Finals.
I Final
1. John Langley
2. Lee Needham
3. Mark Murrie
Fastest lap was 14.36s set by John Langley Car 3 who finished in 1st position.
H Final
1. Matthew Cook
2. Shawn Robinson
3. Robert Davis
Fastest lap was 14.11s set by Matthew Cook Car 2 who finished in 1st position.
G Final
1. Christopher Drury
2. Liam Davis
3. Alan Stanway
Fastest lap was 13.58s set by Liam Davis Car 9 who finished in 2nd position.
F Final
1. Adam Howe
2. Mike Rowley
3. Jake Heard
Fastest lap was 13.42s set by Mike Rowley Car 2 who finished in 2nd position.
E Final
1. Colin Brennan
2. Paul Richardson
3. David Forbes
Fastest lap was 12.65s set by Colin Brennan Car 1 who finished in 1st position.
D Final
1. Chris Walford
2. Adam Meakin
3. Richard Hamblin
Fastest lap was 12.72s set by Paul Knapton Car 5 who finished in 5th position.
C Final
1. Darren Maisfield
2. Mark Wilson
3. Paul Hinchcliffe
Fastest lap was 12.37s set by Darren Maisfield Car 4 who finished in 1st position.
With the Modified B Final up next we had Dominic Carter sitting on Pole followed by Adam Skelding and Dan Watson we also had Greg Hill not doing as well as in Round 3 in 7th on the Grid.
The start of the B Final started cleanly with the all the field getting a good start. Dan Watson played it very cool in the final and drove a perfectly clean race to take a great win by 5 seconds ahead of Adam Mackman who had come from 9th on the grid!! In third position we had Adam Hughes who had come from 5th on the grid. Dominic Carter who started on pole position had a few crashes in the final which cost him a lot of time maybe next time!! A single mistake in these finals can cost u a lot of time it can be the difference of loosing or winning.
Here are the finishing positions for the B Final Modified
1. Dan Watson
2. Adam Mackman
3. Adam Hughes
4. Dominic Carter
5. Daniel Fallows
6. Greg Hill
7. Dave Bailey
8. James Hart
9. Adam Skelding
10. Paul Bridge
Fastest lap was 12.30s set by Greg Hill Car 7 who finished in 6th position.
Next up was the Modified (Pro) A final we knew this was going to be one to watch the battle was going to be between Ben Cosgrove sitting nicely on Pole, Was Ben going to win? Or was Andy Moore or Kevin Brunsden going to snatch the win?
From the Buzzer the race got away cleanly from the line, Kevin Brunsden make a small error allowing Car 4, 5 and 9 to go through. But once Kevin had got going again he made his way up to 3rd position chasing the two Losi's of Ben Cosgrove and Andy Moore. On lap 14 Andy had a problem with his Losi car and had to retire from the race this allowed Ben Cosgrove to Cruise off throughout the rest of the race to take a dominant win and was only .56 of a second of lapping second position.
At the 5 minute mark we had Ben Cosgrove taking the win with his Losi xxx's ahead of Kevin Brunsden's HPI Pro3 followed by Roger Hardy. Nice final guys!!
Here are the finishing positions for the A Final Modified
1. Ben Cosgrove
2. Kevin Brunsden
3. Roger Hardy
4. Kit Smith
5. Jimmy Maddison
6. Tom Stanway
7. David Hall
8. Jonathan Bowden
9. Andy Moore
10. Andrew Smith
Andy Moore had the fastest lap which was a 11.81s, only .01 of a second faster than His team mate Ben Cosgrove!! A lot closer than round 3 where we saw Andy Moore putting lap times in 1/2 a second quicker than anyone else and almost lapping second place!!!
 The A final line up |
 Moore second on the grid |
 Brunsden a close third |
 Kit Smith |
That's all Guy's, just the UK Finals to come!!
The HPI Don Valley Winter series has now approached the end of the series, it's been Awesome this year the series has been very close and competitive, all we have left is the all important UK Finals where will have two Champions one for stock Touring (27 turn) and one for Modified Touring (12 turn). The championship is looking very close at the top in Both Modified and Stock. We have Ben Cosgrove leading the Modified table by 1 point and Paul Oscroft leading the Stock table by 3 points!!
To see a Full List of the Current position's click the link here
Just the UK Finals to go, Hope to see you all there!!
Catch ya later - Ricky Copsey
