Newsletter – Sept – Round 5

Heat 1 would be deemed as fast and furious the emphasis being on the word furious. Perkins led the race hotly pursued by Sifleet, who was literally millimeters from his back bumper. By lap 2 this pair had pulled out a gap from the rest of the field. The next lap saw Henry who’d made up good ground to gain 3^rd spot overcook it on Parc Ferme Corner travelling along the grass at high speed, unfortunately his floor tray bent underneath, lifting the wheels off the ground causing him to come off at the next corner to retire. D. Bury was now up to 3^rd having also made his way through the field to claim 3^rd, Stone 4^th, Sloane 5^th and Stonier 6^th. Lap 7 saw Perkins leave the track on a fast trajectory onto the grass along the beginning of the Start Straight, an overzealous Sifleet had hit the back of him! Perkins recovered and Sifleet went onto win the race with Perkins 2^nd, D. Bury 3^rd, Stone 4^th, Sloane 5^th and Stonier 6^th. The outcome of this race was Sifleet was served a 5 second penalty but as Perkins had pulled back it made no difference to the final order. Good buddies in the pits, Helmets off at dawn on the track.

Heat 2 saw Sifleet make the best start to lead Perkins, D. Bury, Stone and Fowler. Lap 3 saw Fowler squeeze past Stone to claim 4^th, whilst Stonier, Masson, Shepheard and Owen were having a great race of their own further down the field, with Shepheard eventually being successful and holding his station. By lap 8 Sifleet was well ahead with D. Bury making some inroads on Perkins, Fowler had pulled out a gap between himself and the chasing pair of Stone and Henry, meanwhile T. Bury had got ahead of Hopes and Sloane to claim 7^th. As the chequered flag was waved, spectators were completely flummoxed as Sifleet slowed dramatically just before the line and Perkins took the win. It must be mentioned that Sifleet had pulled back on purpose to give back the win to Perkins that he’d missed out on in heat 1. I’m sure no other class would make such a gesture. Sifleet was savvy enough not to allow D. Bury to follow through in 3^rd although there was only 00.04 between them, talk about a close one!!
1^st Perkins, 2^nd Sifleet, 3^rd D. Bury, 4^th Fowler, 5^th Stone closely followed by Henry in 6^th

Sifleet made the best of his pole position to lead Stone, D. Bury, Henry, Hopes and the rest, whilst Perkins had gone for a quick fix in Parc Ferme. He was allowed to rejoin the race but nearly 2 laps down. Along the back Straight saw D. Bury and Henry take up 2^nd and 3^rd. By lap 3 Fowler was up to 5^th. Midfield saw a great battle between Masson, Stonier, Sloane, Rawden and T. Bury.  Lap 5 and Fowler had now claimed  4^th spot, it would take him a further 7 laps before he was able to pass Henry who was stuck rigidly to his racing line. Mid race distance and Sifleet still led D. Bury 2^nd, Henry 3^rd, Fowler 4^th, Stone 5^th. Hopes in 6^th had Rawden breathing down his neck and Shepheard, Hutton and Owen were now putting on a great display of close racing further down the pack. It was all change on lap 12 Sifleet pulled off with mechanical issues which now left D. Bury to lead the race, Fowler passed Henry to now claim 2^nd.  As the flag fell D. Bury came in victorious to once again take the title of 2023 Midland Champion and to also win the Roger Powell Memorial. 2^nd Fowler, 3^rd Henry, 4^th Stone, 5^th Rawden who had worked his way up and passed Hopes on the last lap, 6^th Hopes, 7^th Stonier, 8^th Sloane, 9^th T. Bury and Hutton completed the top 10.

Congratulations Dan Bury 2023 210 Midland Champion