END OF SEASON DOUNE: WIGHT JNR 1, MASON 1, FUN 10
So, all of a sudden the Championship has come to an end at Doune in Scotland for the traditional end of year event at the hill, however, the day was full of action with Graeme Wight Jnr running away with the first run off, and then Tim Mason going and snatching the win in the afternoon.
The outright record (36.50) was never going to be touched, but BTD did go to Graeme Wight Jnr at 37.22 after his first class run as did the Power Mec Leaders Championship after a late season tussle with Adam Fleetwoods OMS
The whole Championship hardly changed after a bizarre set of circumstances in the morning. Fourth place in the championship was still up for grabs with Simon Durling, Martin Groves and Rob Turnbull all in with a shout of it. Durling and Turnbull slid off in the their class runs and therefore didnt qualify before Groves qualified second for the runoff only to encounter gear selection problems in the run off itself and not scoring. All that way and no one scored any points! By the afternoon Rob was out as hed damaged the nose and declined the offer of Tim Masons spare whilst Martin technically then could not catch Simon. Durling will now have the Number 4 on his car next year after by far and away his best year in the sport. Ironically every round he has been to and he has been to every round except Craigantlet he has qualified for every run off less for the first run off at Doune after his small non-damaging off. So nearly a perfect record!
M
artin Groves ATOL Judd sounded even better than it does through the trees at Shelsley as it went up through the tunnel up to East Brae into the top wood though! He salvaged 4th in the afternoon.
Drive of the day has to go to Ben Butterfield with two 3rd places in the 2 litre Dallara as he tried to hold on to the pace of the Mason / Wight battle who were way ahead but Ben did exceptionally well to beat everyone else. Well done.
Roger Moran had a brilliant 4th in the morning but was at a loss for a handling problem over lunch but this was traced down to the anti roll bar rubbing on the steering rack and although he 
was 6th in the afternoon he said the car was a great deal better to drive as was reflected by his faster time.
Paul Haimes and Allan Warburton were 5th and 6th in the morning run off with Paul only just beating Bridge of Allan by 0.05. However, Allan felt a bit of a crunch on his run and decided to have look into the gearbox only to discover the CWP had lost all sorts of teeth and so into the trailer it went. It had done over two seasons though!
Tom New went home with a brace of 7ths in the 2 litre MP62 after being so spectacular up the hill through Garden Gate by really leaning on the car through the right hander. Garden Gate was the unfortunate end of Trevor Willis first run off when he dinged a the left hand barrier sending him into a spin with no much space in which to do it& A broken front left corner was the worst of it, but all hands on deck from the OMS fast response team working on the car before his second class run, he bagged an 8th in the afternoon.
Adam Fleetwood did a 40.78 to qualify for the second run off before promptly taking 9th after an 8th in the morning. Next year hell be back in a brand new Gould 3.3 litre V8 whichll be something to watch out for! Roger Fleetwood got into his first ever run off and went even faster than his class run to do a 42.20.
Adam tied with Stewart Robb in the afternoon but highest placed 1600 in the championship goes to Ulsterman Michael Beattie even though he has 1370cc Jedi after a single point in the morning.
The 1985 Championship winning Gould 84G was out with David and Sean Gould peddaling against each other if only they had entered the championship he would have got into the run offs and ahead of many of the top runners too! Indeed, Davids time from 1986 would have got him very healthy points even today. Impressive. The sparks that flew off the skirts on the way up through the tunnel were quite spectaclular.
The whole weekend was run in dry conditions after only a little drizzle on Sunday morning that didnt really wet the track enough to make a difference.
The traditional party in the Woodside on Saturday night was a loud affair with much fun being had by all. Our thanks go to Charlotte Durling and Tony Fletcher for organising it all.
(Report and Photos by Toby Moody)
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