It was a full capacity entry for EWS Round 1, making it the biggest ever event as the series started it’s 12th year.
In the LRP Modified Touring class, Kyle Branson picked up where he left off last year, with the Series Champion taking all four qualifying rounds. Behind him, Alex Thurston, who won the season finale last year was consistently second, fending off Elliott Harper, making his return to indoor racing, who would start third on the grid. Harley Eldridge was best-of-the-rest and took fourth on the grid, with Stefan Chodzynski rounding out the top five.
The A Final saw a good start, and Kyle looked to maintain his advantage for Xray. The race was clearly for second place as Elliott appeared to have a faster car than Alex at a number of points in the race, but Elliott could not get his Schumacher past Alex’s Yokomo, and so the overall top three remained in their starting order for the whole five minutes. Harley and Stefan also held on to their grid positions to leave the top five as it was in qualifying.
Rush Stock Touring
Finlay with perfect start into new EWS season
In Rush Stock Touring, Zak Finaly put his Xray on pole position, taking all four rounds, with his team-mate Tony Broad second in each qualifier just behind Zak. Martyn Ross had a great time for Awesomatix and qualified third overall, with Billy Fletcher and Ricky Copsey making up the front half of the A FInal grid.
In the final, Zak had a commanding win, with Tony having a rather lonely race in second place, not close enough to challenge Zak but comfortably ahead of the third place battle. That battle was the place to watch, with Martyn doing a great job to hold off Billy and Ricky for the whole race, again meaning the top five finished up in their starting order.
Ride/MB Models Front Wheel Drive
Masterclass from Moorey secures first win of the campaign
In the Ride/MB Models Front Wheel Drive class, Ben Moorey was in command in qualifying, securing the top spot for Schumacher, ahead of the Schumacher engineering boss, Aaron Rose. Nathan Parker would line up third with his Awesomatix, ahead of Andrew Cooper and Andy Faulkes.
The final was a masterclass from Ben who took the win, lapping everyone up to third place by the end! Behind, Aaron and Nathan dropped back early on and then had a great fight through the field to eventually regain their starting places by the end. The close racing also gave Craig Woods the chance to move up to fourth, with Andrew ending up in fifth. With this being the first time the “ETS Spec” of a limited gearing and 17,500 rpm limit was in place, the close racing proved this is clearly the way to go!
Next up, the EWS International race takes place in November over a full weekend, where all the usual suspects will be joined by a number of star drivers from Europe!
