Results of last meet

Results and race reports 2006

2006 Round 5 December 10th, Norfolk

A fantastic final event of 2006 saw Jamie Kelly confirm his place as top EAHORC driver for the year. Against the backdrop of our equal highest turnout packed into the Kings Lynn Conservative club room, Jamie capitalized on an off day for Jim Kelly to snatch the F1 championship, the most prestigious class, by a single point. Having applied pressure on Jim in round four, taking his first F1 win, Jamie had to stay calm this time around in an A final that did not include his rival. Given that Jim's 5th place meant Jamie had to finish 2nd or better, he had every right to be nervous going into a race against an in-form Martin Hill, a flying but crash-prone Mike Ovens (taking part in his first race of 2006) and Peter Baldock, the original ''Mr Tyco''. In the end he drove sweetly and only succumbed to pressure from Mike after early leader Martin had dropped back, and therefore was always in P2 and a good enough position, just!

To make matters worse for Jim, he also failed to overhaul John Oven's 3 point lead in Can Class. Doing so was always going to be a tall order given that John actually had a fully prepared car for once (!) and the fact that John could afford to follow Jim home whereas Jim himself needed to go for gold. In the end John won the A final handily, well ahead of Jim who had had a nightmare couple of opening laps, He duly worked up to P2 with some class but John was well up the road by then. So John duly become the final EAHORC champion of 2006.

Before that Deane Walpole had finished fourth in an academic Nextel Cup A final to clinch the championship. With not enough drivers taking part (a very healthy 7 but 8 were needed) Martin Hill could not overhaul Deane's points lead despite his most emphatic win yet. He will start as hot favourite for Nextel honours next year but looks to have stern opposition from Jim and Jamie, the later already taking a P2 on his Nextel debut and this with a car noticeably not as quick as those of Martin and Deane. Jim will of course be gunning for glory too, he has always bounced back in the past and will want to do again, 2006 being a low-key year by his standards.

To read more on this race, pick up a copy of EAHORC news on Jan 28th back at the Kings Lynn Con Club for round one of our 2007 championships. We will not be charging for this magazine per se but donations to club funds will be appreciated, lots of trophies and stuff to buy with the expanded calendar now in place!

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2006 month 12 results

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2006 Round 4 August 20th, Norfolk

At the beginning of the year it did not look as if anyone could threaten Jim Kelly in the F1 championship. But then it also looked unlikely an August race could be well attended and both have come to pass. The dozen racers assembled saw Jamie Kelly take his first win in F1 with Jim only third. Peter Baldock showed why he used to be called 'Mr Tyco' with a strong drive to the runner up spot. Martin Hill, winner last time out, rounded off the top 4.

Although Jim started strongly on his first heat, staying in touch with Martin by the end of the heats he had faded somewhat to fall behind Martin and Jamie. By then Martin looked a good bet for back-to-back wins but it all went horribly wrong come the final. It was left to Jamie to take the win by a lap from Peter, who was inches in front of Jim. Best of the rest (5th) went to Nigel Sykes who dead-heated the B final with Deane Walpole but got the nod on countback to the fastest lap (by 0.01 seconds). Seventh place went to John Kelly with John Ovens 8th. The F1 races also saw the EAHORC debut of John Kirkwood, who had come up from Surbiton via a combination of car and trains, and Juniors Adam Hebbard and Phil Mizen.

After lunch the bizarre twists and turns of class selection continued with Sports GT and Nextel swapping in popularity and Can Class attracting half the field. Jamie was very much the star, scoring not far off the Can scores with his Sports GT, and his eventual final win means he becomes the first EAHORC champ of 2006. Well done Jamie! He ended the day with the fourth best score and fourth best fastest lap of the afternoon, to shame quite a few guys with supposedly quicker class cars!

Can Class saw Jim Kelly back to top form, and this championship is now finely poised between himself and John Ovens (who finished second on this occasion) with all to play for come December 10th. there are many permutations with regard to their points but both will need to be at the top of their game. (providing either of them enter the class, no means certain with the topsy-turvy way the classes have gone this year). Peter Baldock rounded out his best performance in some long time with third place in Sports GT, behind Jamie and John Kelly but well ahead of Dave Rouse. Third place in Can went to Nigel Sykes and John Kirkwood getting the wooden spoon this time around.

Nextel class saw Martin and Deane as the only runners, with the former bombing around and looking odds on to eek further in Deane's championship lead. Deane had qualified some eight laps slower but, of course, still got Q2 and a good lane for the head to head. In the end Martin lead for just under half the race until succumbing to a big crash (very common with the LifeLike cars, so ''knife-edge'' is the magnetic grip, either mighty or zero) which let a grateful Deane sweep through and put one hand on the championship.

The final round of the championship should be awesome, with two championships too close to call and a third to be decided. In fact it is possible that drivers outside these run-ins could play a big part as they swap around, consider for a moment Jamie does not have to run in Sports GT and can cause mayhem in another class, maybe one that has not run this year (such as Winston or Classic).

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2006 month 08 results.

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2006 Round 3, June 20th, Norfolk

A more laid-back atmosphere for the mid-summer race, as the time of year combined with the latest biennial attempt on glory by the England Soccer team inevitably affected attendance. Nonetheless, those attending all seemed to enjoy themselves and the event saw in two new winners. As is the norm, the day started with F1 and everyone running Tyco, with drivers choosing classes for the afternoon.

From the off Martin Hill was out to show that he had raised his game, with the best score of the early F1 heats on 30.6 laps. Jamie Kelly equalled this in the second round, but Martin responded in the very next heat with a 31.4 on blue lane. In the end Martin had the best score or equal best score in all four lanes, and although Jamie and Jim Kelly were keeping him honest, they looked a little ragged doing so.

Come the finals John Kelly successfully faced off against Dave Rouse and Jenson Leggett (the second 5 year old to race with us this year) to win the C. The B final saw another good scrap between John Ovens and Deane Walpole in their usual tortoise and hare roles, Deane just edging it as a last-gasp lunge by John resulted in a huge roll. Deane then had to drive through the crashing cars of John Kelly and newcomer Adrian Leggett to secure the last A final spot.

For that final, Martin produced another big score, sufficient to defeat Jamie and Jim by half a lap or so with Deane trailing a fair way back. In the end the top three all matched their performances in the heats, which put Martin in the pound seats (although he still had to get the job done). Crucially for Jamie, he beat Jim down into third place and closed the gap to him at the top of the F1 championship to 8 points. Given that Jim has won this championship for the past three years Jamie has a tough task ahead but Jim knows he is in a fight for once.

After Lunch and with classes picked, Martin stunned everyone with the pace of his Nascar in the Nextel class, with the class proving the most popular this time around. Whilst Martin had a slight car advantage, he was driving with wonderful precision to force Jim and, especially, championship leader Deane to drive much nearer their own limits. Sports GT boiled down to a straight fight between Jamie Kelly and dad John and it remains a mystery why this class, so well supported in round one, has struggled. John Ovens struggled to find a quick car, eventually choosing to race in Can class against Leggetts Jnr and Snr with their MR1 club cars.

Whilst Martin and Jamie grabbed pole for their respective classes with ease, John Ovens found he could not shake off NSCC trade advertising officer Adrian, who was putting in good scores all day with the club cars. John had produced the best scores in Can class in the blue and green lanes but Adrian had topped him in the other two. In the end the much more experienced John took pole, but only by half a lap. In the final he started off badly and Adrian drove with much aplomb to build, and maintain, a 2 lap lead for a very popular win and deserved reward for braving a 300 mile round trip (and, in the words of Brian Rogers, the Norfolk border guards!).

Jamie produced the expected final win in the Sports GT class and looks set to win the title with ease., even if numbers pick up and the class races in the final 2 rounds. John Ovens leads Can class, but no driver has established a good run all the way through so almost anyone could win it. Nextel looks fascinating, with Martin winning this time around in imperious style he is favourite to grab a maximum 32 points in the remaining races and Deane needs to score well to hang onto the title. With the F1 championship similarly poised there is plenty of hard racing to come. Should be cracking!

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2006 month 06 results
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2006 Round 2, April 9th, Norfolk

Following the reasonable turnout for round 1, the second round saw a sharp increase in attendance, thanks partly to the return of three of our long standing members from south London and also Andy Abbott from Sheffield. As the also returning Matt Norris put it, the smaller venue made for a great atmosphere with 15 people filling the upstairs room with light-hearted chatter in amongst the racing.

With more tables available this time around a larger track had been put together, mostly flowing corners connected with straights of differing lengths, but also an area with plenty of technical stuff grouped together and including a couple of 6'' turns. With this section immediately proceeded by the almost obligatory long straight/sharp curve combo, lots of time could be found or lost and a good handling chassis was very much the key to a quick lap.

The day started off with F1 racing, and with everybody opting to use Tyco chassis and bodies. Jamie Kelly set the early pace, but by only 1 tenth from Jim Kelly in yellow lane and with the same lap score as the returning, multiple-race winning Tony Baldock. Andy Abbott at this stage had set the 4th best score. Into round 2, and Jamie stuttered somewhat as Jim and Tony pulled clear. Undeterred, he continued to harry them as the lap scores increased from all three on their way to locking out the three automatic A final spots.

Behind these three positions 4-6 had been hotly contested by Nigel Sykes, Andy and John Ovens with Nigel just edging it. Nigel seems to have the record for missing the automatic A final slots by one, and would add to it later. In a closely packed midfield, positions 7-9 had also been fiercely fought over and had swapped round a lot. With the positions sorted, 5 finals had to be executed before lunch (which was served on site, very handy!)

In the E final, Roy Masters from Burton-upon-trent faced off against local Dave Rouse, edging it by 8 tenths to move up to Yellow in the D final. This was won by Brian Rogers who moved up to blue but trailed home fourth in the next final (won by Martin Hill, another local making his EAHORC debut). This then led to the B final with Nigel the favourite, having the most experience of what it takes to move up to the big one. He did this from red lane, an impressive feat given that he had to beat John Ovens in green lane.

The A final itself was a fast-paced affair but Jim seemed to have everyone covered, and in the end won handily from Nigel, Tony and Jamie to take the maximum 32 points available after two rounds. If anyone can keep him in check over the course of the year remains to be seen, but don't bet against a maximum 80 points by years end!

After some lunch and some quick trips to the bar downstairs, it was time for Andy's fun race using Johnny Lightning chassis with Japanese tuner bodies and some light TLC on the chassis from the man himself. The cars and format proved to be very popular, with huge grins and laughter from racers and spectators alike. With these cars having no dedicated traction magnets a very delicate hand was needed and some hilarious multiple-driver crashes resulted. The quick-paced format based saw the fourth placed driver eliminated from each heat, the three survivors moving one lane to the right and a new racer coming into the gap.

As a result no one driver could get used to a particular lane, car or controller and this just added to the fun, as did the fact that green lane had gone from being a much favoured one to being feared! In the end Deane Walpole had the longest survivor run to Join Andy, Jim and Tony in the run off between the final four drivers. In the end Andy tamed the very fast red lane car to beat Tony by half a lap with Jim in third place and Deane last.

'Proper' racing resumed at 1:50pm with the drivers having decided their classes. Amazingly, nobody went for Sports GT despite it being the most popular class last time out. The Nextel class had plenty of support, having being something of a support race back in February and the rest of the racers went for Can class, which received no entries last time around! After one round, then, Jamie lead Can class and Tony Nextel class and both with similar lap scores and times. As things progressed however, the Can cars were to prove quite a bit quicker.

Over the next three rounds this pair were to extend their heat leads and comfortably win their respective A finals. Before that Nigel had once again won the (Can Class) B final to move up to the A the hard way, with Deane doing the same thing in Nextel class despite a pickup shoe being worn right through. Come the A finals, Jim won Can with an amazing score of 33.2 from Jamie, Nigel and John Ovens and Tony cruised home in Nextel two laps ahead of Martin with Deane third and Peter having to retire whilst running forth.

All in all a fantastic day of racing and chat, with a good measure of banter and chuckles thrown in. My thanks to Andy for bringing the JL cars along, these for me where the best part of the day along with seeing so many of the old faces make a welcome return. To receive a copy of the results spreadsheet Click here, putting the words 'April 06 results request' in the subject line.

2006 Round 1, Feb 5th, Norfolk

After a mixed 2005 (which started out very strongly but then dipped), EAHORC has moved on into 2006 thanks to the brave move by the Mussel bay Club to embrace H:O, both in their own weekday races and by agreeing to host our weekend races. Whilst the venue was not as large as some used in the past, it was still a good size whilst being cost effective. Once the number build up into the high teens then the larger venues of the past, up until now heavily subsidised by the host club, become viable again. Mussel Bay themselves have long term plans for a bigger venue but, for now, gratitude is due them for keeping the whole H:O-at-weekend scene as rich as it is.

One thing that EAHORC has always been pleased to see is new winners, so 2006 kicked off in fine style. OK, so both Jim Kelly and Deane Walpole again won 'A' finals but they were joined by Jamie Kelly (no relation to Jim) who won the Sports GT final in fine style. Jamie has shown flashes of speed ever since his first HO race in Feb 2005 (where he finished behind all his Mussel Bay colleges but still looked the 'one to watch') A year on, he looked every inch the finished article, featuring strongly in all ten races he competed in.

The day started off with F1 racing. From the off Jim was setting the most laps but had John Ovens & Jamie on his tail. He raised the stakes in round 2 but could not entirely shake off his pursuers. Only in the final two rounds did Jim establish the kind of gap we have gotten used to seeing. He still had to finish the job off come the 'A' final, which he eventually did to win by one lap from John. Before that John Kelly (Jamie's dad) had comfortably won the 'B' final to ensure that the Kelly name had a 75% chance of being on the winners trophy. Gary Andrews had made a very welcome return and won the C final.

For the afternoon the drivers had to choose their classes, 7 opting to run in Sports GT (and therefore, in the most part, use their AM chassis with a different body) with the remainder in the Nextel Cup Class. Jamie by this time had found a lower set of tyres and was setting a very quick pace, and took pole by a large gap. Jim and John Ovens both tried to hold on gamely but Jamie took the 'A' final with the only 42 lap race score of the day to underline his dominance. A mechanical failure in that final meant that Jim had finished last, as a result Jamie also had the biggest points haul of the day (27 points).

Simon Beckett also showed improved form since his debut, winning the Sports GT 'B' final handily from John Kelly to make his first 'A' final. With Jim's demise in that race, Simon was guaranteed third place but still pushed hard and set his biggest lap score of the day. In the Nextel Cup final, Deane Walpole and Gary had a furious scrap until Gary's axle popped at one third distance, handing Deane a somewhat fortunate win. I'm sure one time soon Gary will win, and therefore deliver on the promise shown on his debut back in 2004.

All in all a cracking day of racing. I'd like to thank all three Kellys for various setting up help, John Ovens for efforts above and beyond the call of duty, Tony Stacey for bring his wares along to sell, and of course everyone for coming. A special thanks to John Kelly for basically keeping EAHORC on the map. Hopefully the Association can now move onwards and upwards.

To receive a copy of the results spreadsheet Click here, putting the words 'Feb 06 results request' in the subject line.

For an archive of our 2003, 2004 & 2005 seasons go here

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