WOOD KICK STARTS HIS CAMPAIGN WITH A WIN
Organiser: Autospeed When: March 30 Where: Northampton International Raceway Starters: 26 Billy Wood dominated the feature race to take the top honours at Northampton, finally bringing to an end the longest National Hot Rod closed season of modern times. The final winner, having produced two top 10 heat finishes to move to the front of the grid for the main event, was able to eventually subdue the opposition to stay in charge throughout.
The opening heat – the only race run in the dry – kicked off with Colin Hitch’s revitalised Peugeot 206 leading them away as the sole white-grade starter. The race to see who would go after him was initially headed by Steve Dudman, Alistair Lowe and Lee Pepper, while those trying to get through from the back of the grid were having a tough time. This was certainly the case for Gavin Murray, who ended up hitting both the barriers and Lewis Shelley’s parked car hard after a touch with Chris Crane. When Shaun Taylor spun at the same spot and returnee Russ Wilcox also had a rotation, a yellow flag was inevitable.
With the cars now closed right up and Kym Weaver handily placed in seventh spot, he was certainly looking the potential winner. Sure enough, Weaver was soon carving through the placemen, making it into second place just beyond half distance. He was closing on Hitch too but it turned out to be not quite fast enough, the Peugeot driver clinging on as they raced under the chequers, the first big rain drops starting at the exact same moment.
Hitch didn’t get off to such a great start in heat two, the car clearly not so happy in what was now torrential rain. Colin Smith swiftly relieved early leader Taylor up front, although the latter managed to stay well in touch until Jack Blood appeared on their shoulders from his mid-grid start. Something of a Northampton specialist, Blood wasted little time about taking the lead, ducking under Taylor along the back straight and Smith only half a lap later. Shane Bland, Weaver and Jason Kew were the men who ended up doing the chasing but Blood was still nearly a quarter of a lap to the good over Bland at the finish.
Weaver and Wood (with two solid if unspectacular heat results) ended up sharing the front row for the final but with Blood and Kew on row two, the result was far from assured.
Weaver was the first to break at the green but Wood simply stayed out wide, completing a finely judged pass as they started lap two, Blood managing to nip into second down the inside at the same time. It wasn’t long before Kew had also put Weaver behind him and caught up to the two leaders. The trio had a very evenly matched dice until they began heading into traffic, where Blood got delayed after a minor collision, allowing the chasing Bland past.
By the time the leaders had broken clear of backmarkers Wood was clearly in command, having put a small but steadily increasing gap between himself and Kew, an advantage he maintained all the way to the finish. Kew ran out a lonely second, with a recovering Blood back in third by flag fall, Bland having faded to fifth by the end as Crane had also gone by in the closing laps.
Results
Heat one: 1 Colin Hitch (Peugeot 206); 2 Kym Weaver (Vauxhall Tigra); 3 Ivan Grayson (Vauxhall Tigra); 4 Billy Wood (Vauxhall Tigra); 5 Chris Haird (Vauxhall Tigra); 6 Lee Pepper (Peugeot 206cc); 7 Alistair Lowe (Vauxhall Tigra); 8 Bradley Dynes (Ginetta G40R). Heat two: 1 Jack Blood (Vauxhall Tigra); 2 Shane Bland (Vauxhall Tigra); 3 Jason Kew (Vauxhall Tigra); 4 Weaver; 5 Wood; 6 Colin Smith (Vauxhall Tigra); 7 Gavin Murray (Vauxhall Tigra); 8 Chris Crane (Vauxhall Tigra). Final: 1 Wood; 2 Kew; 3 Blood; 4 Crane; 5 Bland; 6 Murray; 7 Weaver; 8 Lowe; 9 Haird; 10 Aaron Dew (Ginetta G40R). Championship (after nine of 14 rounds): 1 Haird and Wood 328; 3 Weaver 283; 4 Carl Waller-barrett (Vauxhall Tigra) 273; 5 Blood 250; 6 Billy Bonnar (Vauxhall Tigra) 245.