Rogers UK Oval Racing Pages

Firstly before we run down the past few weeks, as I am sure you are all well aware by now Coventry Motorspeedway have postponed the 6th July meeting due to low banger bookings. This is obviously very disappointing as everyone had made plans for the double header however unfortunately it is out of our hands. Plans are afoot to re-schedule this meeting and as soon as a date is confirmed we will let you know. The World Wide Qualifying round that was organised for that meeting will move to Saturday 2nd August and the Heart of England Championship will be based just on this Saturday nights event with the title going to the winner of the Feature. Once again we are very sorry for any inconvenience caused it is very frustrating as we hate to cancel any events but there was nothing that we could do.
Anyway onto a brighter note and things are nearly back up to race speed after I was forced to take a little time off after the arrival of Baby Heidi. Thank you to everyone who sent cards, gifts and well wishes it was very, very kind of you all. A huge thank you also to Hans, Darren and Jennifer who have held the fort and everything has run swimmingly whilst I was absent. Thank you to every driver who participated at these few meetings, apparently you were all very patient and we appreciated your co-operation.
Onto the racing and apparently I missed some fantastic meetings and looking down the results it has certainly been a mixed few weeks. Our reigning National Points Champion has returned to top form after a blip over the Bank Holiday weekend. McCarthy has enjoyed the past few meetings especially Buxton at the end of June where he become the seventh driver in Rebel history to achieve four out of four victories. Even more of an achievement as two races were in the dry and two in the wet thanks to the typical Buxton climate! McCarthy has now pulled a relatively ‘safe’ 70 point lead at the top of the Charts however it is still under a meeting maximum so the Herts star won’t be taking it easy. With Coventry next on the agenda though he has got to be feeling confident and ready for Feature Final number two around the Brandon shale.
It was great to see our World Champion Adam Rubery return to his winning form at Birmingham where he was on a flyer from the off. He set the fastest lap in the time trials and the 100 machine was on rails all evening, flying around Wheels to take a heat and Feature. It was the start of a winning weekend for the Dudley race ace as he flew the Rebels flag behind the wheel of a DK FII the following day at Hednesford and achieved a heat victory plus a second in the Final—what a result—Well Done Adam.
Northampton racers Robertson and Etheridge have also had moments of glory over the past few weekends and are proving a strong force this year, they have got to be looking forward to the European on home turf and wont be allowing 100 or 2 an easy ride.
As predicted Anthony Masters hasn’t faltered even though he moved into the elite grade mid May. This Coventry racer is following in the footsteps of Dodge and is learning the craft of creeping up through the field and appearing in the top five in the final few laps—we can’t see him losing the flashing lights in the foreseeable future and he must be looking forward to the Championship season approaching. The final elite grade place is held by Lee Cooke who goes from one extreme to another. Cooke had a superb Kings Lynn taking a Heat and Feature double as the 17 machine was on rails on the super smooth shale. His luck took a turn for the worse at Buxton at the end of June where he suffered a major impact in the torrential rain with Vicki Kingston causing both cars substantial damage to both machines and ended their afternoon early. The 17 rebel will be back to perfect shape by the time Coventry arrives and he will hope his winning streak also returns as he is hoping to pick up some vital track time in preparation for the World Final there in a few months time.
We have also seen some fantastic results from James Spittle and Antony Baker this month. Both men have worked hard and like Masters cruised through the pack to score massive points scores from their meetings. Although fellow red top Keith Murphy took a win around Northampton he just missed out on rejoining the elite grade by 18 points from Lee Cooke. He won’t be too worried and will be pumped up and ready for the Euro challenge in a few weeks time. Dave Morley and Kev Wilton are holding onto red and they too have crept up the results at several events proving to be real tough competitors. Ken Dixon looked set to join the red graders this month but disaster struck at Buxton as he suffered damage which forced him to retire early and it looks likely that he will have to wait another month before he gets the paint pot out.
Other drivers to impress us of late have got to include Steve Pollitt, Damien McCrystal, Gavin Harris, Ian Bell to name just a few. So many drivers have seen their racing click into place over the past month and excellent results have followed. Steve Pollitt is certainly having a superb season and his crew have the car set up mastered and the blue fin for June is very well deserved in fact he was only nine points of jumping into the red grade.
Young Mike Kingston is also settling into his rebel and if he could just stay away from fellow family members he is ready to break his duck very soon!
Steve Featherstone was delighted with his Kings Lynn meeting where not only did he hold off tough competition to take the Track Championship—the first of his career, he also went onto clinch the East Coast Challenge. He should be thrilled with the double whammy and there may well be a few more trophies to collect at the Annual Presentation if this pace continues for the Sleaford racer. Well Done Steve!
So many people have caught our eye over the past few weeks it would take forever to name everyone but well done to you all . Flicking over the following pages you will see that the grade awards reflect how varied this season has been along with the Facts and Stats chart with only McCarthy and Robertson managing to take three Feature Finals so far. If you do have time and internet facilities it is always worth checking out mylaps.com as the transponders always produce some very interesting results. Several times this month the fastest racer hasn’t made it on the winners truck and although it looks like one or two drivers are in a class of their own racking up the wins, the actual quickest time is recorded by someone completely different emphasising the fact how close this formula is and it is all down to consistency and track craft rather than flat out speed.
On a completely different note we would like to thank every driver who makes it along to the meetings at the moment. The price of fuel is affecting everyone and we realise that it is an expense but hopefully worth every penny!

The Month Ahead

Coventry Motorspeedway —Saturday 5th July—- Start Time 7.00p.m.
This is now our only meeting at Coventry this month, Saturday’s event will host the Heart of England Championship. As we have had to make last minute changes to this weekend we are yet to confirm the format for this event. Please check the whiteboard for details however whichever way we run it the Heart of England title will go to the winner of the Feature Final. Normal Feature rules apply. This meeting will also carry points towards the Shale Shifter Supreme charts.
Coventry Motorspeedway —Sunday 6th July—- CANCELLED
Northampton International Raceway —Saturday 19th July—- Start Time 5.00p.m.
Full details of this weekend are over the page, however as usual Saturday nights meeting score will determine the grid for the European Championship on the Sunday. Saturday is also the final KPH Challenge Qualifying Round and at the moment Nathan Etheridge and Tony McCarthy are joint on 60 points. As both Northampton meetings feature the FII’s they are both Clash Series Qualifiers.
Northampton International Raceway —Sunday 20th July—- Start Time 12.00p.m. EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP. The European will be first race on the agenda and Tony McCarthy will be defending his title, again please read the following pages for full details.
Birmingham Wheels —Saturday 27th July—- Start Time 6.00p.m. KPH CHALLENGE TROPHY. The trophy for this event is a corker and well worth fighting it out to the end. Trophies will be on offer to the top three in every race. Thanks to KPH Tyres for their support and sponsorship of the title series. This meeting will also host points for the Whites and Yellows Round. Paid practice is available in the afternoon—2.00p.m.-4.30p.m. £15 per driver
 

Isle of Man 7th & 9th August

Time is ticking and John Whitehead is looking forward to welcoming the Rebellers back for the third Manx Grand Prix. If you haven’t booked and are interested in joining us we still have information packs available trackside or telephone and we will post one out.
Don’t book your place without looking through this info pack as Magic Holidays offer special discounts for the racers and their teams on ferry bookings and hotel reservations.
There are two meetings and both start at 8.00p.m. We will have four races at both meetings (all in) and all the points from both meetings will determine the grid for the Saturday night Feature Final and the winner of which will be the Manx Grand Prix Champion. Adam Rubery is the only racer to achieve this title and he won’t be wanting to loose grasp of the fantastic Manx sword.

Health & Safety

We have recently had another update regarding the recent Health and Safety on goings within the ORC and it gives you all details of where they are at and what is in the pipeline.
Health and Safety Update from the ORC
As announced earlier this year the ORC is undertaking a complete review of the Health & Safety of Drivers, Staff and Spectators at our race events. This review will take place over the next three years and is designed to increase the awareness of all of us to the importance of making our sport as safe as possible for all who are involved in it.
We all accept that Motor Racing is dangerous but this doesn't mean that we shouldn't ensure that the risks are kept to a minimum so that we can all enjoy ourselves in what is, after all, our hobby.
Increasingly, the authorities are taking an interest in out sport and we must demonstrate to them that we take safety seriously and are the best people to ensure that Health & Safety matters are an ongoing concern to us all.
At the beginning of this season the ORC appointed two highly regarded professional consultants to assist them with Health and Safety matters. Their brief was to deal with the whole spectrum of H&S throughout our sport. They are focusing, in the first instance, on the re writing of the Code of Practice for Short Circuit Oval Racing which is a document which was first published in 1994. Also they are producing a new Noise Testing procedure for all formulas which is being trialled with Brisca F1 Stock Cars.
The Code of Practice is almost complete and will be going to print next month and will be circulated shortly after that. The Noise testing procedure is well underway and we have already seen the Acoustic Engineers at race meetings and also they have visited various drivers workshops. It is hoped that a static noise testing procedure will be in place by the end of this year and we will then see the development of an Environmental Noise Impact Criteria for Oval Racing.
We are in the initial stages of developing a series of training programmes for our Staff and Officials which will take place over the winter months. These will range from basic Fire and Safety Training right up to IOSH and NEBOSH qualifications.
Starting next month an online accident reporting facility will be available for all promoters to report all accidents and near misses at each of their race meetings. All Brisca and ORC promoters have agreed to take part in this and these will be analysed on a regular basis by the Health & Safety Consultants and any trends can be identified and action taken to improve the safety of Drivers, Staff and Spectators.
Our Noise Consultants will also be reviewing another Code of Practice which was produced over a decade ago. This was entitled 'Code of Practice for the Control of Noise from Oval Racing' and is in need of an update because of changes in legislation.
Add to the above a great deal of work being carried out in producing new ORC Sport Wide Guidelines and you will see that there is much to be done. As you can imagine all the above is costing a great deal of money and this is being provided by us all - Promoters, Drivers (through the £1 Levy) and our Insurers. It will mean that everyone within our sport and those outside know that we take Safety seriously as well as having consideration for those that are affected by it.

Philip Bond—Health & Safety Co-ordinator—Oval Racing Council International

Lining Up

Over the past few weeks the lining up procedure has been slightly different with regard to the heat grids and lining up in any order. We will continue to line up in ‘any order’ within grades for the foreseeable future however one slight change will be if you win the heat you cannot go from the pole in your grade.
This will apply to Heats and Grand Nationals, we will try and line you up in five ‘queues’ - whites, yellows, blues, reds and elites where pit space allows.
Please note though we will not wait for you to join the queue or hold the pit gate for you, we are still running to a strict time schedule and sometimes you may think you have plenty of time but you haven’t. I realise that sometimes it feels like you are sat in your car along time but nine times out of ten this is because there has been a stoppage in the race that is on track after we had started to grid you up in the pits. Please don’t waste time and do line up when asked otherwise you may just miss a race. Obviously if you are working on damage this is a different matter but please let us know if you are aiming to get out.
Also please watch your rolling starts. For some reason people hold back and lose valuable track space? Keep the gaps set by the on track official and stay together with your fellow graders once you are rolling.

Euro Weekend

We realise that the majority of drivers reading this newsletter have participated in the Euro weekend before, however please read the following. A few things have changed and it’s always worth refreshing your memory before this two day event as there is always so much going on.
Saturday 19th July — Start Time 5.00p.m. Gates open to the track at 10.00a.m. and not before. Open practice is from 1.15p.m.—4.00p.m. at a cost of £15 per driver. This will be payable to Incarace at the pit gate. There will be very limited free practice, if any—check the whiteboard for our practice time slot. We cannot stress enough that the number of cars is always immense for this three formula meeting. We are always limited on pit space, so please park where you are asked. Please do not ‘save’ places for people coming late. Don’t waste space, otherwise we will have to put FI’s and FII’s in our pits at the last minute and that can cause chaos when we are trying to grid up.
If you are paying for practice, please don’t come over for scrutineering until you have finished. PLEASE remember that you have to get your book signed before you bring your car over and don’t forget your race kit. The meeting will start at 5.00p.m. prompt. At this moment in time we are unsure if we are splitting grids or not—please check the whiteboard for meeting details.
The points from the Saturday night meeting will determine the Euro grid which is the first race on Sunday. We are aiming to have two foreign entrants, therefore the top 38 owner drivers will qualify—again this will be confirmed on the whiteboards
OVERNIGHT CAMPING—Camping is available in the adjacent field at a cost of £15 per unit and breakfasts will be served from 8.00a.m. on Sunday morning. Incarace are unable to accommodate any additional vehicles or caravans (other than tow vehicles and transporters) in the pit area because of the high number of competitors. For those who are camping, please give consideration to others—there will be security on patrol throughout the night. The gates to the stadium will be closed between 8.30a.m. and 9.00a.m. for a security check.
Sunday 15th July—Start Time 12.00p.m.—YES you need to be scrutineered on Sunday morning and you need to sign in at the office—it is another meeting. There will be NO PRACTICE on Sunday. The FII Euro is first on the agenda, if we line up before their race, you can watch it if you wish, however as soon as that chequered goes down, please get yourself strapped in as soon as possible—there will be no parade. The race is two-two rolling start and 20 laps, please make sure you are well aware of who is around you on the grid in case we have a restart. If we do have a restart and people are missing from the grid—leave a space—do not take their position. Once we have completed the 20 lap race we need the top three to the Start / Finish Line for the trophy presentations—Once the main event is over, we don’t have much time—the FI Euro will be next and then we are back out on track for Heat One. If you are only racing Sunday or you are a non–Euro Qualifier, you will be participating in both heats. If you are a Euro Qualifier and have damage and you are in Heat One, let me know and I will swap you with somebody else in your grade. Once again we will grid up whilst the FI Euro is lining up and then you can go and watch if you want. We will run two heats and then the Internations Cup. Again it is the top 40 qualifiers from Sunday’s points who make the Feature grid line up.
As usual at major championship events we are running the ‘playing dead rule’. If a race is stopped for you playing dead or thumbs down you will not be allowed to race at the rest of the meeting—this avoids unnecessary stoppages. If we request a stoppage, or if you are genuinely hurt this is obviously a different matter. It is the St Johns / paramedics decision on whether you continue to race at that meeting. We will not / cannot overrule their decision. I have to say that you lot are exceptionally good at not doing this and we thank you as it does save a lot of time during a meeting.
This weekend is a real favourite on the Rebel calendar and we would like to wish everyone good luck— can Mr. McCarthy hold onto the trophy for a consecutive year, can Mr Rubery become the first driver to win the title three times or will we see a new name engraved on the fantastic trophy??

Ticket Prices
Weekend Ticket—Adult £27 Child / OAP £12
Saturday Only—Adult £13 Child / OAP £6 / Family £32
Sunday Only—Adult £16 Child / OAP £7 / Family £39
 

Grades