8th October 2006
SCSA 2006 Finale
October already and the final race of the 2006 season upon the SCSA teams the weather looked good for the weekend and the track action was going down to the wire
Qualifying on Saturday was the first port of call for the good ‘ol’ boys of the SCSA , Ollie playle posted fastest lap for pole but the next few spots was where the action was taking place. Tony Hurdle in his No 98 car had 2nd until the last lap when John Steward nicked it from Tony by only 0.180 of a second with Colin White in 4th just 0.085 behind Tony.
Less than a second covered 2nd to 7th with Pick up driver Martin Heath in a very creditable 5th followed by Shane Brereton and 2nd in the championship Mike luck in 6th and 7th another close race looked in order to settle the knife edge places behind Ollie, although Ollie was not sure of the title going into race one.Sunday was sunny again, the first race a bit earlier than usual but the crowd built nicely to the largest this year ready for the action to start, and they were not to be disappointed……
Race one
Ollie Playle was on Pole for his sponsors “Sureparts 25”and the West-Tec driver was out for another win for his sponsor.
Coming around to the green the cars bunched nicely, the Drivers got the green flag but Ollie was having trouble getting through the gearbox and never got going, Tony Hurdle was directly behind Ollie in his West coast backed No 98 Chevrolet and had nowhere to go, as the outside lane went passed the inside line of cars Tony couldn’t react in time and hit the rear of the No 88 car. As Ollie span towards the wall the rear of the field did an amazing job of missing him with Duncan Gray reacting the best to avoid any contact as he threaded his way through into 3rd place. Ollie was out for the race and Tony headed in for the 160 mph tape treatment, loosing two laps in the process to rejoin and finish the race in 8th.
Thoughts then went to the championship, with Ollie out Mike Luck could close the gap to even nick it from Ollie if the damage to the No 88 car stopped him getting out in the last race. Mike had problems of his own having pulled in before the start of the race with an axle problem. If he could get out before lap 10 then he could still pick up points if he finished the race. Alas it was not to be and as the 11th lap started Ollie was then crowned the 2006 SCSA Champion.Before all of this though we had a race to complete, John Steward, Colin White, Duncan Gray, and the two pick up drivers Pete Wilkinson and Martin Heath made up the top 5.
The restart on lap 6 had Shane Brereton coming through from the rear of the field upto 4th and then past Duncan’s No 31 car for third, the top 3 stayed like this for a number of laps with a good battle going on for 4-7th places, The 59 car of Lee Okeefe was starting to look racey and was the one on the move, lap 15 & 16 had all cars on track within 0.5 of a second, even Tony with his damage was posting fastest laps by the end of the 25 lap stint, the final change of the race came with 1 lap to go, Colin had tried for 15 laps to get past John when his No 75 car slid wide exiting turn 4 to give Colin the opening he needed, and the pass was made for the win on the inside of turn 1, for Colin’s first win of the year.
Race two
The start went well and everyone got through cleanly, Colin White and Shane Brereton battled it out for 1st place while Tony Hurdle took up 3rd with Lee Okeefe, John Steward and Duncan Gray going well behind, This was better, the final race of the season was shaping up to be the best, Colin and Shane were going at it hammer and tongs and Shane felt he could get his first ever win, Tony was slipping back from the battle into the clutches of Lee while John had the pressure from Duncan, after 10 laps only 10 seconds covered the field with everyone looking competitive. By now Lee had caught Tony and a race long battle was on for the Revolution team mates with john catching them while Duncan, who had been posting his fastest laps of the season, dropped back a little from the group. Shane then came in to the pits with smoke billowing from his car, a power steering hose was dropping oil everywhere. That signalled the end of the race for Shane and left Colin clear for a double win for the last event. John pushed Tony as hard as he could but the places ended up with Lee 2nd, Tony 3rd, John 4th and Mike luck in 5th, Duncan 6th, Pete Wilkinson 7th and Martin Heath in 8th, giving Mike enough points to finish ahead of Colin for 2nd in the championship.
Congratulations to Ollie on winning the championship, Mike for his second place and Colin for third, also Tony Hurdle for the Rookie championship and a big thanks to all the drivers who sat behind a V8 this season along with all our core fans who are always there for us, without you it would not work at all.
It’s been a tough year for all.
Next Season starts now.
See you in 2007
E&OE
