Adur 200mm National

[ianb]

As a new track to the championship for 2009 the circuit would be new to many drivers so learning the track for many was the order of the day.

As saturday was to be many drivers first chance to drive the track it was more than a little unfortunate that the weather decided to intervene and cut practise short at mid afternoon. By late afternoon boat racing could well have been the order of the day.For the many campers present the local cabaret failed to appear and entertain as they had for the 235 Nationals a few weeks before.

Fortunately early on sunday morning everyone was treated to a hint of sunshine. Loud shorts and colourful T shirts soon convinced the sun to hang around which it duly did for the entire day.
In the first round grip was way down after all the rain with many drivers struggling to find a set up that actually worked.
However by the end of round 3 some drivers had set their best time and finally found that illusive combination of tyres and set up that worked. However as the grip finally stared to come up many capitalised on this to improve their positions.
Kyle Branson made the most of this with a storming drive in round 4 for TQ .
With the sun out and temperatures rising tyre choice in the finals was to be critical many opting to run slightly harder compounds just in case.Honours in the C final all went to Team Adur . Jason Hurley taking the win from Adur's Chairman Ray Briddock and Chris Mcleavery.

In the B final pole sitter Luke Longley failed to get away, being swamped by the entire field. However it would seem that many drivers considered it to have been a false start.
However as the race director decided it wasnt the race was on. With a good start Mark Brown led from Mete Faks until an error allowed Mete to pass. Mete holding this until the end for his first final win at his first ever national. Peter Spratley held on for a good 3rd place.

In the A final a poor start and uncharacteristic visit to the grass for Kyle at the first corner left him with a great deal of work to do.
Chris Slater took advantage of this to lead from John Zottl until gearbox problems forced him into the pits. Johnathan Dobney took the lead from him until a hard charging Kyle began snapping at his heels. After a decisive move on Lap 21 Kyle went on to hold this until the finish and take top honours overall with Johnathan in second. A narrow margin saw third place going to Robin Hammett after a determined drive to hold on to Johnathan's heels.


A Final

1st Kyle Branson
2nd Johnathan Dobney
3rd Robin Hammett

B Final
1st Mete Faks
2nd Mark Brown
3rd Peter Spratley

C Final

1st Jason Hurley
2nd Ray Briddock
3rd Chris Mcleavery

[SlowSteady]

Great write-up Ian, many thanks! I linked it to the report article by the Thurstons.

[rbridd]

Many more pictures on the Adur Forum.
I'll post the pick of the bunch in the pits later.

[SlowSteady]

May more pictures on the Adur Forum.
I'll post the pick of the bunch in the pits later.

Looking forward to them mate!