WATTS, GRAY & SHONE WIN ‘0’ PLATES
Following a set of fiercely contested heats for the formula Blue ‘0’ Plate, the grid for the Final became an eye opener. On pole position sat Michael Bell ( Bristol) with Serita Shone ( Weymouth) along side. 2nd row had David Watts (Southampton) and Stuart Gray ( Scotland) . The 3rd row was taken up by ‘new boy’ Richard Puddle ( Wiltshire) and Russell O’Neill ( Reading).
The drama at the start of the Final started on the rolling lap when Serita Shone, on the front row, started losing coolant from her radiator. An extra rolling lap saw her re-connect the cap, but by then half of the coolant was gone! A fact which would come back to haunt her during the race. At the start, Serita shot into the lead ahead of Bell, Watts and Gray. By lap 4 Serita’s engine ( minus much of the coolant) started to overheat and had already risen to 85 degrees on the temperature gauge. In an effort to stave off a seizure, she screwed the main jet of the carburettor out to 3 turns, thereby richening up the petroil mix, but decreasing the overall power. Watts and Gray took full advantage and raced past. By this stage Anthony Cleal, who started in 13th position, after fraught heats, was up into 7th place. As the laps unfolded Watts, in the lead, gradually edged away from Gray, even though both drivers produced identical best times. Cleal, scoring the fastest lap on the way through, managed to finish 3rd with Puddle scoring a very creditable 4th in this high profile event. Serita Shone hung on to claim 5th place, a testament to her engine temperature management skills.
Once scrutineering was completed and the points awarded, by adding together start and finish positions, the various ‘0’ plates were presented. The open winner was David Watts with a 3 + 0 = 3 points score. Stuart Gray finished 2nd overall to match his 2nd on the track with a total of 6 points. 3rd on the day was Serita shone with 7 points and Richard Puddle in 4th with 9 points.
In the Master ‘0’ Plate, Stuart Gray took a convincing 0 + 0 = 0 points Win over Russell O’Neill on 6 points and David Waldron on 10 points. Gray claimed the Veteran and the Legend ‘0’ Plates with equal dominance, from Nigel Vickery and David Waldron in the Veteran section and Ron Shone and Chris Underhill in the Legend group. Ron Shone did manage to win the Top Weight ‘0’ Plate from Phil Shears.
The Formula Blue grid now has little time to recover from this race. In 2 weeks’ they are in action again at the Lydd international circuit, in Kent, for the Final Round of the NKRA and Blue Challenge Regional Championship.
For more details and results please view the results page on the
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