Our thanks must yet again go to Dave Rudd for running the
days racing (and supplying prizes in the form of tools and goodies) and the Oakington Club
for providing the venue.This was the first outing of 1999 for the F2C teams and, following months of bad weather we were blessed with calm, sunny conditions albeit rather on the cool side. The competition got underway at 11:30 which, with 10 teams present, enabled us to fly 4 rounds and a final. It had also been intended to fly British Goodyear but this was cancelled as only 2 teams turned up. Due to the good conditions all races apart from the last one of the day were flown as three-ups thus giving teams plenty of opportunity to record times for team qualification purposes.
The first competition of the year is always used to shake off the cobwebs but we had far less problems that at the start of the 1998 season. A couple of our top teams were not present - Dave Campbell being in Australia (Bernie Langworth came to help organize) and Heaton/Broadhead choosing not to attend because of travel distances.
The most noteable achievement of the day came from Ross/Turner in the final round, recording an excellent 3:16.9 and it was a welcome sight to see Hill/Metcalfe putting in two good times - their fastest being a 3:25.9. Unfortunately Alan and Stuart could not stay for the final and, as a result, Fry/Whorton entered the final as they were lying in 4th spot with 3:35 behind Fitzgerald/Thomason's 3:30.0.
All three teams had problems in the final with Ross/Turner exiting at 65 laps due to a run-in and the other two teams doing extra stops for compression changes as the race progressed. In the end it was Fitzgeral/Thomason who came out as victors in 7:54.3 with Fry/Whorton about 11 laps adrift.
Our thanks must yet again go to Dave Rudd for running the
days racing (and supplying prizes in the form of tools and goodies) and the Oakington Club
for providing the venue.
| Results | Heat 1 |
Heat 2 |
Heat 3 |
Heat 4 | Final |
||||||
| 1 | Fitzgerald/Thomason |
4 | 03.7 | 3 | 40.6 | 3 | 33.1 | 3 | 30.0 | 7 | 54.3 |
| 2 | Fry/Whorton | 4 | 06.0 | 3 | 35.0 | 4 | 06.4 | 3 | 36.4 | 8 | 16.4 |
| 3 | Ross/Turner |
3 | 21.4 | 3 | 26.5 | 3 | 36.0 | 3 | 16.9 | ret | 65 |
| 4 | Hill/Metcalfe |
3 | 31.5 | 3 | 25.9 | 3 | 53.0 | dnf | |||
| 5 | Smith/Brown |
4 | 11.4 | 3 | 39.2 | 3 | 37.9 | 4 | 00.4 | ||
| 6 | Tribe/Bollen | 3 | 41.7 | 3 | 50.7 | dnf | 3 | 54.6 | |||
| 7 | Radcliffe/Yeldham | 3 | 42.4 | ret | 42 | 4 | 12.5 | 5 | 02.7 | ||
| 8 | Barker/Tomkins | 4 | 03.9 | 4 | 54.2 | 4 | 08.1 | 4 | 37.2 | ||
| 9 | Walker/Peart | dnf | 4 | 17.8 | 4 | 22.7 | dnf | ||||
| 10 | Holmes/Robson | ret | 40 | ret | 18 | dnf | dnf |
League Points from this Competition were awarded as follow :-
| Attend | Placing | Final | Best | Total | |
Fitzgerald/Thomason |
1 | 6 | 2 | 9 | |
| Fry/Whorton | 1 | 3 | 2 | 6 | |
Ross/Turner |
1 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 8 |
Hill/Metcalfe |
1 | 4 | 2 | 7 | |
Smith/Brown |
1 | 2 | 3 | ||
| Tribe/Bollen | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||
| Radcliffe/Yeldham | 1 | 1 | |||
| Barker/Tomkins | 1 | 1 | |||
| Walker/Peart | 1 | 1 | |||
| Holmes/Robson | 1 | 1 |
note :- Hill/Metcalfe were awarded 3rd place points for league purposesbut Fry/Whorton were awarded the final points having taken the empty slot.