Chippenham Winter Indoor Championship opening round race report

Report by David Allen - Photos by Seffry

  

The first meeting of this season’s Chippenham Winter Indoor Championship took place on 21st October and proved a popular as ever, with nearly 120 entries.

  

There have been a few changes to the classes this year, with a streamlined Touring Car competition split between 13.5 Boosted and 17.5 Blinky cars, both running pre-mounted Sorex tyres, and support from the well-established Mini Formula and new Schumacher SupaStox classes.

  

The championship, sponsored once again by Schumacher UK, Much-More Racing UK and MMR Flux, will be spread across seven dates this winter, with each of the two-legged finals counting as a round and the best 8 results to count.

Mini Formula


This class is restricted to front-wheel drive Tamiya Minis, running Sweep pre-mounted tyres and a handout motor. With two full heats, competition was strong throughout the day, with defending champion David Allen sitting on pole after three rounds of qualifying, ahead of James Millbank and Jamie Carpenter – but the winner could come from anywhere. And so it proved, with Stuart Woodend charging from fifth on the grid to take the first final, with James winning the second. The B-finals were won by Matthew Tucker.

Schumacher SupaStox


The launch of the Schumacher SupaStox has given a huge boost to “GT12” racing, and this class attracted two full heats on its debut. The rules mandate Schumacher cars and parts only, with either 13.5/1s or 21.5/2s power. Top qualifier was last year’s Mini Outlaw champion Mark Williams, ahead of John Pryor and Frazer Smith. Mark went on to win both finals by a comfortable margin. The B-finals went to Michael Warren.

17.5 Blinky


The boosted 17.5 class had been very popular last year, but with concern growing about the speed of the cars and the complexity of the speed controllers, the decision was made to restrict this class to “blinky” ESCs only to bring it in line with the BRCA Clubmans series and attract more new racers. 20 drivers entered, and David Allen took pole position ahead of James Millbank and Liam Pettit. The first leg went to James, with David winning the second. Jamie Somerville won both B-finals.

13.5 Boosted


The fastest class in the championship also proved to be the most popular, with nearly 60 entries, including a number of people who formerly raced in the boosted 10.5 and 17.5 classes. Among the entries was newly-crowned BRCA National Champion Olly Jefferies, who took pole position ahead of Ayrton Anderson and Jon Bowden. Olly went on to win both legs of the final. The B-finals were won by Sam Martin.

  

More information about the series is available at www.cmcc.org.uk. Rounds 3&4 are on November 11th.
 

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