Carpet Thrashnal Report by Tom Green (Photon Team Driver)

Going into the last round of chippenham model car clubs carpet Thrashnals the pressure was on! After a disaster in the second final the meeting before I was entering the final round only 6 points behind and knew that back to back final wins would secure the championship. I had been testing a lot prior to the race on the rp24 tyres and the Photon felt great so I was confident going into the final round and

Qualifying

Whilst the grip was low in qualifying the Photon was just perfect, smooth and fast. I felt very comfortable with the car and just tried to be cautious and not do anything stupid!. For the second round I made only a small change to my Tekin RS and managed another cautious run, the temptation is always to push like crazy but I just wanted to stay calm and keep the car on TQ.

In the third round still with no changes to the set up I found the car felt too stuck and my lap times started to suffer a little, towards the end of the heat Ayrton Anderson was pushing hard with his Tamiya 416 and just managed to steal TQ from me by a few seconds. This put me second on the grid for the finals, I think that I had played the day a bit too safe and wanted to really go for it in the finals.

Finals

Driving my car to the grid position it felt really good and I knew the additive change I had made after qualifying had been the right decision. I was feeling confident starting second on the grid as my major title rival Tom Watts was behind me in third. As the buzzer went the Tekin speed controller gave me an awesome start, the punch was unreal and my car was up into 1^st in just a few corners.

As the race progressed Tom Watts started to real me in a little, I was doing my best to keep him behind without pushing too hard and crashing out. The pressure got to me a little and I had a suspect end to a lap and allowed Tom Watts past, this would have been a disaster for my championship hopes. I pushed as hard as I could, The photon responded perfectly and I started to close and eventually passed Tom Watts on the sweeper at the end of the straight using the Tekins Turbo feature to boost past him giving me the win I needed!.

In the second final another win would have wrapped the championship up! How ever in the first few corners Ayrton Anderson crashed out in the first couple of corners, I had no were to go and followed him in along with a lot of the heat, what a disaster! By the time I was marshalled I was being lapped and I had to settle for 5^th.

This gave me and Tom Watts identical points and as such it went to count back, as the Photon had won the most races the title was mine!

Congratulations also go to Photon drivers, David Allen (5th overall in the 13.5 class) and Terry Crew (2nd overall in 17.5)

David Allen