Chesterfield Shootout Series Round One Race Report
Run by one of the most experienced clubs in the country, the Chesterfield Shootout Series is designed to give anyone with a pan-chassis’ the opportunity to race on a full-size carpet track during the summer months. The event is tailored to provide a fun and stress free day with as much racing as time allows. A superb opportunity for anyone of any standard to come along and enjoy a great days racing and to gain experience from some seasoned racers. With the club also holding a club meeting on the Saturday night starting at 6:30pm, a few people even made the trip up and stayed overnight to get even more racing during the weekend.
Round one of the season was very well attended with a mixture of World GT, GT12 and 1:12 racers. It was great to see some new faces to the hobby travelling quite a distance and some old faces enjoying a well-prepared race track and friendly atmosphere. A laid back racing format with some open practice in the morning followed by five rounds of qualifying and one final for everyone was nearly an RC overdose for many of us.
In qualification James Carvell ruled the top spot of the GT12 class securing a comfortable TQ spot and the well deserved box of chocolates for winning the A final. Vince Formosa handled the pressure very well to hold on to second with a welcomed return to Caz James in third after fighting through some niggling set-up issues from her mechanic during qualification.
The hotly contested World GT class saw a very tight bunch of drivers competing for the overall TQ and win. Less than nine seconds separated the majority of the field in the main final making for a thrilling race. Mark Simpson came out as king of the World securing TQ and the win, but a special note must go to Tyrone Birch who only just made the final but then drove an excellent final to finish second.
Three classes were running for the 1:12 category – 10.5T Blinky, 17.5T Blinky and Open. All were well supported and some great rivalries and battles are sure to develop over the course of the season. The hotly contested blinky classes produced some very close racing with the BRCA 1:12 Chairman taking the 17.5T win as Matt Dunning converted his second place qualification position into a dominant win in the 10.5T class and David Spashett soaked up the challenges from Chris Kerswell and Luke Burley to hold on to win the Open class. Overall some very good clean hard racing in all classes, with boxes of Chocolates for the winners it rounded off a superb event.
The next round of the championship is on Sunday the 5 August so if you have ever considered entering a slightly larger club event then look no further. Friendly atmosphere with great help and advice supported by an incredibly well stocked model shop Action Model Centre.
More information and booking in can be found on the Chesterfield Auto Racing Society website here.
Source: Horizon Hobby UK
