I must admit it was with some relief that I turned up for the final round of series 2/12 as it hasn't been particularly great for me. I actually picked one of the classes, Scalextric Group C, but it was with the club cars I've used for the "Raid" and "BMW M3" classes that I've had most success and it wasn't going to change in this round.
So we start with Scalextric Group C and I was only using my repainted Jaguar XJR9 this time. In the previous four rounds I've scored 19, 22, 20 and 20. I managed to beat all those scores this time around by scoring 23 points and ending up fourth in class, WOW. I actually took a race win as well which means I actually achieved 3 wins out of a possible 30 over the series. Taking the class win for the third time in a row with his Porsche 962 was Keith, who took four race wins and 30 points, his best score on the night. He's managed to win 20 races out of a possible 30 which is no mean feat. Strangely he also scored a last place on the night when he was the first one off on his first lap in his last race. Second in class was Jim, running a Sauber Mercedes this time around, taking two race wins on his way to 28 points. He's managed to score 18 race wins in total. DaveH was third in class on 25 points with a Jaguar XJR9 and taking the last race win. Tony followed on 19 points from a tied Will and PJ on 16 points. PJ did his usual trick of falling off when holding the lead and he was often in the lead.
I use a club car for "Raid" and it's been OK. In the first round I managed to take a race win and score 25 points. I think I then tried too hard in subsequent rounds to beat that because I then scored 16, 18 and 23 with just one more race win. I came close this time around finishing second three times and had some close races but never seemed to have the ultimate speed for the win. I ended up third in class on 24 points. Top was Jim who scored five wins on his way to 33 points, his best score on the night. He got knocked off I think in his non race winning race, but he's managed to score 12 wins out of 24 races run (he missed round four). DaveH was second, just one point behind him with two race wins and his best score on the night of 32. Behind me was Will on 21 points taking one of his two best scores on the night. He managed to beat the last race winner, Keith, who was right behind him on 20 points and dropped right down from overall top spot to third overall. Tony on 14 just beat Trigger on 13, this being Trigger's beat score on the night with PJ following in on 11 points.
At the break it was Jim on 61 points from DaveH 57, Keith 50 and ME on 47 points.
We start again with BMW M3's and I use a club car for this as well. I've been up and down with this class having scored 17, 31 (class winning), 22 and 20. Well I had my best score of this series this time, taking five race wins and a second place to 35 points and my best score on the night (and series). I had a neck and neck race with Jim in my final race but a couple of half spins didn't help my cause but I was right behind him as we took the flag. I was also some way ahead of the opposition which is no mean feat. Tied in second place was DaveH and Keith on 24 points. DaveH was running a club car and took a race win while Keith ran his SCX ALMS M3 but without a race win. Coming in fourth on 22 points with a race win was PJ, taking his best score on the night running a SCX ALMS M3. Tied behind him was the last race winner Jim, with another SCX ALMS M3 and Will running a club car to 19 points. Tony led in Trigger 15-10. I bounced up from fourth overall to the lead spot whilst Jim dropped down to third but with 1.6 Hatch coming up I certainly wasn't going to stay there.
This has been another dire class for me with scores of 21, 18, 13 and 17 in the previous rounds. I ran my Scalextric Mini for the first two races and managed a fourth and a fifth place finish with a car that seems to be lacking in speed. I then swapped over to my Ninco Clio for three third places and a fifth for a total score of 19 points. Managing MUCH better with a Ninco Clio was Tony, who managed five race wins, the top spot and 33 points, his best score on the night. At the end of the night he gave my Ninco Clio a run and couldn't understand why I wasn't going much better with it. The trouble is it always feels rather 'loose' to me and slightly out of control. Anyway, tied for second in class was Jim and Keith who were also both running SCX Suzukis to one race win each and 27 points. Will took the second of his best scores on the night of 21 points on his way to fourth place with a Ninco Saxo ahead of ME on 19 and DaveH on 18. PJ beat trigger in 14-9 with PJ getting the last race win with his SCX Renault C2.
At the end Jim bounced back to the top with 107 points. Keith and I were tied in second on 101, my best score in the series. We were followed by DaveH 99, Tony 81, Will 77, PJ 63 and Trigger on 43 points.