Hawk Plant 2-up series gets decided in the final race hoasted by Hafren CC.

Hafren CC 2-Up

(Report from Dave Fletcher, SCCA)

The tightest Championship produced a typically tight race in the Hafren CC 10 with the fastest times of the Hawk Plant 2-Up Series coming at the last – and medal positions having to be separated on second count back. Nova Raiders pairing Richard Nickless and Ed Middleton took Gold with 74 points and by a fantastic 22 points margin after stopping the watch on 22 minutes 17 seconds in good conditions at Welshpool – but even that wasn’t good enough for victory on the night with a simply stunning ride of 22:08 from Mid Shropshire Wheelers’ Juniors George Evans and 14 year-old Ewan Grivell-Mellor as the youngsters beat an 18 team field featuring many more experienced old hands. This quite audacious victory has been typical of the Series with Juniors firmly to the fore, boding well for the future.

However second place on the night gained Nickless and Middleton a further 18 points to ensure that they won the trophies in their first full season of racing, with Nickless commenting: “I think from the four races from six that Ed and I rode we aimed for nothing more than consistency and maximum effort. Top placing in our debut season is more than we could have hoped for, but our first win at Oswestry gave us hope that we could achieve something“. Middleton added: “The last race of the series was by far the most enjoyable. The conditions were great and the friendly atmosphere of Hafren CC made for a great nights racing. The series win is fantastic for the club and something the Raiders aim to build on in the future”.

Steve York and Ian Wedge’s efforts at a last gasp intervention was all in vain with the pair finishing 3rd on the night in 22:28, and critically four points adrift of the medal places, with a quite fascinating tussle for Silver and Bronze in play. With Hafren CC’s Mike Filek and Ian Coe holding the upper hand going into the race it was all about maintaining the points advantage over Wrekinsport pairing Colin Barnes and Alistair Hatton.

Filek and Coe had already ridden the maximum four counting rides and could only improve on their points tally by finishing at least 5th on the night, whilst Barnes and Hatton had a ride in hand. But with another Hafren pairing Graham Harris and Medwyn Jones finishing 4th in 22:55 and second Nova pairing Mark Golding and Scott Harris 6th in 23:15, Filek and Coe were relegated to 7th spot on the night with a 23:28 ride – after Barnes and Hatton beat Golding and Harris by just three seconds for a vital two additional points to tie on 52 with Filek and Coe. With both teams haven ridden the maximum four counting races it was down to a count back on time, and with both producing their fastest rides of the Series on this final evening Barnes and Hatton took Silver by the slimmest of margins.

Final Standings after six rounds: